India's 'eyes in the skies', key to surgical strikes

On Thursday, the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on terror camps located across the Line-of Control in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

According to news reports, ground images for this operation were provided by the recently launched Cartosat 2C satellite.

The officials said the Cartosat series of satellites (Cartosat-2, 2A, 2B and 2C) were being used for strategic purposes and more so the Cartosat 2C whose images have better resolution. 

The Cartosat 2C was launched in June 2016.

Both Indian Space Research Organisation and the ministry of defence have largely remained tight-lipped about the uses of the Cartosat family of satellites -- which experts call India’s ‘eye in the sky’-- built for dual use.

With the capability of providing high-resolution images of up to 0.65 metres, the Cartosat-2C has enhanced the surveillance the surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of Indian military forces. 

And while Cartosat-2C is the best in the class that India boasts of, countries like the US and Israel boast of better ones.