An IAF officer with an Australian wing commander at the aerospace seminar. (AFP)

New Delhi, Feb. 4: The Indian Air Force has revived a proposal to create a separate aerospace command in the wake of China’s satellite-killing missile tested last month, but the Centre is not buying it yet.

The proposal was revived by the chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi — even though it was shelved last year — after China brought down an ageing weather satellite with a missile fired 535 km into space on January 11 in a demonstration of firepower that harks back to Star Wars talk.

Air forces around the world took notice and many are taking a hard look at their own strategic options. In India, the creation of the aerospace command is currently being debated.

The differing viewpoints within the Indian establishment were reflected at an international seminar hosted by the IAF as part of its platinum jubilee celebrations that has brought together air chiefs and/or their representatives from 40 countries.

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee acknowledged that there was merit in asking for the creation of separate institutions to oversee the assets that take warfare into space. But this does not mean that India will go back on international commitments and weaponise space-based assets.

“Recent developments show that we are treading a thin line between current defence-related uses of space and its actual weaponisation,” said Mukherjee while inaugurating the seminar. “While the focus on aerospace power is natural in today’s circumstances, it is in our common interest to preserve outer space as a sanctuary from weapons and guard it as the common, peaceful heritage of mankind.”

Mukherjee said India wanted the international legal regime on peaceful uses of outer space strengthened.

A highly-placed defence ministry source told The Telegraph that Mukherjee’s views reflected the government’s in the face of the IAF’s proposal. The air chief is likely to brief a top security body tomorrow on his views. But creating an aerospace command in the short term is not yet a priority for the government, the source said.

Even if India was committed to use space-based assets for civilian purposes and at most as force-multipliers (for example, surveillance), the creation of a separate command would give the impression that India was considering weaponisation of space-based assets as an option. The government was not keen to give this impression, the source said.