From satellites to strikes: Why Operation Sindoor is proof that geospatial tech is crucial for modern warfare

Around 10 satellites that work round-the-clock to ensure the safety and security of the country played a crucial role in ensuring the success of Operation Sindoor as India targeted terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in the early hours of May 7 in retaliation to the deadly Pahalgam attacks.

“We have to monitor our 7,000 km-long seashore. Without satellite and drone technology, we can’t achieve many things,” said ISRO Chairman, Dr V Narayanan, as he addressed the fifth Convocation Ceremony of the Central Agricultural University (CAU).

India has come a long way from an earlier “restrictive” Geospatial Information Regulation Bill of 2016, which drew criticism for being regressive, to the new National Geospatial Policy. Notified in 2022, it is being lauded for its liberalised and access-oriented approach.

From mapping to visualisation and analysis of Earth’s features, geospatial tech encompasses a wide range of features, including Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographic Information System, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to measure angles and distances, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) for remote sensing and aerial photography, Location-Based Services (LBS), and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) such as 3D modelling.

The success of military actions like Operation Sindoor largely depends on having access to accurate data and real-time or short-span analysis and converting these into ‘actionable insights’.

Over the years, availability of better satellite imagery from different geospatial technologies in a GIS system has made decision-making and planning a lot easier. But Operation Sindoor stands out as opposed to India’s previous conflicts with Pakistan because this time UAVs, drones, guided missiles, and other aircraft-based systems were used to identify and hit targets based on a lot of automation in real operations, said Agendra Kumar, MD, ESRI India.

“It's all automated because some satellite is providing real-time information. There's an aircraft system that processes it, the target gets identified, the weapon gets selected, and the shooting happens in a pretty-much automatic way,” he added.

ESRI India, which also caters to the government and defence sector, has a cloud-based platform called ArcGIS for denied, disconnected, intermittent, and low-bandwidth (DDIL) environments to support military missions and functions.

While the Defence Series Maps are classified maps and monitored by the Ministry of Defence, experts say that work of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nodal agency for all three wings of the armed forces, has a more complex task in analysing geospatial data from satellite communication, navigation, reconnaissance, and surveillance capabilities compared to other uses of geospatial tech.

Currently, apart from the ISRO, the government organisations also rely on foreign satellites for imagery. “The sourcing and the use of satellite imagery is quite advanced and some of the systems we have in our forces are comparable with any other global systems, whether it's for surveillance or information gathering or for command and control,” Kumar said.

The ability of the Indian defence forces in creating 3D visualisations of enemy locations also plays a critical role. These 3D visualisations give soldiers the much-needed edge in helping to plan or prepare for the battle.

According to Kumar, advancement in geospatial tech, especially in areas of imagery using synthetic aperture radar that can provide inputs/ images irrespective of weather conditions, and advanced machine learning and AI that could assess and lay details of enemy assets bare, will be a game changer in the defence sector.