Indian start-ups in the space industry showcased their innovations at an aerospace and defense technology exhibition that opened in Taipei on Thursday, with some seeking opportunities to collaborate with Taiwanese partners in areas such as defense and intelligence.
Among the five Indian start-ups participating in this year’s Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition, two of them — Kepler Aerospace and Insight360.ai — are highlighting defense-oriented intelligence.
Insight360.ai provides “geospatial intelligence for the defense forces” and has the capability to “capture images of military bases, using satellites,” the company’s CEO R. Om Prakash said at the expo.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
“Then we analyze the patterns, how the troops are moving, and what’s the battlefield condition,” Prakash said.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) that it has developed, the company can scan thousands of locations in satellite images and provide intelligence to military forces, he said.
“During disaster relief or any kind of threat that comes to Taiwan, we can provide frequent satellite imagery and information,” he added.
On the question of potential collaboration with Taiwanese partners, Prakash said that his company not only delivers intelligence directly to end users, but also offers AI-enhanced wargames that “basically help train the military forces to be prepared for all kinds of situations.”
Those two services are already “in actual application,” he said, but he declined to provide details, citing client confidentiality and operational security.
As Insight360.ai does not have satellites, it sources imagery from hundreds of satellites operated by partners based in countries like the US and India, Prakash said.
However, the company has “no Chinese satellites and no Chinese partners,” he added.
Kepler Aerospace CEO Navneet Singh said his company builds its own satellites and provides “intelligence from space” for supports in areas such as national security and fisheries protection.
“We can offer a lot of detection services to strengthen Taiwanese stakeholders,” Singh said, citing possible uses such as detecting fishing vessels in Taiwan waters and tracking “illegal aircraft that can enter Taiwanese airspace.”
Kepler Aerospace has three satellites currently in orbit that are operating on its own systems, and it expects to launch six more “in a couple of years,” he said.
“We would also like to deploy the satellites that we have under the Taiwanese flag through our partners in Taiwan,” Singh said.
The company would help its Taiwanese partners to provide “sovereign intelligence-gathering capabilities to Taiwanese stakeholders,” he added.
Kepler Aerospace and Insight360.ai were scheduled to sign MOUs with several Taiwanese partners yesterday, the second day of the three-day exhibition.
India’s space industry has demonstrated strong growth in recent years, with key advantages such as a rapidly expanding industry scale and a well-developed satellite and launch system, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said.
It is the first time that Indian space enterprises are participating “as a team at scale” in the biennial exhibition, the ITRI said.
The strength of Indian companies in launch services and integrated applications can “directly complement areas where Taiwan is currently less developed,” the ITRI said.
Meanwhile, “Taiwan’s expertise in precision electronics, high-reliability manufacturing, key components, and advanced composite materials can enhance India’s system integration capabilities,” the institute said.
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