India's ASTE Preparing Military Planes To Use ISRO's Navigation Satellite System

India's Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) is readying military aircraft for using Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

The IRNSS is a constellation of seven satellites that will provide position information service to Indian users. In addition to terrestrial and aerial as well as naval navigation, the system can be used for disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management. 

A navigation system IRNSS can be used for civilian as well as military purpose. “Including air force, all the three services are in the process of integrating this in the aircraft.” Air Vice Marshal and Commandant, ASTE, Sandeep Singh, was quoted as saying by Deccan Herald at a press conference to announce the 84th anniversary celebrations of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday.  

With the benefits of high accuracy IRNSS, India does not require to rely on global positioning satellite system of the US.

IRNSS, being developed by India, is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 deg South to 50 deg North, Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East.

IRNSS will provide two types of services, one is Standard Positioning Service (SPS) that is provided to all the users, and another is Restricted Service (RS) that is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users.

The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area.