Source: PIB
Context: India has launched its first-ever space exercise, Antariksha Abhyas – 2024, to address the growing challenges to space-based assets and ensure the integration of its space capabilities with military operations.
About Antariksha Abhyas – 2024:
- Organized by: Defence Space Agency under Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff.
- Location: New Delhi.
- Purpose:
- War-game threats to and from space-based assets and services.
- Enhance understanding of operational dependency on space assets.
- Identify vulnerabilities in space operations during disruptions or denials.
- Participants:
- Defence Space Agency and allied units.
- Army, Navy, Air Force, Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Intelligence Agency, and Strategic Forces Command.
- Representatives from ISRO and DRDO.
- Significance:
- Establishes India’s commitment to securing national interests in space.
- Highlights the need for cutting-edge innovation and collaboration with ISRO, DRDO, and academia.
- Reinforces preparedness for the increasingly contested and competitive nature of space.
About Defence Space Agency:
- Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
- Purpose:
- Operates space warfare and satellite intelligence assets of the Indian Armed Forces.
- Draws personnel from the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
- Historical background:
- Originates from recommendations of the Naresh Chandra Task Force (2012), which suggested creating tri-service commands for cyber, aerospace, and special operations.
- Approved in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Combined Commanders’ Conference.
- Integrated facilities:
- Subsumed the Defence Imagery Processing and Analysis Centre (Delhi) and Defence Satellite Control Centre (Bhopal).
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