August 30, 2013 by Shiv Aroor - Livefist

Sat up to watch this. Real history, given how long the Indian Navy has wanted this. India's first dedicated military satellite was placed into orbit early this morning by the Ariane-5 rocket, launched from Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite will be exclusive for use by the Indian Navy that's so far had to share bandwidth on India's existing space platforms, including the INMARSAT family of satellites.

The GSAT-7 will be activated for operations on September 14 in a geostationary orbit 36,0000-km above the equator.

According to ISRO, "GSAT-7 is an advanced communication satellite built by ISRO to provide wide range of service spectrum from low bit rate voice to high bit rate data communication. GSAT-7 Communication payload is designed to provide communication capabilities to users over a wide oceanic region including the Indian land-mass. The payload configuration is compatible with I-2.5K bus of ISRO. The GSAT-7 payload design includes Multiband communication."

Congratulations to the navy, ISRO and the GSAT-7 team!

Aug 28, 2013 Rajat Pandit, TNN

The 2,625kg military satellite will help the Navy keep a hawk-eye over both Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.

NEW DELHI: India's first dedicated military satellite GSAT-7 or "Rukmini", which will be launched by Arianespace from French Guiana on Friday, will provide the Navy with an almost 2,000-nautical-mile-footprint over the critical Indian Ocean region (IOR).

Essentially a geo-stationary communication satellite to enable real-time networking of all Indian warships, submarines and aircraft with operational centres ashore, the 2,625kg Rukmini will also help the Navy keep a hawk-eye over both Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. "From Persian Gulf to Malacca Strait, it will help cover almost 70% of the IOR," said a source.

The "over-the-sea use" Rukmini, with UHF, S, Ku and C-band transponders, is to be followed by GSAT-7A with the IAF and Army sharing its "over-the-land use" bandwidth. The Navy has been clamouring for such a satellite for close to a decade now to shorten its "sensor-to-shooter loop" - the ability to swiftly detect and tackle a threat — but the delay in the indigenous GSLV rocket to carry satellites and other factors have been the stumbling blocks.

India, of course, has been a late — and somewhat reluctant — entrant into the military space arena despite having a robust civilian programme for decades. Without dedicated satellites of their own, the armed forces were relegated to using "dual use" Cartosat satellites or the Technology Experimental Satellite launched in 2001, apart from leasing foreign satellite transponders for surveillance, navigation and communication purposes.

China, in sharp contrast, has taken huge strides in the military space arena, testing even ASAT (anti-satellite) weapons against "low-earth orbit" satellites since January 2007. "With counter-space being a top priority, China has been testing its 'direct-ascent kinetic kill' capabilities. It also has active programmes for kinetic and directed-energy laser weapons as well as nano-satellites. By 2020, it hopes to have a space station with military applications," said a source.

Incidentally, around 300 dedicated or dual-use military satellites are orbiting around the earth, with the US owning 50% of them, followed by Russia and China. But India has lagged far behind in utilization of the final frontier of space for military purposes, refusing to even approve the long-standing demand of the armed forces for a full-fledged Aerospace Command, as earlier reported by TOI.

Though officially against " any offensive space capabilities or weaponization of space", the defence ministry in 2010 had come out with a 15-year "Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap" that dwelt on the need to develop ASAT weapons "for electronic or physical destruction of satellites in both LEO (2,000km altitude above earth's surface) and GEO-synchronous orbits". These portions were quietly deleted in the roadmap released earlier this year.

DRDO contends it can develop ASAT weapons if required by marrying the propulsion system of the over 5,000-km Agni-V missile with the "kill vehicle" of its two-tier BMD (ballistic missile system) system.

Apart from working on "directed energy weapons" at its Laser Science &Technology Centre, DRDO also has futuristic programmes for launching "mini-satellites on demand" for use in the battlefield as well as "EMP (electromagnetic pulse) hardening" of satellites and sensors to protect them against ASAT weapons.

But all that is in the future. Dedicated military satellites like Rukmini will help India keep real-time tabs over the rapidly-militarizing IOR, where China is increasingly expanding its strategic footprint, as well as on troop movements, missile silos, military installations and airbases across land borders.

Jun 7, 2012 Ilya Kramnik – The Voice of Russia

India is preparing its first military satellite for launch. Once in its geostationary orbit, the satellite will carry out monitoring of the Earth's surface and provide communication functions in the interests of the Indian Navy. Thus, India becomes the fourth country whose naval forces include a satellite group.

The Indian Navy has always been one of the most powerful in the Asia-Pacific region. It only lacked a so-called “space component” to meet modern standards. And today the first element of this component is ready for launch scheduled for this month.

The new satellite’s tasks include observing the Earth's surface and ensuring uninterrupted satellite communication for the Indian Navy. It will provide sharp growth for the Indian Navy’s capabilities; the fleet will be able to exchange large amounts of information in real time. Theoretically, the launch of a military satellite may be the first phase in creating a full-fledged information network that will make it possible to coordinate actions of the whole fleet from one command post which provides remote targeting and target distribution. In order to create a full-fledged intelligence and information system, India also needs low-orbit satellites, patrol airplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles that could provide total coverage of the selected area. (For naval intelligence purposes, the Indian Navy is likely to buy the American P-8I aircraft. India is also going to increase the purchase of the Israeli drones Heron and Searcher Mark II).

Today only the US and NATO possess the complete set of relevant capabilities. Russia, Japan, and to a certain extent China have the potential to create such a system in a reasonable time. The launch of the Indian satellite means an expansion of the “elite club”, but it will take a lot of time for the Indian Navy to actually integrate these capabilities into its daily practice.

Placing the satellite into a geostationary orbit is an important task. Today, India does not possess a reliable enough carrier for its implementation. Theoretically, the placing into an orbit can be provided by means of a GSLV type missile, but the launchers’ statistics – four failures and one partial failure out of seven launches – cast doubt on the fact that the Indian military will trust the launch of their first satellite to an unreliable carrier.

So far there are no official reports about how, where, and by what means the satellite will be placed into orbit. There are not too many alternatives, and the Russian alternative seems to be the most probable. The geostationary orbit, in which a satellite takes a position strictly above the equator, provides additional benefits for India. In this case it provides virtually perfect conditions for observing the Indian Ocean, which is the Indian military’s main concern.

Preparations for the launch are not taking place in a vacuum; the Asia-Pacific region is becoming a scene of growing rivalry betweenthe great powers. In addition to the strengthening of China’s military and Indian progress in this sphere, the growth of Japanese potential and concentration of American forces in the region should be noted. By 2020, the US Navy is going to concentrate up to 60% of its battle ships, including six multi-purpose aircraft carrier battle groups, in the Asia-Pacific region.

It was just yesterday that the US began the re-targeting process in the Asia-Pacific region, and the change of priorities has been confirmed by organizational activities. For example, the disbandment of the US Navy 2nd fleet, historically responsible for the Atlantic theatre.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has twice recently confirmed the intention to relocate the greater part of the US Navy to the Asia-Pacific region. This direction already enjoys priority in regards to the latest technical equipment. Practically half of all combat-ready F-22 fighter jets are concentrated in the Pacific Ocean. Bases in this region will be the first to receive F-35 aircraft, and it is to the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet that the new Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier will be handed.

The US strategy is quite clear: they are increasing their strength in accordance to the growth of possibilities of their main geopolitical rival, and for now it is definitely China. Pursuing this strategy, the US is trying to rely on Beijing’s natural opponents. After Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, the US is trying to include both a somewhat aloof India and one-time enemy Vietnam in its strategy.

During his visit to India, Secretary Panetta said that India and the United States should conduct more regular and complex joint war games. Observers paid attention to the fact that this idea was expressed in New Delhi on the same day, when Russian President Vladimir Putin – who is in China on a state visit – called for the development of military cooperation with China.

Admittedly the United States have good chances for building an anti-Chinese coalition – traditionally Beijing is not too popular in the region. But there are two possible obstacles on this way. Tokyo historically does not enjoy the love of its neighbors either, and cooperation with India requires significant concessions in favor of this country, as well as taking its interests into account, because India is too serious a player for the role of a junior partner. The future launch of India’sfirst military satellite is yet more evidence of its ambitions and possibilities.