India launches spy satellite to boost security

India successfully launched a carrier rocket on Monday to orbit a radar imaging satellite with "spying" capabilities and an indigenous telecoms micro satellite.

NEW DELHI, April 20 (Reuters) - India launched an Israeli-built military spy satellite on Monday as it strengthens its security system after last year's Mumbai attacks exposed glaring loopholes in the defence apparatus.

The spy satellite launch also highlights growing defence ties between Israel and India. Israel is now the second biggest arms supplier to India after Russia. The satellite will help Indian agencies monitor the country's international borders and anticipate any troop build-up or infiltration attempts by militant groups, defence officials said.

"The launch was perfect and the satellite is in orbit," a spokesman for the Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO) said by telephone from a southern Indian launch site.The all weather spy satellite was capable of providing clear images throughout the year, he said.

India sped up the satellite launch after last November's Mumbai attacks, in which at least 166 people were killed by 10 gunmen, catching the country's security agencies completely by surprise.

"The satellite launch is yet another manifestation of India's relationship with Israel," Uday Bhaskar, a strategic expert, said. The launch of an Israeli satellite last year from an Indian base created controversy after Iran alleged that the satellite would be used to take images of Iran. India and Israel denied this.
India is expanding its space capabilities and last year, it launched 10 satellites into orbit from a single rocket and sent its first unmanned moon mission, joining the Asian space race in the footsteps of rival China. (Reporting by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)

INDIA put an Israeli-built spy satellite into orbit today, aimed at boosting its defence surveillance capabilities in the aftermath of the Mumbai militant attacks.The satellite, which can see through clouds and carry out day-and-night all-weather imaging, has been a long-standing demand of the Indian military.

There is nothing called spy satellite: ISRO chief. This is an imaging satellite that can identify features on ground. There is nothing as a spy satellite. Though the satellite has a global coverage we will use it only for our use," ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair told reporters here at a post-launch press conference.

India now joins a select group of countries in the world like Canada, Israel, Japan and a few others in having such a precision satellite. He said ISRO is working with the Russian space agency and is in the process of finalising the test equipment that would go with the two rovers that would soft land on the moon. "Engineering activity for the project is on and the launch will happen sometime in 2011 or early 2012,”.