The government on Wednesday signed a Rs 3,000-crore contract with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for an advanced communication satellite, GSAT 7B, a move which will give a major boost to the Indian Army’s communication capability.

The pact is significant as the Indian Army currently does not have a dedicated satellite, unlike the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy.

The GSAT 7B will provide High Throughput Services to the Indian Army at an overall cost of Rs 2,963 crore. All these projects are under Buy {Indian - IDMM (Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured)} category.

"The satellite will considerably enhance the communication capability of the Indian Army by providing critical beyond the line of sight communication to troops and formations as well as weapon and airborne platforms. The geostationary satellite, being a first-of-its-kind in the five-tonne category, will be developed indigenously by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)," the defence ministry said in a statement.

"Many parts and sub-assemblies and systems will be sourced from indigenous manufacturers, including MSMEs and start-ups, thereby giving a fillip to the private Indian space industry, in line with the Prime Minister's vision of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. The project will generate employment of approximately three lakh man-days over a period of three and half years," it added.

“The dedicated satellite for the army is a long-standing need and will enhance the network-centric warfare capabilities of the army, making them more secure and jam-proof. The army was so far dependent on the air force’s GSAT-7A satellite,” said Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), director general, of the Centre for Air Power Studies.

The ministry also signed two other contracts worth around ₹2,400 crores with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to sharpen the air defence capabilities of the armed forces.

The first of these, worth ₹1,982 crores, is to implement Project Akashteer, an automated air defence control and reporting system that will allow the army’s air defence units to operate in an integrated manner.

Akashteer will enable the monitoring of low-level airspace over the battle areas of the Indian Army and effectively control the ground-based air defence weapon systems, the defence ministry said.

The second contract worth ₹412 crores with BEL is for Sarang electronic support measure systems for Indian Navy helicopters. Sarang is an advanced Electronic Support Measure system for helicopters of the Indian Navy, designed and developed indigenously by the Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Hyderabad under the programme Samudrika. 

Image source: ISRO