Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju on Thursday emphasised the need for India to explore the area of space for military applications.

Inaugurating a seminar on “Design, Development and Concurrent Flight Testing of Aerospace Vehicles and Systems” here, Mr Raju said that though India has expressed its opinion against the weaponisation of space, it would be foolish if it did not exploit space for its military applications.

“Space systems have become an integral part of the overall military capability of a nation and satellites play an important role in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communication. Though we have been against the weaponisation of space inorder to meet the geo-political challenges, we should, however, develop capabilities of exploiting space for military applications as well,” he said.

Endorsing Mr Raju’s view, Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal F H Major said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) was working out a space plan The Air Chief said though there was a shortage of pilots in the IAF, it was not alarming.