India Launches Israeli Satellite

Tecsar will help Israel monitor its enemies such as Iran, defence experts say.

India's space agency launched an advanced Israeli reconnaissance satellite on Monday capable of taking images through cloud cover or at night, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The Tecsar satellite, also known as Polaris, was the second commercial launch by the Indian space agency. The first was in April last year when an Italian satellite was put into orbit, the ISRO said in a statement.

Tecsar will help Israel monitor its enemies such as Iran, defence experts say.

"This launch significantly improves Israel's intelligence coverage," said Alon Ben-David, Israel analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"Israel already has three satellites, but this one can see in all weather, as well as at night. True, it's relatively small and experimental, but at a time when Israel feels it is facing Iran alone, the ability to bolster the independent satellite network is seen as important."

India, which has developed closer ties with Israel over the last few years, was chosen to launch the satellite mainly because of commercial reasons -- it is cheaper than many alternatives -- rather than any geopolitical issues, according to analysts.

The satellite is due to start providing images about 14 days after its launch.