India and Russia are building something big in space

India and Russia are building something big in space

From orbital stations to navigation systems, Moscow and New Delhi are deepening strategic, scientific, and military-technical ties
Space exploration and satellite navigation are fragile, failure-prone and enormously expensive. Yet they offer something few other fields can match: technological superiority and strategic prestige.
The main players in space remain Russia, the United States, and China, followed by India, the European Union, and Japan. Newer entrants include the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and a range of states in South America and West Asia. Because the sector is so costly and high-risk, cooperation is highly valued – it brings redundancy, speeds up technological progress, and cuts the price of getting there.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov earlier this week, in the runup to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi, noted that Russia and India are considering the possibility of cross-flights involving mixed crews to their future national orbital stations. He said that this cooperation could eventually extend to joint scientific experiments and research.
In May this year, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval the Roscosmos Joint Industry Information Center, while in August, Indian Foreign Minister  traveled to Moscow to co-chair the 27th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).
Increased between Moscow and New Delhi within the space sector is occurring within the backdrop of three larger yet interlinked trends: first, the United States’ active dismantling of the remaining international order; second, the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Iran; and third, the advancement in drones and defense technologies.
The current US administration has upended the established decades-long US foreign policy by targeting longstanding allies with tariffs and sanctions in the attainment of its goals. India has become a target more than once of American tariffs and economic pressure. Attempts to reach a deal with the Trump administration have failed to produce long-term tangible gains.
This, however, has had a deep impact on the Indian populace. Since the normalization of Indo-US ties, the Indian public had forgotten that historically, American interests had been to India during the entire Cold War period. These buried emotions have been lately with public skepticism regarding American intentions. Deepening cooperation with Russia and attempts to normalize ties with China are New Delhi’s way of signaling its displeasure toward American actions.
Recent developments in Indo-Russian cooperation have involved mutual of ground stations, co-production of engines, and development of national orbital stations. These will allow Russia to offset by outsourcing joint-production capabilities of critical components to India out of Ukraine’s reach.
Third, the astronomical advancements in drone and smart defense technologies have underscored the significance of satellite-based constellations in warfare.
A variety of Russian munitions and employ GPS/GLONASS and the upcoming system in precision guidance and control. UMPK-equipped glide-bombs, cruise missiles such as the Kh-101, drones like the Shahed-136, Geran-3 & -4, and Orlan-10, along with ballistic missiles such as the Iskander-K, witness a significant increase in accuracy and precision with minimal falloff over large distances.
Furthermore, despite the of existing Viasat infrastructure in Ukraine during the conflict’s opening days, the rapid deployment of Starlink prevented the complete collapse of Ukrainian command and control structures. These attributes make the systems vital to any future operational requirements against adversaries with both limited and significant electronic warfare capabilities.
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