Defence ministry records full readiness of satellite rescue terminal

India’s Ministry of Defence has documented full operational capability of the Indian satellite-aided search-and-rescue ground terminal known as MEOLUT. Its October 7, 2026 statement records Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth’s acknowledgment of the achievement and his congratulations to ISRO and the associated teams.

MEOLUT means Medium Earth Orbiting Local User Terminal. It is a ground system for search-and-rescue signals carried through satellites in medium Earth orbit, rather than a newly launched satellite. ISRO’s 2025–26 annual report describes its indigenous development, including antennas, a digital receiver and a location estimator.

The earlier annual report recorded commissioning tests completed and submitted to the international Cospas–Sarsat expert working group in February 2025. It described full operational capability as a subsequent step after 90 successful days of initial operations, enabling the terminal to distribute alerts nationally and internationally.

Seth made the October acknowledgment while inaugurating the multinational search-and-rescue exercise. United News of India also reported his statement, covering the same speech rather than providing a separate technical assessment. The ministry’s release recorded a maritime rescue board review that day of preparedness across India’s 4.6 million-square-kilometre search-and-rescue region.

The October release does not identify the terminal’s commissioning date, publish its acceptance-test results or quantify changes in rescue response time. It documents the government’s acknowledgment of full capability; it does not establish that commissioning occurred on October 7.