Pentagon official applauds India`s growth in space industry

Washington: Describing India as one of the largest space industries in Asia, a top Pentagon official on Tuesday applauded India`s remarkable growth in the sector.

"India has one of the largest space industries in Asia. Their extensive satellite communications network spans the globe," US Air Force General William Shelton, Commander Air Force Space Command, said during his remarks at the George Washington University`s Elliot School of International Affairs. "India`s INSAT satellites, for example, provide telecommunications links to the most remote areas of that nation and connect India`s transportation infrastructure including railways, shipping and road transport," he said. "It`s remarkable how quickly India has tapped into space," Shelton said in his address during which he described the significance of growing space capabilities around the world. "I believe that we will see in the future things like wide band satellite communications probably going much more the commercial route than it is today and I mean in a routine way. For example, roughly 80 per cent of the communications coming back from Afghanistan now are over commercial means," he said. "That`s the kind of activity we`ve done on the spot market, if you will. We need to get to a much more routinised, dependable way of accomplishing that business," he added.