India: India plans to build a border space command as part of a larger effort to manage the country’s more than 15,000-kilometer border with China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar, according to an Indian Defence Ministry source.
After concluding that fencing, unattended ground sensors and other gadgets are not sufficient to monitor the country’s porous border, the Indian Home Ministry will build advanced structures that use satellites to manage the border, the MoD source said. The home ministry finalised the plan this month to spend more than USD 2 billion in the next five years on the command.
The home ministry will assess available worldwide technologies to create a blueprint for the plan, which will include acquiring a dedicated home ministry satellite and setting up ground structures with advanced sensors, fences and electronic equipment linked to command structures.
“Satellites can play an important role for management of borders in varied forms. Continuous surveillance is the key to border management. Satellites can provide [that], in addition [to] terrain mapping, communications with remote locations and transponders,” said Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Indian Army brigadier general and defense analyst.
The border space command plan will include construction of more than 500 border posts along the frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh. The government will also purchase electronic surveillance equipment, such as night-vision devices, handheld thermal imagers, battlefield surveillance radars, direction finders, unattended ground sensors and high-powered telescopes.
Source: Defense News
