India’s desi-GPS NAVIC is defunct; strategic functionality misplaced

India’s strategic NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) sequence of satellites, designed, constructed and maintained by the nationwide Space company ISRO, are defunct. The NAVIC sequence of satellites is supposed to offer Position, Navigation & Timing companies for civilian and army customers inside India and 1,500 km past the nation’s borders. Theoretically, a naked minimal of 4 satellites is required for the functioning of NAVIC. At current, barely 3 of 11 NAVIC satellites are fulfilling their core function, publicly accessible data reveals. Even amongst these 3 satellites, one may fail anytime, because it has effectively exceeded its anticipated life.

India confronted GPS-denial (decreased GPS accuracy) throughout the 1999 conflict towards Pakistan, which hindered the Indian army from deftly navigating the treacherous Himalayan area, and affected the power to conduct precision strikes at will on enemy positions. Faced with this strategic vulnerability and international dependence, the Indian Government deliberate to arrange its personal various to the American GPS.

America operates GPS, China operates Beidou, Europe operates Galileo, and Russia operates GLONASS. NAVIC was designed to be India’s sovereign various to those companies. While the aforementioned companies can be found globally, India’s NAVIC is supposed to operate solely within the Indian subcontinent area(inside Indian borders and 1,500 km past them).

Between 2013 and 2018, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the first-generation Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System(IRNSS) sequence satellites. IRNSS was later often called NAVIC.

According to ISRO, the IRNSS first-generation was meant to have seven satellites. To fulfil this requirement, ISRO launched 9 IRNSS satellites(IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H, 1I) between 2013 and 2018. Of the 9, solely eight satellites had been efficiently positioned in orbit. IRNSS-1I couldn’t be positioned in orbit because of a rocket failure.

Of the eight that had been positioned in area, 5 satellites suffered failures in important parts often called atomic clocks. Atomic clocks are extremely exact and complex timekeeping devices, that are basic to the operation of Navigation satellites. When all atomic clocks in a satellite tv for pc fail, it implies a complete failure of that satellite tv for pc’s functionality to supply Position, Navigation & Timing.

In 2025, responding to a Right to Information(RTI) question, ISRO mentioned that 5(1A, 1C, 1D, 1E,1G) of eight IRNSS satellites suffered failure in all three on-board atomic clocks.

With atomic clock failures in 5 of eight first-generation satellites, solely three(1B, 1F, 1I) satellites remained operational. Even amongst these three remaining satellites, IRNSS-1B has exceeded its mission lifetime of 10years and is now in its eleventh 12 months. Two atomic clocks onboard IRNSS-1F had failed earlier, whereas its third and closing atomic clock failed this week. Launched in 2018, IRNSS-1I is anticipated to be operational till 2028.

In a press release issued on Friday,(thirteenth March), ISRO mentioned that its “IRNSS-1F satellite launched in March 2016 has completed its design mission life of 10 years on 10th March 2026.” On thirteenth March 2026, the procured on-board Atomic clock stopped functioning. However, the satellite tv for pc will proceed to operate in-orbit for numerous societal purposes to offer one-way broadcast messaging companies, it was added.

This implies that solely two satellites IRNSS-1B and IRNSS-1I, from the first-generation are in some state of operation, however they face a excessive threat of failure anytime.

During launch, ISRO had estimated that every IRNSS-series satellite tv for pc may function in area for 10years. Theoretically, these satellites may stay longer, if they’ve gasoline of their tanks for performing important manoeuvres, and their essential methods are practical. However, the untimely atomic clock failures in six of eight satellites have been an enormous setback. ISRO admitted that every one these atomic clocks had been imported.

With the pricey classes learnt from the IRNSS-series(first -generation NAVIC) failures, which is India’s first try at growing a constellation of GPS-like satellites, ISRO determined to construct and launch bigger satellites below the NVS-series. The NVS-series was meant to exchange the IRNSS-series. In easy phrases, the NVS-series is the second-generation, superior fleet of NAVIC satellites. ISRO mentioned that the NVS-series would comprise a complete of 5 satellites.

ISRO launched NVS-01 in May 2023, and that satellite tv for pc has been working as designed, as per the company. However, its successor satellite tv for pc, NVS-02, which was launched in January 2025, failed to succeed in its designated orbit. The satellite tv for pc stays caught in its preliminary orbit, because the satellite tv for pc’s onboard engine couldn’t hearth to raise it increased. Stuck within the preliminary orbit, NVS-02 can not present Position, Navigation, Timing companies. Therefore, India has just one absolutely practical NVS-series satellite tv for pc(NVS-02) in orbit, when it requires 5 of them.

In 2025, the Indian Government had mentioned in Parliament that ISRO would launch the remaining NVS satellites by the top of 2026. However, this looks like an unrealistic timeline, given ISRO’s tempo to date. ISRO launched NVS-01 in May 2023; NVS-02 was launched in January 2025, which exhibits a spot of 19 months between the 2 launches. It has been greater than a 12 months after the NVS-02 failure, and its successor, NVS-03, has not been launched. ISRO has additionally confronted three failures in six missions executed between January 2025 and January 2026, additional slowing down the general tempo of exercise and affecting morale.

The American Global Positioning System(GPS), which helps trillion-dollar civilian and army purposes worldwide, requires a fleet of 24 satellites in orbit for optimum efficiency and round the clock world protection. Considering how essential GPS is to the worldwide economic system, the US Government maintains no less than 30 GPS satellites in orbit at any given cut-off date. The six further satellites are meant to make sure that the service stays dependable and strong, even when a couple of satellites fail or encounter sudden glitches.

To meet its personal nationwide necessities, China operates a fleet of Beidou satellites, which function an alternative choice to America’s GPS. While Beidou requires a fleet of 30 satellites in orbit, round 35 satellites are believed to be in orbit.

Meanwhile, after many years of scientific effort and billions of taxpayer Rupees spent, India’s formidable desi-GPS challenge NAVIC stays in a defunct state. While NAVIC requires a naked minimal of 4 satellites, it’s presently down to a few.

Pitiably, two of the paltry three NAVIC satellites are counting right down to age-related obsolescence. The current actuality of NAVIC is a stark reminder that- even 1 / 4 of a century after the Kargil War- India doesn’t have an operational fleet of Position, Navigation & Timing satellites for its strategic functions.