India and France announced their plan to launch satellites aimed for maritime surveillance, as French space agency CNES chief Jean-Yves Le Gall informed. The satellites will focus on the Indian Ocean and they will constitute India’s largest space cooperation with any country.
The satellites will be monitoring sea traffic management, a CNES official noted, adding they will probably launch in about five years.
ISRO and CNES will now work together to design and develop techniques to monitor assets in land and sea. In particular, the organization will study the constellation of satellites for maritime surveillance.
The fact is that a number of important sea lanes of communications are passing through the Indian Ocean, which is considered an important region for the strategic interests of India and France.
Indian Ocean’s main focus may be New Delhi, however Paris has some territories spread across the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
The agreement on the maritime satellites is part of a wider agreement between the two countries, signed in March this year. According to this agreement, India and France presented a joint vision for space, under which they will strengthen the cooperation between ISRO and CNES.
