Watch this space
Zhang Ying

GINDIA put a cluster of 10 satellites into orbit in April. It integrated the instruments in the lunar probe on its maiden mission to the moon in June. It is speeding up research on intercontinental missiles. The country has been eye-catching in its development of space technology. Since venturing into space in the 1960s, India has cranked up its technology advancement. Now space transportation, deep space exploration, missile weapons and satellites are all part of the country’s agenda to boldly go where few others have gone. India’s space industry has its eye on a new era where it may play a more dominant role in Asia.
Going all the way
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) began to carry out research on launch vehicles in 1973. India has since developed increasingly powerful launch vehicles, which can send both homemade and foreign satellites into space. India has developed four types of launch vehicles, the satellite launch vehicle-3, the augmented satellite launch vehicle, the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) and the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV). While the former two types fell into disuse in 1983 and 1994 respectively, PSLV and GSLV launchers are India’s major launch vehicles today.
Lunar exploration has caught the attention of the international community with its major implications for energy exploitation, science and technology, politics and defense. India’s lunar exploration program has three phases. It will first launch a lunar probe, then land a lunar robot to conduct research and finally send an Indian astronaut to the moon.
According to recent reports on website of the Press Trust of India, the ISRO had finished integrating the 11 instruments in the lunar probe on its maiden mission to the moon by early June. It is currently doing comprehensive experiments to ensure that the whole system will operate in line with preset goals. If everything goes well, the probe is due to take off on a PSLV launcher on September 19. It will not land on the moon but will collect data on its polar ice and capture surface images. The mission will take at least two years. India believes an advanced manned space program is crucial to its space exploration. Apart from training astronauts, it has made technological preparations to send a man into space. For example, it has developed cryogenic rocket engines, a key technology for manned space missions.
India retrieved its first recoverable space capsule in January 2007, an initial experiment of manned space flight. It proved India’s capacity to control space capsules and marked a major breakthrough in its manned space program. The ISRO has announced that India will launch a manned mission into space on its 3-ton manned spacecraft in 2014 and will send its first astronaut to the moon by 2020. The manned space program has an estimated budget of $2.5 to $3 billion.
Missile awareness
In its early days, India imported missile weapons, including cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles, first from Britain and France and later from the former Soviet Union. In the 1990s, profound changes in the international security environment had a major impact on India’s military strategy. As it sought to elevate itself to the status of a leading world power and a regional military power, it redoubled its efforts to adjust its military strategy and boost its arsenal. It implemented its Integrated Guided Missile Development Program in the 1980s under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. India’s Defense Research and Development Organization was responsible for the program, which focused on research on surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles. This marked the beginning of India’s efforts to develop indigenous strategic and tactical missiles. In the 21st century, the country is attaching even greater importance to the development of missiles. It has become a major missile-capable country in Asia and will continue to modernize its missiles, especially ballistic missiles, mainly based on its own research.
India has developed four series of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, the short-range Prithvi, the medium-range Agni, the long-range Surya and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Because ballistic missiles are costly to develop and restricted by international treaties, India has taken cruise missiles as major carriers for its nuclear warheads. Cruise missiles fly slower and lower but are more accurate than ballistic missiles. While intensifying research on nuclear weapons, India sees great value in the importation and development of cruise missiles. It has imported the Uran Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missile system and the Club supersonic cruise missile system from Russia, jointly developed the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with Russia, and developed the Sagarika submarine-launched cruise missile on its own.
In recent years, as it tries to turn itself into a major military power in South Asia and the world at large, India has devoted increasing efforts to developing an air defense system. It is also contemplating strengthening its anti-ballistic capabilities to deter other countries in the region. Most of India’s air defense missiles are imported from Russia, the United States and Israel. It plans to shape a missile interception system with imported air defense missiles and homemade anti-ballistic missiles. India is strong in air defense. It purchased the S-300P antimissile system from Russia in 1998. In 2000, it signed the purchase agreement with Russia for the Antey-2500 anti-tactical missile system including its command, control and communications equipment. In addition, it will import the more advanced S-400 antimissile system from Russia. India also has the intention to purchase the Patriot-3 air defense missile system from the United States and the Arrow-2 missile defense system from Israel. Homemade air defense missiles include Trihul and Akash, both of which have been deployed.
Commercially viable
India’s progress in launch vehicle technology and missile weapons is evident in the following areas: First, the launch capacity of India’s launch vehicles has increased. India began to develop launch vehicles in 1963 and made substantial progress in launch vehicle technology in the 1980s. Its launch vehicle technology matured in the 1990s. Later, India improved its PSLV launcher to enhance its launch capacity. Today, it is developing a more powerful launch vehicle, GSLV-MK3, which can deliver a payload of 4 tons to the geostationary transfer orbit and a payload of 10 tons to the low earth orbit. It will develop a cryogenic upper stage for its GSLV launcher and accelerate its research on air-breathing engines and reusable launch vehicles. Reusable launch vehicles, which can help reduce the costs of space transportation, will further increase India’s launch capacity.
Second, India is a player in the international commercial launch market. It became the world’s fifth commercial launch service provider when it put an Italian satellite into space with its PSLV launcher in April 2007. Its GSLV-MK1 launcher, on which it takes only $15,000-$16,000 to send 1 kg of payload to the geostationary transfer orbit, is competitive in the international market. The ISRO said India would take 10 percent of the international commercial launch market in the next five years due to its stable performance, multi-satellite launch capacity and low launch costs. Third, India has gained an initial command of some basic technologies of the multiple independently targeted reentry vehicle (MIRV). India put a cluster of 10 satellites into orbit on a PLSV launcher in April, becoming the fifth country to be able to launch more than one satellite on a single launch vehicle after the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency and China. Multi-satellite launch technology and MIRV technology share some similarities, and a mastery of the former can pave the way for the latter. India is expected to gain a complete command of MIRV technology in 15 to 20 years. This technology will enable it to use a single launched missile to strike several targets. Fourth, India has forged ahead with its research on intercontinental missiles. India now possesses short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and is developing long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Indian defense experts said it would not be difficult to convert PSLV launchers to intercontinental ballistic missiles. India has test-fired its Surya missile, whose range is close to an intercontinental missile. Its Ministry of Defense also has disclosed that the country is speeding up research on intercontinental missiles. All these moves provide evidence to India’s improving intercontinental missile technology.
 

—The Daily Mail-Beijing Review Articles Exchange Item

The harassed team
Fidel Castro Ruz

THE Olympics will very soon begin in China. Some days ago I wrote about our baseball team. I said that our athletes were put through a very hard test and that if something went wrong they were not the ones who deserved the harshest criticisms. I recognized their quality and patriotism. They felt depressed after the criticisms that came from Cuba. Afterwards I learned that they were all in good spirits. They had learned how to eat the spicy Korean food with chopsticks, the way it is done in eastern Asia.  On July 26 they sent a vibrant patriotic message. They will no doubt face with honor that difficult test. But, will they be on an equal footing with regards to the teams of other rich powers, such as the United States and Japan, which will be competing against Cuba?
The first has almost thirty times as much inhabitants as Cuba; the second, at least eleven times as much. Neither of them is under any economic blockade and both are extremely wealthy.  No one is robbing or plundering them of their athletes. Japan has ordered its professional athletes to join the Olympic team, and they will have to; so has been the will of their masters. That has nothing to do with the athletes that have been turned into merchandise.
On the eve of the Olympics, the United States, with its mercenary money, bought Alexei Ramírez, who had been the leading home runner of the National Baseball series in our country in 2007. The coach of the team that bought him has boasted that he does not know in what base he should place Ramírez, because he had been well trained in all of them. It is disgusting to read about the details of the commercial arrangements surrounding the case, which have been disseminated by the cables, regarding the distribution of the money. Formerly, they had bought the most promising pitcher from the province of Pinar del Rio, José Ariel Contreras, thus creating uncertainty and mistrust. In Edmonton, Canada, just before the beginning of a match with the team of the host country at the 23rd World Youth Baseball Championship, we learned that the southpaw Noel Argüelles, who would for sure be the starting pitcher of the game, and the shortstop José Antonio Iglesias, with a batting average above 500, were missing.
 The courageous youth league pitcher from Pinar del Río, Julio Alfredo Martínez Wong, climbed the mound. He had already pitched for eight innings in a row and had one more out to make; there were men on the bases and he looked exhausted. In the bullpen, Joan Socarrás Maya was warming up hard; he was instructed to be ready to take action.  Esteban Lombillo, the energetic and able coach of Cuba’s youth team had already been to the box. Julio Alfredo, exploding with dignity, demanded that he be allowed to continue pitching: “I will finish this game!” –he exclaimed. Lombillo, who was also upset about the despicable betrayal, knew what he meant and trusted him.  Julio Alfredo put his heart and soul into the game.  He pitched for the last out of the eighth inning. In the ninth he retired the batters by three consecutive strikeouts and beat the Canadian team by one run. The substitute shortstop, Yandy Díaz, played wonderfully and connected for a double that was decisive for Cuba’s victory.
Edmonton has become a dumping ground. The Cuban athletes were badly taken care of. That city has the privilege of hosting that championship every year.  We should analyze whether it is worth attending that tournament. Not even a single representative of the Cuban press had been sent to cover the event. All we know we have learned through unofficially. The proud Cuban athletes of the Olympic baseball team, who have been wonderfully taken care of by their Korean hosts and will be even better taken care of in China, will have to compete under the unfavorable circumstances that I explained before.  Whatever the results, they know that what really matters for us are the honor and the courage with which they struggle.
But the imperialist aggression is not only seen in baseball. Some months ago, part of our male soccer team let itself be drawn into an act of betrayal inside the United States, which limited Cuba’s prospects in that sport in the international arena. A female Olympic judo athlete, almost a sure gold medalist, was bribed.  Buying our athletes they deprived us from five sure gold medals in Olympic boxing. It is like a call to slaughter against Cuba to steal brains, muscles and bones. Why are the rich and powerful afraid of our small and blockaded island?
Leinier Domínguez struggles in Switzerland at one of the most important international chess tournaments. At the Olympics, due to begin on August 8, our athletes in different sports will struggle to win the gold with more dignity than ever, and our people will enjoy their gold medals as they never have. Then the fanatics will remember the traitors.


ISI flip-flop: Anatomy of defective decision-making
Nasim Zehra

PRIOR to the Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s departure to the US, a detailed meeting on Pakistan-US relations covering the security matters was held at the Prime Minister’s House. For a more effective response to the acute internal security crisis and to external pressures, the participants agreed on the need for better coordination among various intelligence agencies. But there was no discussion at all on altering the reporting line of the ISI. Shortly after the meeting the government decided that the ISI and IB would, with immediate effect, be placed under the control of the Interior Ministry.
The matter was not discussed in any Cabinet meeting, it was not put before the Parliament or any Parliamentary or Senate Committee and none of the coalition partners were consulted. Similarly, the justification to alter the reporting line was not discussed with the Ministry of Defence or the three services chiefs or the Chairman Joints Chief of Staff Committee who are directly involved in the operations and the output of the ISI.
Also in violation of a basic rule of hierarchy and reporting lines that requires individuals and institutions with narrower mandates to report to authority with a broader mandate, the PID circular announced that ISI would report to the Interior Ministry which constitutionally has a narrower mandate than that of the ISI. The ISI’s mandate is to provide strategic intelligence, including external threat perceptions and covert operations, to the Prime Minister, the three Armed Forces and to the Joint Services Headquarters. It is also engaged in counter-intelligence to undermine intelligence assets of the adversary countries deployed within Pakistan. A section deals with Pakistani politics too. Hence, the ISI’s mandate is far broader than that of the institution the PID notification was instructing it to report to. The ISI also has a complex inter-institutional web it functions through including the Prime Minister’s secretariat, the Defence Ministry, the three Armed Forces, the GHQ and the Foreign Office. ISI currently functions with a 65 army and 35 civilian ratio of staff with almost 90 per cent of the 65 per cent are serving officers. With such a complex institutional arrangement placing the agency under the Interior Ministry was quite simplistic.
Then how and why the July 26 decision was made? Perhaps the defence of decision by the PPP co-chairperson is a revealing one. The Press quoted him as saying that the decision was made to deflect international pressure on the ISI and enable the elected government to effectively defend the ISI. Indeed against the backdrop of the deadly attack in Kabul on the Indian embassy, the rising attacks inside Afghanistan on the ISAF forces, the firing along the LoC and increase in attacks inside India, the increasingly harsh criticism of the ISI by the US, Indian and Afghan trio is unceasing. As for external criticism the governments managing CIA, Mossad, MI5 and Raw seldom seek external popularity for their intelligence agencies! On advice from relevant individuals, Zardari did reverse the decision.

—Khaleej Times