India is accelerating plans to expand its space-based surveillance architecture, aiming to deploy more than 50 new spy satellites with enhanced night-time and all-weather imaging capabilities.
The initiative follows intelligence gaps exposed during the 2025 India–Pakistan border conflict, under the Narendra Modi government.
Key developments:
• The Space-Based Surveillance-3 (SBS-3) programme will initially deploy 52 satellites, with up to 150 planned.
• New satellites will shift from electro-optical systems to synthetic aperture radar (SAR), enabling imaging in darkness and cloud cover.
• India is exploring overseas ground stations in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Scandinavia to speed up data relay.
• Inter-satellite data transfer upgrades aim to reduce revisit gaps from days to a few hours.
• The programme is led by Indian Space Research Organisation, under chairman V Narayanan.
The expansion reflects broader efforts to strengthen national security, reduce reliance on foreign satellite data, and counter regional advances in space-based intelligence.
ℹ️ Bloomberg
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