It is no secret that the effective use of space technology by the Indian forces is multiplied over the years. India has over 10 satellites for military purpose and it allows its armed forces to be more strategic in approach.
Majority of Pakistan’s area is under ISRO satellites’ control as our satellites keep an eye over entire Pakistan and provide a high-resolution mapping of around 87% of the neighbouring country’s area, providing key inputs to the armed forces’ operations just like the recent Balakot airstrikes.
Indian satellites are able to accurately spot and map all terrains across 7.7 lakh sq.km of Pakistan’s total 8.8 lakh sq.km of land area, giving Indian commanders full access to high definition pictures of 0.65 metre.
Indian satellites have access to mapping even other neighbouring countries too about 5.5 million sq km of land spread across 14 countries but details about China were not available.
“This coverage is just from the Cartosat family of satellites. There are an array of services that Isro provides, but we cannot comment on everything in public,” a source said.
On January 17, Junior space minister Jitendra Singh had said that India can peep into Pakistan homes with relative ease. “India’s integrated border management system allows India to look into the verandahs and rooms of houses of people across the border in Pakistan,” he said.
The Indian Air Force (IAF), which has a demand for more satellites is currently contended with the satisfactory services being provided by Isro. An Air Marshal commanding a top facility said last week: “Do we need more satellites? Yes. But nearly 70% of our demand has already been met and we are on track?”
Among the significant and major satellites that have always supported and helped the Indian armed forces are the series of Cartosat satellites, GSAT-7 and GSAT-7A, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) constellation, the Microsat, Risat and the HysIS (Hyper-spectral Imaging Satellite).
As reported by TOI earlier, the first important use of the Cartosat family of satellites played a huge role in India’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in the year September 2016. ISRO has been providing up-to-date images to the armed forces.
