Pak launched 6 satellites in a year; may be used to spy on India, warns expert

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has boosted its abstraction surveillance powerfulness manifold by launching a bid of six world reflection (EO) satellites successful the past 1 and a fractional years. These EO oregon spy satellites tin beryllium utilized by Pakistan to support an oculus connected India’s borders, unit deployment and subject assets.Pak launched 6 satellites successful a year; whitethorn beryllium utilized to spy connected India, warns expertThough the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) was acceptable up successful 1961, Pakistan launched its archetypal outer lone successful 1990. Even the payloads launched successful the past respective decades with the assistance of overseas launchers were little than a dozen. However betwixt Jan 2025 and April 2026, Pakistan amazingly launched six EO satellites, mostly with the assistance of Chinese rockets.The six EO satellites launched are Pakistan Air University PAUSAT-1 connected Jan 14, 2025 by SpaceX-Falcon 9; Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite-Earth Observation 1 (PRSC-EO1) launched connected Jan 17, 2025 by China’s Long March-2D rocket; PRSS-2 EO connected July 31, 2025 by a Chinese rocket; Hyperspectral outer HS-1 connected Oct 19, 2025 by China’s Long March; PRSC-EO2 lifted disconnected connected Feb 12, 2026 by China’s Smart Dragon-3; and PRSC-EO3 connected April 25 this twelvemonth by Chinese Long March-6.

Group Captain Ajay Ahlawat (retd), present a defence analyst, told TOI, “There is nary concealed astir these satellites arsenic each payload launches are recorded with ITU (International Telecommunication Union). We (India) excessively did not miss it. These EO satellites person been designed to spot things successful greater item and person improved Pakistan’s visibility connected Indian territory, astatine slightest for 3-4 years. On the contrary, India has not been capable to motorboat a azygous surveillance outer successful the past 1 year.

Our payloads are ready. But the rocketry strategy is not. After truthful galore caller failures, Isro is disquieted and not definite of palmy launches.”“Our NavIC strategy has besides crippled arsenic lone 3 navigation satellites are successful abstraction against the request of minimum four, forcing our strategical forces to trust connected overseas navigation systems similar GPS and Glonass for rocket navigation,”the defence adept said. Group Capt Ahlawat (Retd) suggested that India should get their payloads that are captious for cardinal abstraction missions launched from affable abstraction agencies similar Europe's Spaceport astatine French Guiana oregon Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome till the clip Isro fixes its rocket problems.Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai (Retd), besides a defence analyst, said successful his blog recently, “When EO-3 outer is passing implicit South Asia successful daylight, PRSC-S1 is passing implicit the aforesaid geography successful darkness, and vice versa. Since the optical outer needs daylight and the SAR outer does not, the 2 satellites unneurotic supply what neither achieves alone, compressed revisit cycles approaching persistence successful operational presumption of the South Asian theatre crossed the afloat 24-hour cycle.

”Writing astir India’s outer plans, Pillai further wrote, “India’s space-based Surveillance Phase-III programme — SBS-3 — approved successful Oct 2024 and accelerated aft Operation Sindoor, envisages a constellation of 52 surveillance satellites to beryllium deployed implicit the 2nd fractional of this decade. The intent is sound, but the sequencing occupation is acute: the overhead ISR menace from China’s already dense subject outer web and from this China-enabled Pakistani constellation is operational now, portion SBS-3’s archetypal launches are lone expected to statesman astir 2026 and afloat deployment is mostly not projected earlier 2029.

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