‘IndSpaceEx’, the exercise will basically involve all stakeholders from the military and scientific community taking part in it. The main aim of the exercise, to be held under the aegis of the Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry, is to assess the requisite space and and counter-space capabilities that are needed by India to protect its national security interests in the final frontier of warfare i.e. the outer space.

India’s changing approach to outer space, moving from a purely civilian and peaceful approach to one where certain military characteristics are evident, conditioned by changing security realities which are as follows-

1. Militaries around the world have been emphasising network centricity which in turn brings out the salience of space for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance” (C4ISR), and as they have become more networked, they
are also opening themselves up to more and more vulnerabilities.
2. Another reason the war game is also being undertaken to have a better appreciation of the capabilities that India must develop in order to protect its assets and secure its national interests.
3. India has been growing mindful of the growing number of threats in outer space, both natural and man-made ones.
4. New Delhi has worries about the counter-space capabilities in China’s inventory. China has been developing an array of A-Sat weapons, both kinetic in the shape of co-orbital killer satellites and direct ascent missiles as well as non-kinetic ones like lasers and electro-magnetic pulse weapons.
5. Not only can an adversary’s counter-space weapons take out India’s assets critical for its economic and social infrastructure, they can also “blind and deafen” the Indian armed forces. They could do so by destroying or jamming satellites vital for
surveillance, communication, and precision-targeting.
6. All the major spacefaring countries have conducted simulation exercises to understand space security crisis dynamics, major vulnerabilities and capability gaps during conflict. These could then feed into policy making. 

Issues-
The Indian government’s proposed war gaming exercise appears to have a slightly narrower agenda in terms of understanding the vulnerabilities and the gaps in India’s space security and identifying areas for India to develop and strengthen in terms of technological capabilities in order to establish effective deterrence capabilities. China has been the single most important factor shaping India’s approach to space.

The rising spectre of threats means that more pragmatic and feasible measures should be attempted. Having demonstrated its ASAT capability, India is in an ideal place to demonstrate its global governance credentials. India must step up its efforts to develop global rules and norms about such challenges and threats.