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The two-person crew of an EA-18G Growler assigned to the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 were safely recovered after ejecting from the aircraft, the Navy said in a statement provided to USNI News.

“At approximately 6:18 p.m. EDT on Sept. 28, a mishap involving an E/A-18G Growler, attached to the ‘Zappers’ of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130, occurred during aircraft recovery operations aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower off the coast of Virginia.“

Two naval aviators assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 subsequently ejected from their aircraft following an arresting gear failure and were promptly recovered by search-and-rescue personnel assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 7. Both aviators were safely returned to the ship.”

Lieutenant General (Retired) Anil Kumar Bhatt, Director General of the Indian Space Association (ISpA), said in an interview with Firstpost.

Q: After years of concerns about an arms race in space, the United States has admitted that it has deployed weapons in space. American officials have suspected for years that Russia and China have also either deployed weapons or are trying to deploy weapons. How prepared is India for such a future?

A: Considering that the Indian space programme remained Earth-centric as recently as the 2000s, India’s trajectory has been hopeful: India set up the Defence Space Agency in 2019 and has worked feverishly over the past six years to develop a network of sovereign space assets. But these are baby steps and there is a lot of ground to be covered.

“Setting up the DSA was the starting point. The way things are developing, it will have to evolve into a Space Command and eventually into a Space Force. But it must remain a triservices agency. The Air Force has pushed for one ‘aerospace force’ that absorbs the space force’s or DSA’s role but it is my personal belief that things are very different on the two sides of the Karman Line, and the domain above that line must be with a separate triservices organisation,” said Bhatt.

Indeed, India has gradually begun moving into the direction, with the formation of triservices DSA, Defence Cyber Agency (DCA), and a special forces division.

“Space to be asset as well as theatre”, Bhatt.

While the MEA hasn't specified which warship was involved in the collision, Pakistan has said it was the INS Kolkata - one of the three Kolkata-class destroyers.

India and the United States (US) will collaborate to expand the space economy and join the Moon Base programme, US Ambassador Sergio Gor announced on Monday, while inviting Indian startups to explore opportunities within the American market.

India has set a target of launching up to 300 more satellites from 56 now in the next seven years, and plans to land its first astronauts on the Moon by the year 2040.