[8] The multiple-band spacecraft will be used exclusively by the Navy to shore up secure, real-time communications among its warships, submarines, aircraft and land systems.

[11][12] The satellite was launched early on 30 August 2013 atop an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

[13] India's first dedicated military satellite was put into a geosynchronous orbit, about 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) above Earth, five days after it was launched after three orbit-raising manoeuvres from ISRO's Master Control Facility at Hassan in Karnataka.

[15] All of the on-board transponders were switched on successfully on September 18, 2013[16] Rukmini will provide networking capabilities to various Indian Naval assets.

During Theater-level Readiness and Operational Exercise (Tropex) in the Bay of Bengal in 2014, Rukmini was able to network about 60 ships and 75 aircraft seamlessly.