India will set up an aerospace defence command to shield itself against possible attacks from outer space, officials said Sunday. The announcement came three days after Russia backed India's response to a Chinese satellite-destroying weapons test that demanded a "weapons free outer space." Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Shashi Tyagi said it was in the process of establishing an aerospace defence command "to exploit outer space," the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

"As the reach of our airforce is expanding it has become extremely important that we exploit space and for it you need space assets," Tyagi told reporters in the western city of Gandhinagar.

"We are an aerospace power having trans-oceanic reach and we have started training a core group of people for the aerospace command," the air chief marshall said without specifying a time-frame for the ambitious project.

Tyagi said IAF would seek civilian help for the project.

"We will take help of ISRO (Indian Space Research organisation) for the aerospace command but it will have distinct features as it is a military command," he said.

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