The Hindu : Front Page : Let's jointly utilise outer space: Antony

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 06, 2007
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Let's jointly utilise outer space: Antony

Sandeep Dikshit

`India against its weaponisation'

NEW DELHI: All countries should collectively utilise outer space and ensure that it is not weaponised. As space applications are capital intensive, nations could come together and use aerospace assets for mutual benefit.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony said this at a conference of the world's major air forces here on Monday.

Though aerospace power could significantly impact the socio-economic growth of nations due to its multifarious applications, the use of space for military objectives was a major challenge facing the world, he said.

He said: "Though most of the military operations on the ground rely heavily on space capabilities such as communication, surveillance and weather, these assets are crucial for peaceful developmental purposes. It may be difficult to demarcate distinctly between peaceful and military uses.

"However, we have always advocated peaceful use of technology. Thus, we are of the view that weaponisation of space must be discouraged.''

Mr. Antony pointed out that that nations could cooperate meaningfully to achieve enhanced aerospace capability by taking advantage of each other's expertise in different fields of space technologies.

Though affordability was a factor for a developing country like India, steady economic growth and increasing globalisation required a change in the security mindset.

Therefore, it was imperative that India does not shy away from the cost of high technology systems and ensure that the national technological and industrial base was strengthened, leading to overall economic growth.

Right balance

"Our concern is to maintain the right balance between defence and development since they cannot be mutually exclusive or part of a zero-sum game."

At the same time, all countries must ensure the safety and security of space assets such as satellites. Work on development of anti-satellite weapons, including those launched from the ground, was on for a long time. The international community must pay urgent attention to this issue.

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