India-Pak War: China’s Military Satellites Helped Pakistan To Attack India; Delhi Works To Bridge The ‘Big Gap’ With Beijing (Part 2)
While it is a civilian navigation system, it is critical to China’s military. The system bulletproofs China’s military operations against disruptions by other military powers and provides the PLA with precision targeting capabilities.
Beidou-3 was completed in 2020 and consists of 35 satellites that provide global positioning, navigation, and timing services. This system enables the PLA to conduct military operations anywhere in the world without relying on GPS, thereby granting China a significant strategic advantage.
India Opening Space For Private Sector
In 2024, India enlisted private players to develop military-grade spy satellites for the country. The first in the series, built by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), was launched in April 2024.
Reconnaissance satellites monitor developments ranging from troop movements to missile launches from an altitude of 500 kilometers. The information is helpful for India to keep an eye on enemy assets during a military conflict and target them should the need arise.
India has been dependent on the US for getting reconnaissance data. The armed forces needed to give exact coordinates and timings for the foreign vendors to obtain imagery. The ground control will be set up in Bengaluru and used to process the imagery sent by the satellite.
Colonel Vinayak Bhatt, retired Indian Army official and seasoned image analyst, called it a “great move” and had told the EurAsian Times: “We also need more EO (Earth Observation) satellites with higher temporal resolution. We need more data downloading stations and more image analysts. Today, we require AI-assisted satellites that could give an analyst an added advantage over our adversaries.”
Earth Observation (EO) refers to the use of remote sensing technologies to monitor land, marine environments (including seas, rivers, and lakes), and the atmosphere. In the face of simmering tensions with China, India has launched a series of radar imaging satellites (RISAT), expanding the fleet from 12 satellites in 2019 to 16.
India had built RISAT-2 at an accelerated pace following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. It is India’s first dedicated reconnaissance satellite. The satellite was used for border surveillance, anti-infiltration, and anti-terrorist operations and was deactivated in October 2022.
RISAT-2B, launched in May 2019, is the third satellite in the series and mounts an indigenous X-Band radar. The satellite is used for obtaining high-resolution spot images with a resolution of approximately 0.5 x 0.3 m and has a mission life of five years. RISAT-2BR1 was launched in December 2019 from SDSC.
This satellite also has a five-year mission life and is used for similar purposes, with a resolution of just 0.35 m.
While it is a civilian navigation system, it is critical to China’s military. The system bulletproofs China’s military operations against disruptions by other military powers and provides the PLA with precision targeting capabilities.
Beidou-3 was completed in 2020 and consists of 35 satellites that provide global positioning, navigation, and timing services. This system enables the PLA to conduct military operations anywhere in the world without relying on GPS, thereby granting China a significant strategic advantage.
India Opening Space For Private Sector
In 2024, India enlisted private players to develop military-grade spy satellites for the country. The first in the series, built by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), was launched in April 2024.
Reconnaissance satellites monitor developments ranging from troop movements to missile launches from an altitude of 500 kilometers. The information is helpful for India to keep an eye on enemy assets during a military conflict and target them should the need arise.
India has been dependent on the US for getting reconnaissance data. The armed forces needed to give exact coordinates and timings for the foreign vendors to obtain imagery. The ground control will be set up in Bengaluru and used to process the imagery sent by the satellite.
Colonel Vinayak Bhatt, retired Indian Army official and seasoned image analyst, called it a “great move” and had told the EurAsian Times: “We also need more EO (Earth Observation) satellites with higher temporal resolution. We need more data downloading stations and more image analysts. Today, we require AI-assisted satellites that could give an analyst an added advantage over our adversaries.”
Earth Observation (EO) refers to the use of remote sensing technologies to monitor land, marine environments (including seas, rivers, and lakes), and the atmosphere. In the face of simmering tensions with China, India has launched a series of radar imaging satellites (RISAT), expanding the fleet from 12 satellites in 2019 to 16.
India had built RISAT-2 at an accelerated pace following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. It is India’s first dedicated reconnaissance satellite. The satellite was used for border surveillance, anti-infiltration, and anti-terrorist operations and was deactivated in October 2022.
RISAT-2B, launched in May 2019, is the third satellite in the series and mounts an indigenous X-Band radar. The satellite is used for obtaining high-resolution spot images with a resolution of approximately 0.5 x 0.3 m and has a mission life of five years. RISAT-2BR1 was launched in December 2019 from SDSC.
This satellite also has a five-year mission life and is used for similar purposes, with a resolution of just 0.35 m.
5 days ago
