Indian Navy started largest combat exercise with dedicated satellite G-SAT 7

• Indian Navy started largest combat exercise called “Tropex 2014”, with both the western and eastern fleets amassing in the Bay of Bengal for intensive combat manoeuvres.
• This month long exercise is being held under the gaze of India’s first dedicated Military Satellite G-SAT 7 or “Rukmini”.
• This geostationary naval communication and surveillance satellite is beaming signals from its UHF, S, Ku and C-band transponders to network all Indian warships, submarines and aircraft with operational centres ashore through high-speed encrypted data-links.
• Over 50 Indian warships viz. aircraft carrier INS Viraat, nuclear submarine INS Chakra, fighters, helicopters, drones, etc. would participate in the exercise.

Note: Rukmini is capable of surveying and communicate with the network of all Indian warships, submarines and aircrafts and have a 2000 nautical mile footprint over the critical Indian Ocean region (IOR)).