Such a dedicated satellite would help the armed forces nip in the bud any misadventure by adversary forces in hospitable and treacherous terrains like Kargil, security experts say in a just-released book Kargil Ka Sach written by defence journalist Ranjit Kumar.

Besides giving timely and accurate information about any hostile buildup by forces inimical to India, the satellite would also help reduce the whopping cost of round-the-clock surveillance in such areas despite hostile weather conditions.

According to estimates the cost of manning the 140 km Kargil area round the year would come to about Rs 3,500 crore annually or Rs 10 crore per day.

It is widely believed that India could not get timely information about the Pakistani intrusion in snow-bound Kargil because it did not have such a surveillance satellite which could take photographs ofhostile military buildup on the Line of Control (LoC).

Though the need for such a satellite was felt in connection with the Kargil intrusion, once in position it would be able to monitor the entire Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and country's frontiers with China as well.

According to the experts the launching of such a surveillance satellite should be accompanied by a team of experts armed with latest equipment to analyse in detail the photographs taken by it.

It is understood that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a satellite named Cortosat next year, which is expected to meet such requirements of the India armed forces.

Although ISRO's satellite would be able to take pictures of two and a half metres size only, it would still be able to give vital information about enemy posts, camps and other hostile activity.

The information to be provided by Cortosat would be more detailed and accurate as compared to what is being provided by the Indian Remote SensingSatellite.