4 min readChandigarhMar 25, 2022 09:40 AM IST
First published on: Mar 24, 2022 at 05:24 PM IST
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has given the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for capital acquisition proposals for defence services amounting to Rs 8,357 crore.
The DAC at its March 22 meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, also cleared the AoN for procurement of a GSAT 7B satellite, along with equipment like Night Sight (image intensifier), 4X4 light vehicles, and Air Defence Fire Control Radar (light).
What are the GSAT 7 series satellites?
GSAT 7 satellites are advanced satellites developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to meet the communication needs of the defence services. The GSAT 7 satellite was launched in August 2013 from an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.
It is a 2,650 kg satellite which has a footprint of nearly 2,000 nautical miles in the Indian Ocean region. This satellite is mainly used by the Indian Navy for its communication needs.
The GSAT 7 provides a gamut of services for military communication needs, which includes low bit voice rate to high bit rate data facilities, including multi-band communications. Named Rukmini, the satellite carries payloads in UHF, C-band and Ku-band, and helps the Navy to have a secure, real time communication link between its land establishments, surface ships, submarines and aircraft.
The satellite was injected into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) of 249 km perigee (nearest point to earth), 35,929 km apogee (farthest point to earth) and an inclination of 3.5 degree with respect to the equator.
What will be the role of the GSAT 7B satellite?
The GSAT 7B will primarily fulfil the communication needs of the Army. Currently, the Army is using 30 per cent of the communication capabilities of the GSAT 7A satellite, which has been designed for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The GSAT 7B will also help the Army enhance its surveillance in border areas. While many features of this satellite are still a closely guarded secret, it is expected that the state of the art, multi-band, military-grade satellite shall be a shot in the arm for the communication and surveillance needs of the Army.
What is the role of the GSAT 7A satellite, which is already operational?
The GSAT 7A was launched in 2018 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, and has gone a long way in boosting the connectivity between the ground radar stations, airbases and the airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C) of the IAF.
It also helps in satellite controlled operations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which gives a great deal of reliability to the operations as compared to ground controlled operations.
This satellite has 10 channels in Ku band with switchable frequency for mobile users, one fixed Gregorian or parabolic antenna, and four steerable antennae.
A GSAT 7C satellite is on the cards for the IAF, and a proposal to this effect was cleared by the DAC in 2021. This satellite would facilitate real time communication with IAF’s software defined radio communication sets. It will increase the capability of the IAF to communicate beyond the line of sight in a secure mode.
What other kinds of military satellites does India have?
An Electromagnetic Intelligence Gathering Satellite (EMISAT), developed by ISRO, was launched in April 2020 through a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C45). It has an Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) package called Kautilya, which allows the interception of ground-based radar and also carries out electronic surveillance across India.
The ELINT package provides the capability in direction-finding of radar and fixing their locations. It is placed in a 748-km orbit, and is said to be based on the Israeli satellite system. This satellite circles the globe pole-to-pole, and is helpful in gathering information from radars of countries that have borders with India.
India also has a RISAT 2BR1 synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite, which was launched in December 2019 from Sriharikota. It has the capability to operate in different modes including very high resolution imaging modes of 1×0.5 metre resolution and 0.5×0.3 m resolution with a swath of 5-10 km.
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The GSAT 7 provides a gamut of services for military communication needs, which includes low bit voice rate to high bit rate data facilities, including multi-band communications. (Source:ISRO) 
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