Indian Air Force Led Tri-Services Defence Space Agency To Come Up In Bengaluru To Command India’s Space Assets

Building on its successful demonstration of anti-satellite capabilities, India is now coming up with a dedicated military space agency with headquarters in Bengaluru, reports Economic Times.

The Defence Space Agency (DSA) will be a tri-services entity headed by an officer of the rank of Air Vice Marshal. Ace pilot Air Vice Marshal S P Dharkar is likely to be the first head of the agency that is all set to get operational clearance from next month.

DSA will be commanding all the space assets belonging to the tri-services of the Indian Armed Forces and the A-SAT, which under Operation Shakti, successfully demonstrated two months ago.

Bengaluru also happens to be the headquarters of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), that looks after all the space-related programmes across the country.

Recently, the Armed Forces Special Operations Division has been set up to enhance interoperability among the forces and undertake joint operations. The division comprises personnel from Army’s Parachute Regiments Special Forces, Navy’s MARCOS and the Garud Commandos of the Air Force.

Defence Cyber Agency, one more tri-services entity, under Rear Admiral Mohit Gupta has been set up in New Delhi.