SP's Land Forces Apr-May 2009

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Issue 2 • 2009

SP’s

Vo l 6 N o 2

LandForces AN SP GUIDE

Sponsor of International Seminar - BMS - organised by Indian Army and CII

ROUNDUP

WWW.SPSLANDFORCES.NET

T h e O N LY j o u r n a l i n A s i a d e d i c a t e d t o L a n d F o r c e s

In This Issue

Smerch BM-30 can be used as an independent artillery system, with shoot-and-scoot capabilities, in the highaltitude mountainous areas of Jammu and Kashmir

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P U B L I C AT I O N

BRIGADIER (RETD) VINOD ANAND ?

EEdi orial d ittorial

LT GENERAL (RETD) PRAN PAHWA Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor EDITOR

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LT GENERAL (RETD) R.S. NAGRA ?

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LT. GENERAL (RETD) V.K. KAPOOR ?

Fa c e t o Fa c e

‘Common communication

policy vital’

Photographs: SP Guide Pubns

The situation in Pakistan is deteriorating rapidly. While on one hand we have seen the assertion of the popular will in the reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, on the other hand the internal security situation in Pakistan is in shambles. The suicide bombing of a mosque in Jamrud in Khyber agency on March 27, 2009, was followed by an audacious assault on the Police Training Centre at Manawan on March 30 on the outskirts of Lahore. Sunday April 05, saw yet another suicide blast this time by a teenager, in a Shia mosque in Chakwal in Punjab which was executed a few hours after the targeting of the security forces near the UN office, in the heart of Islamabad. It is obvious that Pakistan’s capacity and will to tackle Al Qaida, Taliban and other jihadi groups is lacking. Analysts in New York and in Washington who are already putting forward apocalyptic timetables for Pakistan feel that the US is running out of time to help Pakistan change its present course. David Kilcullen, a specialist in guerrilla warfare and counter insurgency, who advised Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was the American commander in Iraq, has said that Pakistan could be facing internal collapse within six months. President Obama’s new strategy for Af-Pak region calls for a virtual remaking of Pakistan’s institutions and even of the national psyche. While officially, Pakistan’s government welcomed Mr. Obama’s strategy, with its massive dose of monetary aid of $1.5 billion a year for 5 years, however its people and the official machinery including the military are continuing to deny that a threat from Al Qaeda and the Taliban, is so imminent. In light of the above India needs to effectively protect it’s economic and security interests from the menacing developments in the neighbourhood. India should hone its intelligence gathering capabilities in all dimensions and virtually seal its land and maritime borders with rapid reaction forces available to manage crises within and to strike across the border based on real-time intelligence. Publication and release of this issue is coinciding with the Battle Management Systems (BMS) Seminar in mid-April 2009 and hence it carries the interview of the Director General Information Systems along with two articles on BMS and other interesting pieces including Limited Wars in Asia, Chinas Asymmetric Warfare capability, Multi Barreled Rocket Launchers, Self Propelled Guns in artillery and the status of the Army Air Defence in India.

A Battle Management System would provide situational awareness to a unit/subunit/ detachment commander and networking him down to an individual soldier or a tank

M-109 has been continually upgraded and improved to today’s current version, the M-109A6 “Paladin”, which is used in US Army in its armoured and mechanised divisions.

In an interview to SP’s Editor-in-Chief Jayant Baranwal and Editor of SP’s Land Forces Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor, Director General Information Systems Lt General P.C. Katoch, UYSM, AVSM, SC, pinpoints the loopholes and challenges facing the Indian Army in its quest to achieve network centric capability. 2/2009 SP’S LAND FORCES

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