NavIC Regional Navigation Satellite System

NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), formerly IRNSS, is India's regional satellite navigation system providing positioning, navigation, and timing services across India and surrounding regions (1,500 km beyond Indian borders). The constellation consists of seven satellites — three in geostationary orbit and four in inclined geosynchronous orbit — providing position accuracy within 5 meters for standard service and 0.1 meters for restricted service.

NavIC was developed primarily for strategic reasons — India wanted a navigation system that couldn't be denied or degraded by foreign powers during a conflict. The Kargil War of 1999, when the US reportedly denied India GPS data, was a key catalyst. Beyond defense, NavIC supports civilian applications: fishing vessel tracking, disaster management, vehicle navigation, and precision agriculture.

India is expanding NavIC with next-generation satellites that will extend coverage and improve accuracy. The system is being mandated in smartphones sold in India — Qualcomm and other chipmakers have added NavIC support to their mobile chipsets. While NavIC's regional coverage limits its global applicability compared to GPS, Galileo, or BeiDou, it gives India sovereign control over a critical technology layer.