Reconaissance Sattelites
12 Mar, 2000 · 339
N. K. Pant writes on ways to strengthen the aerial surveillance of the armed forces
One of the recommendations of the Subramaniam Committee report on Kargil tabled in Parliament in the last week of February, 2000 is strengthening aerial surveillance capability by the use of satellites. Reconnaissance satellites detect static or mobile troop movements, air bases, naval ships including submarines using angled cameras to give 3-D pictures of installations, penetrating even camouflage by means of scanners, and partially seeing through clouds and darkness by infrared devices. Satellite espionage has advanced so much that analytical organisations face the problem of coping with the Herculean task of processing the vast amounts of data being constantly received from space.
Notwithstanding the American Intelligence community’s failure to detect the underground nuclear tests conducted by Indian scientists, the military value of reconnaissance satellites in augmenting verification capability cannot be denied. Although the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) series of satellites in orbit, which can need be put to dual use, a number of orbiting eyes in space exclusively for the armed forces has become a distinct necessity.
It is said that the experience gained through the IRS satellites was put to use while preparing the test site at Pokhran tab was kept on the movement of American spy satellites which passed over the affected region after specific periodic intervals. The data transmitted by IRS-1C launched in December,1995 proved to be vital for the country because of its military potential. Its panchromatic camera has a resolution of 6 metres which allows satellites orbiting at the height of approximately 800 kilometres, to see ships, bridges, buildings and other installations. With an infra-red and wide angle field camera as back upIRS-1C also achieve satellite surveillance capability to prepare detailed terrain maps highlighting important enemy military installations which are invaluable in war. The cameras can also record and keep imageries on board, and these can be retrieved as and when required. Older cameras transmit pictures in real time and ground control has to record them as the imageries come by. The linear imaging and self scanning cameras on earlier IRS-1A and IRS-1B have a resolution of 36 metres which are not good for recording close imageries important from a military point of view but useful for monitoring natural resources on a 74- km wide area.
Indigenous remote sensing capability for military applications got a boost when ISRO launched IRS-1D in September,1997 using an Indian launch vehicle. It is the fourth satellite of the operational remote sensing series built by ISRO to monitor the country’s natural resources for development purposes. The dual use IRS-1D with a resolution of 5.8 metres has pioneered techniques for using civilian remote sensing satellites for gathering military related intelligence from space, which includes monitoring of nuclear and missile related activities. Experts feel that IRS-1D’s panchromatic camera is good enough to photograph a truck on the ground, this would make it possible to pick out armament factories, radar and communication installations, missile test sites and troop concentrations of the desired target country. Though ISRO will deny it, IRS-1D is certainly the precursor to future Indian surveillance satellite, providing the nation with a cutting edge in intelligence based warfare.
With expertise gained through designing, fabricating, launching and successfully operating remote sensing satellites, Indian space scientists will not find it difficult to build high resolution reconnaissance satellites for the exclusive use of the armed forces. In fact, there is a proposal to convert the Cartostat, scheduled this year, into a surveillance satellite and place it low earth orbit. It will have a panchromatic camera with a 2.5 metre spatial resolution from a polar orbit of 800 km. But, to make it an effective spy satellite, it will have to be lowered to an earth orbit of 400 km with a resolution of one metre to get a better view, although this exercise may result in reducing its life span.
Having the importance of space technology as a force multiplier during armed conflicts, the Indian armed forces have put forward a proposal for the use of satellites for intelligence gathering missions. The defence planners have laid down the qualitative requirements (QRs) for the project tobe implemented in collaboration with ISRO. The proposed military satellites will have much higher resolution and more powerful optics for sharper, focused data and pictures. Moreover they will have the ability to perform different orbital manoeuvres keeping in mind the hostile intentions of the country in question, thereby acting as reliable technological sentinels in outer space.
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