Abstract
Space is playing a growing role in military activities across the globe. The 1991 Gulf War has played a significant role towards showcasing and popularising the relevance of space technologies in the military campaigns. Amongst the various satellites orbiting the Earth, some are being used for specific military purposes. However, almost all satellites have certain capabilities which could be exploited for security purposes in some form or other. This is possible because of the dual-use nature of technologies. Hence, civilian satellites could be optimally utilised for enhancing the war-fighting capability of the armed forces.
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Notes
- 1.
‘India’s Quest for Energy Security: The Oil and Gas Perspective’, Speech delivered by Murli Deora, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, at Rice University on March 31, 2006; available at www.bakerinstitute.org .
- 2.
From the lecture delivered by M.M. Pallaum Raju, India’s Minister of State for Defence, in the “P.C. Lal Memorial Lecture” organised by the Air Force Association on March 19, 2007, at New Delhi.
- 3.
Various retired armed forces officials have expressed this opinion.
- 4.
- 5.
Integrated HQ of MoD (Navy) and Confederation of Indian Industry, Building India’s Navy: Requirements and IndigenousCapability, 2010, available at http://www.ciidefence.com/
- 6.
The Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major made an announcement to this effect at Aero India, Bangalore in February 2009.
- 7.
“India Building a Military Satellite Reconnaissance System,” Defense Industry Daily, August 10, 2005, available at www.defenseindustrydaily.com
- 8.
“India's spy satellite RISAT placed in orbit”, Apr 20, 2009, http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/apr/20/indias-spy-satellite-risat-placed-in-orbit.htm, accessed on Jul 12, 2011and MR Venkatesh, “RISAT-2 not a spy satellite, says ISRO chief”, Hindustan Times, April 20, 2009.
- 9.
Department of Space, Indian Space Research Organisation, Report of the Working Group on “Space” on the Eleventh Five Year Plan Proposals 2007–2012 for Indian Space Programme, 2006, available at http://dst.gov.in/
- 10.
Stephen Clark, “China Launches New Spy Satellite”, Aug 10, 2010, http://www.space.com/8923-china-launches-spy-satellite.htmland Rui C. Barbosa, “China completes 2009 schedule by launching another spy satellite”, Dec 15, 2009, http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/12/china-completes-2009-schedule-by-launching-another-spy-satellite/and “China launches new Yaogan XI ‘remote sensing’ satellite”, Sept 22, 2010 http://www.china-defense-mashup.com/china-launches-new-yaogan-xi-remote-sensing-satellite.html, accessed on Sept 18, 2011.
- 11.
“Selling Spy Satellites to China”, The New York Times, Jun 19, 1998.
- 12.
Christopher Marquis “Satellite Maker Fined $20 Million in China Trade Secrets Case”, The New York Times, Jan 10, 2002.
- 13.
Kate Wilkinson in an interview with Saadia Pekkanen on Sept 9, 2011, http://www.nbr.org/research/activity.aspx?id=173assessed on Aug 20, 2011, Saadia M. Pekkanen is the joint author (along with Paul Kallender-Umezu) of the book tilted In Defense of Japan: From the Market to the Military in Space Policy, Stanford University Press, 2010.
- 14.
John Feffer, “Japan: The Price of Normalcy”, January 13, 2009, http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5780
- 15.
“Japan Moves to End Ban on Military Use of Space”, Friday, 2 June 2006, http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/524034/japan_moves_to_end_ban_on_military_use_of_space/index.html, accessed on Oct 20, 2009.
- 16.
The bill is available at http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/5606907/5633988/The_Bill_of_Basic_Space_Law.pdf, accessed on Oct 12, 2009.
- 17.
“Japan Passes law to allow military use of space: official”, Space War, May 21, 2008.
- 18.
http://rescommunis.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/space-in-japans-defense-white-paper/, accessed on Oct 20, 2009.
- 19.
“The Basic of Japan’s Defence Policy and Build-up of Defence Capability”, Defence of Japan, 2009, Part 2.Also, please refer the issues related to Space discussed in Japan’s Defence White Paper available at http://www.mod.go.jp/e/publ/w_paper/2009.html, accessed on Sept 12, 2009.
- 20.
http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=819&catid=22&subcatid=148and James Dunnigan, “Japan Loses 25 Percent of Their Spy Satellites” Sept 17, 2010, http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/Japan-Loses-25-Percent-Of-Their-Spy-Satellites-9-17-2010.asp, accessed on Sept 20, 2011.
- 21.
“Development in the high resolution imaging satellites for the military”, Space policy 27 (2011) p.46 and “Israel launches spy satellite”, Jun 23, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106239424671297.html, accessed on Jun 24, 2011 and “Russian rocket launches Israeli dual-use spy satellite over Iran”, Apr 27, 2006, http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453852.238888889.html, accessed on Jun 24, 2011.
- 22.
“South Korea to purchase four spy satellites by 2020”, Oct 21, 2009, http://theasiandefence.blogspot.com/2009/10/south-korea-to-purchase-four-spy.html, accessed on Aug 21, 2011.
- 23.
“Emirates close to French satellite buy”, Dec 23, 2011, http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Emirates_close_to_French_satellite_buy_999.html, accessed on Dec 26, 2011.
- 24.
Department of Defense, Future Military Capabilities and Strategy of the People’s Republic of China, Department of Defense, Washington, DC, November 1998. The report is available at http://www.fas.org/news/china/1998/981100-prcdod.htm(Accessed January 20, 2007).
- 25.
Annual Report to Congress, The Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2005, (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Secretary of Defense, July 2005), p.36, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/d20050719china.pdf.
- 26.
“India readying weapon to destroy enemy satellites: Saraswat” Jan 03, 2010, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-readying-weapon-to-destroy-enemy-satel/562776/, accessed on Mar 12, 2011.
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Lele, A. (2013). Militarisation and Weaponisation. In: Asian Space Race: Rhetoric or Reality?. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0733-7_13
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