(From left) Defence minister AK Antony and navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta at the conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. Telegraph picture

New Delhi, June 10: India today announced that it was setting up a military centre to oversee its satellites and space launch capability.

The Integrated Space Cell was being set up because of “the growing threat to our space assets”, defence minister A.K. Antony said.

The announcement comes more than a year after China demonstrated its capability to shoot down a satellite.

The Integrated Space Cell will report to the Integrated Defence Service headquarters and will co-ordinate between the department of space, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and the Defence Intelligence Agency.

It will also decide the interpretation of satellite imagery. Earlier this year, Isro put India’s first dedicated military satellite into orbit.

At the unified commanders’ conference here, Antony said India’s policy was against “weaponisation of space” but “offensive counter-space systems like anti-satellite weaponry, new classes of heavy-lift and small boosters and an improved array of military space systems have emerged in our neighbourhood”.

Antony also announced the setting up of a Defence Informatics Centre (DIC) on the lines of the National Informatics Centre. The DIC will serve e-governance needs of the armed forces and the defence minister, said Antony.

Giving an overview of the security scenario in the country at the inaugural of the unified commanders’ conference, Antony said there were signs of improvement in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast. “There is, however, a need to extend such synergy in functioning to counter the activities of independent modules that have links with terrorists in J&K and international terror networks,” he said.

Assembly elections are due in Kashmir later this year and security forces would have to ensure peaceful polls.

Antony said: “The most important challenge in the future is the growing instability in our neighbourhood.”

He said India had serious concerns on cross-border terrorism and hoped Pakistan would meet its commitment to stem it.

He said relations with China were good because both Delhi and Beijing were sensitive to each other’s concerns. Confidence building measures with China were being implemented. Foreign affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee’s recent visit and India’s aid to China in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake demonstrated that relations were getting warmer.