Ritu Sharma
It is no news that China supported Pakistan with military hardware during the recent military confrontation with India. However, less discussed has been the support the constellation of Chinese satellites provided in terms of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) to Islamabad, and how New Delhi countered it by mobilizing all its military and civilian assets in space.
The Indian military is taking incremental steps to build its own constellation of 52 satellites over the next five years, aiming to enhance its capability to spy from space. However, the ambitious plan hit a speed bump as the attempt to position the NVS-02 satellite in its intended orbit was not achieved due to a failure in the satellite’s onboard thrusters.
Launched on January 29, 2025, aboard the GSLV-Mk 2 rocket, this mission marked ISRO’s 100th launch from the Sriharikota spaceport.
The satellite is a crucial component of India’s Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) system, which aims to provide accurate positioning services across India and extend up to 1500 km beyond its borders.
“We pulled all the resources (civilian and military space assets) and gave them to the armed forces. We were virtually looking at each other all the time. We had gaps, but we were much better,” a source familiar with the matter told the EurAsian Times about the space-based reconnaissance during the Indo-Pak war. The source admitted that India has gaps, and its space capabilities in comparison to China are currently inadequate.
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