At this stage, this may appear a gross exaggeration to assume that the LTTE is interested in developing its Tamileelam Air Force (TAF), or ‘Vaanpuliga’, into an aerospace force. But, at the same time, a fact that cannot — and should not — be overlooked is that the Tigers are intelligently making use of commercially available space technologies. Recently, it has emerged that this outfit has been illegally using a satellite of the US giant, Intelsat, to beam its radio and TV broadcasts.

This signal piracy is a violation of the laws of both the US and Sri Lanka. Immediately after learning about this, the satellite company started pursuing a number of technical alternatives to halt these illegal transmissions. Intelsat had to engage with the Sri Lankan authorities also to halt this unauthorised use of its satellite. However, the job was not easy and it took almost ten days for Intelsat to shut down LTTE’s radio and television broadcasts. Predictably, the LTTE spokesman claimed that they were accessing the satellite services legally and were not involved in any form of signal piracy. As per reports in March 2005, the Tigers had announced that they were using Europe Star 1 satellite, which has since been re-named Intelsat 12 (IS-12), to uplink their television programmes. However, it is not clear whether the Tigers had ‘right to use’ for the satellite services through a proxy user or in their ‘official’ capacity.

To date the LTTE has been found using these satellite services mainly for the purpose of propaganda through their television programmes, both for the local population as well as for non-resident Tamils. They have been able to collect funds and procure arms by tapping a large Tamil population overseas. The uplinking of transmission was probably done from a secret location, believed close to Vavuniya, in northern Sri Lanka.

Today, terrorist organisations are using various mediums for their ‘information warfare’ through the Internet. So there is nothing particularly unusual for the LTTE to use space as a medium for the same purpose. But when viewed against the backdrop of its recent successes in carrying out airborne attacks, it definitely raises many concerns.

In comparison with any airforce of any developing nation, the LTTE’s so-called air power is extremely rudimentary. What is important to note, however, is its intent in investing in such activities. Trained manpower, technology and huge infrastructure are pre-requisites of any airforce. But that may not be the case with space technologies. The LTTE has shown that it is possible to use commercially available space technologies for ‘military’ purposes. Today, it is easy to purchase even sub-metre resolution imagery through commercial satellite constellations, use GPS for target identification and transmit both video and voice information on a real-time basis. Also the use of satellite communication for terrorism purposes is found to be common with many terrorist organisations.

With commercial satellite networks it is possible for “strong and forward looking” terrorist organisations like the LTTE to gather at least some information in terms of intelligence and reconnaissance. Most modern states do this through their aerospace forces. The real danger is if the LTTE is already making use of all these facilities to augment whatever form of air power it has, then this two-decade-old unresolved conflict is only going to get messier.

The possibility of using satellite services under proxy identities makes the task of identification very complex. This Intelsat incidence shows that satellite technology is a complex matter and it is not possible to turn off the services immediately. Unfortunately, the irony is that today terrorist organisations like the LTTE, blacklisted by the US and EU, are exploring the possibilities of using space assets procured commercially in order to spread terror. This cannot but be an alarming development for not just Sri Lanka but India, given its close proximity to this theatre of conflict.

The author is a research fellow at IDSA