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| India-Pakistan |
| ISRO to build satellites for Indian Navy |
| 2005-12-24 |
| The Central government on Friday granted an additional Rs 400 crore to the Indian Space Research Organisation, which is likely to be spent on India’s first naval satellite. The clearance was given on Thursday night by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by the defence, home and finance ministers along with their secretaries. Though Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that the allocation was for space development programmes, it is understood that the resources have been sanctioned for making India’s first naval satellite for which the navy has already prepared the ground work in consultation with ISRO. The budget document shows that there is no head called space development programme. Though normally, ISRO budgets for civilian space projects are sanctioned either by the Union Cabinet or Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, this time the CCS has approved the funds. According to naval sources, ISRO might take 30 months to make the satellite, which is likely to be used for communication among battleships and surveillance. |
| Posted by:john |
| #1 This announcement follows the George Bush- Manmohan Singh agreement on US-India space cooperation. ISRO has been reluctant to develop satellites for military use. The Indian TES recon satellite has been used for military purposes but remains civilian controlled. With the agreement on cooperation with the US, ISRO seems to have lost its shyness. |
| Posted by: john 2005-12-24 13:34 |