Pakistan’s Space Capabilities

South Asia is the region of immense richness and diversity with great cultural heritage. Over centuries, it had developed trade and cultural links with the rest of the world. In the twentieth century, the region was destabilised by the cold war machinations, and in the twenty-first century, the region is facing the second Afghan War. The region is famous because of the India-Pakistan rivalry, and the US dilemma is taking Pakistan’s help to fight the global war against terrorism. In this region, mainly affected by boundary wars and internal conflicts, India is found emerging as an island of prosperity. India is the only spacefaring nation from this region. This chapter and next chapter discuss the space agendas of two important states within the region, namely, Pakistan and India.

Investments in space technologies for states like Pakistan need to be viewed at the backdrop of strategic realities of the region. Military parity with India has been an obsession of many Pakistani rulers in the past. Because of its strategic intimacy with global powers like the US and China, to an extent, Pakistan has succeeded in procuring some of state-of-the-art technologies in military hardware to match India. Presently, Pakistan has, to a certain degree, achieved missile prowess and, most importantly, a nuclear weapon possessor status. Such achievements were possible only because it could, either overtly or covertly, borrow these technologies from other states. But, at the same time, the strategic vision shown by the Pakistani leadership for ‘managing’ these technologies should be commended.

Based on current trends in acquisition of new weapon technologies by Pakistan, it could be safely concluded that it is investing in the revolution in military affairs (RMA). Interestingly, Pakistan has made limited progress in space technology field. Compared to India’s space programme, Pakistan’s space programme seems diminutive. In the present RMA era, when space is regarded as the fourth dimension of warfare, what is the Pakistan’s standing in the field of space technologies and other related technologies? This chapter attempts to address these questions. It

This chapter is an updated version (with few additions) of Ajey Lele, Pakistan’s Space Capabilities, Air Power, New Delhi, Spring 2005, pp. 129-148.

A. Lele, Asian Space Race: Rhetoric or Reality?, DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-0733-7_4, © Springer India 2013

is argued that in near future Pakistan may not go all out for the development of indigenous space technologies and may depend more on joint collaborations with countries like China and also on commercially available satellite-derived products.

Pakistan has unique security considerations. It is a state which appears to be always under the perpetual threat of conflict in some form or other. The state appears to have developed somewhat lopsided security policies. It continues to suffer from terrorism within but at the same is using terrorism as tool (covertly) to address differences with its both western and eastern neighbours. Post 9/11, the most wanted global fugitive Osama bin Laden was found staying in this country for many years, and finally, the US had to launch a secret mission on Pakistani soil to eliminate him (without taking the Pakistani government into confidence). There are concerns at global levels about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. In spite of threat from terrorism within and knowing fully well that its adversary India has no territorial ambitions, still Pakistan is making significant investments in its conventional security infrastructure and also covertly developing asymmetric strategies. Because of such peculiar security milieu, this chapter attempts of undertake the analysis of Pakistan’s space programme bit differently than the treatment given in other chapters to understand the space discourse of other states within the region. This chapter attempts to understand the Pakistan’s space investments mainly at the backdrop of the defence connotations of such investments.