India’s First Space Defense Exercise - Antariksha Abhyas 2024

India has move into the next level of defending its space assets with the commencement of the first-ever space defense exercise- Antariksha Abhyas – 2024. Organised by the Defence Space Agency (DSA) in New Delhi, the exercise will enhance India’s space warfare potential and protect its important satellite assets. This strategy is being rolled out at a time when perils like ASAT weapons, cyber assaults, and space debris are deemed dangerous to latest technologies used in military services.

The DSA, which was set up in 2018, is an Integrated Tri-service Defence Aerospace Agency based in Bengaluru. It deals with satellite as well as space-based intelligence and warfare for India and is important for boosting the strength of the country. It represents an exercise that will help assess risks facing areas in space-based services, and create fallback measures that could help minimize disruption impact.

India’s investments in space defense started with Mission Shakti in 2019, an ASAT missile test that proved the country’s ability to knock out satellites off using homegrown technology. This put India in a very select company of nations such as USA, Russia and China and was capable of such operations.

Finally, the importance of Antariksha Abhyas – 2024 also sprouts based on the appraising of space functionalities into the overall military approaches to meet national security goals. It stresses readiness in an arena that is more and more saturated, contested, and compressed.

Relevance for Exams:

• Prelims: Concerning the ASAT technologies, India space defense measures.

• Mains GS3: Spatiality in contemporary security and modern defense, prospects for India.

The reality behind the creation of Antariksha Abhyas – 2024, India’s space adventure for terror links has a deeper look to secure Indian space assets and to hold strategic supremacy in 21st century space warfare. This appears to a sound effort in the right direction in the drive for self-sufficiency in defense technology.