India, Nov. 16 -- When Pakistani commanders struggled to make sense of battlefield movements during Operation Sindoor in May 2025, the problem wasn't confusion on the ground it was in orbit. Delayed and infrequent satellite imagery left Rawalpindi's General Headquarters blind to key developments, exposing a weakness long known inside Pakistan's security establishment: its space-based intelligence system couldn't keep up with the pace of modern conflict.

That shortfall set off an urgent push to expand and diversify the country's surveillance capabilities. Within months, Pakistan had launched three new satellites, reopened dormant European imagery channels, and deepened partnerships with China, Turkey and the United States an effort meant ...