Introduction:
In the twentieth century, the national interest for a State, was mainly governed by acquiring hard power capabilities and the diplomacy could be seen to have a greater emphasis on the military engagement, especially during the cold-war period. Whereas, in the twenty-first century the Public Diplomacy and Science Diplomacy which involves the role of a number of non-state actors such as citizens, businesses, corporations and non-government organisations have been popular forms of diplomatic engagement. Within the ambit of Science Diplomacy, Space Diplomacy is one of the effective instruments of enhancing cooperation and peaceful engagement.With India’s ambitious space programme, it has already been achieving various milestones and looking forward to establishing itself as a credible space power. With its commercial arms Antrix and NSIL coming into being, it is important to look forward to how India utilises its capabilities for furthering its national interest and how Space capabilities can serve as a tool for fulfilling the goals of its foreign policy
In previous five years, India has already started leveraging its civilian space capabilities in the immediate neighbourhood by launching the South Asian satellite and building the ground station for five of its South Asian neighbours. Cost-effective launches have been a key feature of India’s space programme. Also, the success rate of India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has been very high (above 90 per cent), making it world’s one of the most reliable launch vehicles.
The hindrances due to lack of integration and the increasing role of extra-regional actors remains a challenge for effective implementation of India’s space cooperation initiatives within the South Asian region. Hence, having a peaceful and prosperous extended neighbourhood is the need for India not only to secure its global interests but also as the means to balance the growing hostilities in its immediate neighbourhood.
West Asia forms an integral part of India’s extended neighbourhood and hence occupies an important position in India’s foreign policy. India’s economic and cultural engagement with the West Asian actors can be traced back to ancient times. The areas of engagement have differed from time to time. Most of the Gulf countries are in close vicinity and important for India’s strategic and energy security. In the recent times, the regional dynamics can be seen to be changing rapidly. India’s engagement within the region also has deepened and widened in the recent times. Not only energy security but also other sectors such as infrastructure development and technology have become a significant aspects of India’s diplomatic engagement in the region. This article essentially focuses on exploring various opportunities for India’s Space Diplomacy in West Asia, under India’s Act and Link West Policy.
This paper takes an overview of India’s Civilian Space Capabilities and explores the opportunities for incorporating India’s space capabilities in furthering India’s Link West policy.
An Overview of India’s Space Capabilities:
An autonomous regional navigation satellite system as developed by ISRO is IRNSS, which is under the control of Indian government. This project was approved by Government of India in May 2006, covering an area of about 1500 km around India. It will provide 20M accuracy over the Indian Ocean Region and 10M accuracy over India and adjacent countries. Such resolution will be useful as it keeps a track of safety of India at bordering areas to detect movement of troops, terrorist activity, etc., from neighbouring countries, the resolution of IRNSS is of immense use.
The list of military satellites of India includes RISAT, CARTOSAT, EMISAT, GSAT and GISAT. As of now, the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) system is the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites for civilian use in operation, in the world, which also has the dual military use, with 14 operational satellites. Four dedicated military use satellites include: GSAT (GSAT-7 and GSAT-7A), HySIS and Microsat-R satellites. Of more than 900 operational satellites, there are 320 dual use or dedicated military satellite in the sky, half of which are owned by USA alone, followed by Russia, China and India (14 satellites).
Out of the seven satellites of Space Segment of IRNSS constellation, four satellites are in Geo-synchronous Orbit and three satellites in Geo-stationary orbit. This constellation of seven satellites was named as “NavIC” (Navigation Indian Constellation) by the Indian PM Narendra Modi and was dedicated to the Nation on the occasion of successful launch of IRNSS-1G. IRNSS-1G is the seventh and the last satellite of NavIC.
The seven Satellite of NavIC, are:IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G were successfully launched on July 02, 2013, April 04, 2014, October 16, 2014, March 28, 2015, January 20, 2016, March 10, 2016 and April 28, 2016 respectively and all are currently functional.
India’s Space Engagement in West Asia:
India has collaborated with a number of West Asian countries bilaterally. As compared to other regions, West Asian states are the latest to acquire space capabilities. Among the space-faring nations within the region, Israel and Iran are among the select few countries across the world that are capable of building their own satellite, launching them from their own territories and maneuvering them in space. Saudi Arabia and the UAE also have their own space programs.
Israel is not only the smallest country with an independent space program but also has the most advanced space program, amongst the West Asian states, with a wide range of applications. Israel Space Agency (ISA) has signed a number of cooperation agreements with the space agencies of the countries like USA (NASA), France (CNES), Canada (CSA), India (ISRO), Italy (ASI), Germany (DLR), Ukraine (NSAU), Russia (RKA), Netherlands (NIVR) and Brazil (AEB).India-Israel space cooperation had been a low-key affair for decades. As of now, an agreement for collaboration in the space sector has been signed between India and Israel in the year 2002. The two countries have also signed agreements to deepen cooperation on the state-of-the-art technologies in the space sector during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in 2017. An agreement was inked between India and Israel to further the ties with an agreement in order to grow in scope and deepen development. As per an official statement from Jerusalem, leaders of both the states had welcomed the ongoing engagement between ISA and ISRO. The areas of collaboration include electric propulsion for small satellites, atomic clocks and GEO-LEO Optical Link, as mentioned in the agreement. Israel has availed India’s launch capabilities since 2008.The Israeli satellites launched by India include: TecSAR, BGUSAT, DIDO-2, PEASS and Duchifat-3. All the launches have been done using PSLV.
UAE’s “Hope Probe” is the first ever Arab Space Mission to probe Mars planet and India has taken a lead by playing a critical role by setting upa joint working group regarding the mission between the UAE Space Agency and the ISRO.ISRO had also launched the first UAE nanosatellite Nayif-1in the year 2017 on board PSLV-C37 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota launch facility. During Indian PM Modi’s 2018 visit to Muscat, India and Oman sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the peaceful uses of the Outer Space.
Prospects for India’s Space Diplomacy in West Asia:
In September 2015, the UAE Space evinced interest in cooperation with ISRO. The UAE is the biggest player in the Middle East in terms of Space exploration (India has been making all attempts to help the UAE Space Agency become a formidable entity). The UAE initiated the formation of the Arab Space Coordination Group, an offshoot of the UAE Space Agency. The organization includes Arab allies like the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco and Egypt. Israel Space Agency (ISA) Director General Avi Blasberger also expressed a willingness for Israel to send more satellites aboard Indian launchers in the future and also described Indian Space Satellite launchers as “reliable”.
The historic turn that Arab world has observed with the Abraham Accord, signed in August 2020, that has led to the normalization of relationship between UAE and Israel can be seen as the beginning of establishment of peace within the region. The regional stability will lead to more developmental initiatives between Israel and the Arab world. The former Indian envoy to the UAE, Navdeep Singh Suri identifies the deal as a new opportunity for India to play a much larger role in the regional security and stability in the Gulf, where it enjoys special relations with both the countries. Cooperation in Outer Space domain by means of undertaking joint missions on space exploration and technology and capability sharing in the space sector by means of trilateral and multilateral engagement will help India bolster its ties within the region.
Satellite launches are highly dependent on the geographical location of launch facility. Israel has been using highly retrograde orbits for the placement of its satellites in order to avoid the launchpaths over the hostile neighbours and for letting launch debris to fall in the Mediterranean Sea. India, with its closer proximity to equator, can look forward to leveraging its launch capabilities in LEO, GEO and SSO to not just Israel but other West Asian states as well, at competitive launch costs.
Environmental factors such as Land Degradation and desertification are considered to be some of the “most crucial challenges” within the West Asian region. Indian Remote Sensing Capabilities, along with launch facility and data sharing through NRSC Data Centre can be leveraged through various outreach programmes. The Capacity Building for IRS and other remote sensing applications is already provided by Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun. The International Training Programme The Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia Pacific (CSSTEAP), an UN Affiliated Centre at IIRS, has already been providing Remote Sensing and Geo-information Sciences educational programme. A short course on remote sensing for Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) is also conducted by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Promoting these programmes for capacity building within the space-faring and non-space faring nations within the region, by commercial and diplomatic means, can certainly be seen as an opportunity for India to deepen the space engagement within the region.
Challenges to India’s Space Engagement in West Asia:
West Asian states such as Iran and Turkey have been engaging with China led Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO). The multilateral organization, APSCO, has been pursuing cooperation in the field of Earth Observation, Disaster Management, Environmental Protection, Satellite Communication and Satellite Navigation and Positioning. The advances in the Chinese navigational and positioning capabilities by means of incorporating IoT and 5G technology with Beidou system. As compared to USA’s GPS, Russian GLONASS and China’s Beidou systems, India’s navigation satellite system IRNSS lacks the global coverage and also fails cover entire West Asian region. Hence, sustaining the navigation satellite system competition remains a challenge for India.
Another journey that India’s space program is yet to embark upon is the quantum satellite communication that India’s competitors in the space domain have already accomplished. The acquisition of the quantum communication technology for civilian purposes, which has added another dimension to the space race i.e. creation of the integrated domain of two different technological realms of Quantum-mechanics based communication and satellite communication (SATCOM). Due to the higher risk of being compromised, India’s space-based assets will be highly at the risk of passive anti-satellite attacks in the Quantum communication age. China has already taken a lead in the domain with its QUESS programme. The possibility of these quantum communication capabilities by China being leveraged within not only Indo-pacific region but also at global scale cannot be denied. The introduction of the quantum-based services and counter-space capabilities will lead to the redundancy of the existing communication and navigation satellite systems, hence leaving it inutile for projection of space power and as a tool for diplomacy.
Way Ahead:
West Asia remains disintegrated in terms of regional and extra-regional space cooperation. The degree of engagement with the extra-regional actors is limited as well.Not only existing allies like Israel and UAE, India can opt for leveraging its civilian space capabilities to countries with higher space activities such as Iran, Saudi Arabia or Turkey, but also with the countries with low level space activities which include Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Jordan, etc.
India has been sharing a cordial relation and cooperation with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). GCC as a collective entity has tremendous significance for India as the Gulf constitutes the immediate maritime neighbourhood, separated only by the Arabian Sea. India and GCC have been cooperating by means of India-GCC Industrial Conferences (February 2004, May 2007) and India-GCC FTA negotiations (August 2004). But a multilateral cooperation in space domain has not been sought yet on the platform. Technology sharing has been one of the sectors that India has been pursuing as the means to increase its diplomatic and economic outreach within the region, but no solid efforts have been taken to promote India’s satellite manufacturing or launch capabilities on this readily available multilateral platform.
The space-faring nations such as UAE and Iran in the West Asian region have acquired the satellite design and manufacturing capabilities, but the launch capabilities are still limited. As of now, India has leveraged its PSLV launch capabilities for facilitating launches. With the SSLV launch facility becoming available for small satellite launches with significantly less time for assembly, India can look forward to providing more frequent launches at competitive prices with an aim to facilitate more West Asian countries to have access to LEO.
Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBMs) have been a traditional tool for diplomacy in international relations, which have been gaining importance in the space domain as well. West Asia which is still an evolving region in terms of technological cooperation has not seen much progress in promoting peaceful uses of outer space. With the establishment of peace and stability in the near future, within the region by means of normalizing diplomatic ties between Israel other west Asian actors such as UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. India, having already nurtured good relations with all four States, can undoubtedly look forward to Space as a sector to further the peaceful and developmental engagement within its extended neighbourhood by using its civilian space capabilities.
In the Moscow Declaration (2020), the BRICS countries reiterated their adherence to the Peaceful Use of Outer Space and Outer space treaty as well. Outer Space Treaty also talks about equal access to space, where India can look forward to providing the same for West Asian states by commercial and non-commercial means. Diplomatic engagement in the civilian space sector can also be seen as accelerator for pacing up growth of India’s space sector as well, which will eventually lead to enhancing India being seen as credible, reliable and economic space power.
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