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TECHNOLOGY
APRIL 2012
2002, a missile launched from a Predator drone killed several terrorists in a moving vehicle in Yemen. The operation was controlled from the US Central Command Headquarters in Florida, satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery was used to track a moving vehicle in real time after ground operatives had tipped off the CIA about the presence of terrorists in it, and a precision strike air-to-surface missile was used to successfully destroy the target without causing collateral damage. The technologies proven in the RMA led to a ‘transformation’ in force structures, doctrines, training methodology and the management of human resources. Recent wars fought by American and other Western armed forces have shown, time and again, that information superiority leads to enhanced combat effectiveness. network centric warfare (NCW) is a concept enabled by information superiority that synergises combat power by the real-time networking of sensors, decision-makers and shooters to achieve shared situational awareness, enhanced quality of decision making, faster tempo of operations, focussed application of fire and increased survivability. All of this leads to enhanced mission effectiveness. NCW exploits information superiority and transforms it into combat power by effectively linking all decision makers and all firepower entities in the battle space. By making it possible to generate precise war fighting effects at high tempo simultaneously across the full battle space, it blurs the distinction between the operational and the tactical levels of war. NCW acts as an enabler that focusses on the speedy attainment of operational level aims, thus leading to the early achievement of strategic objectives.
BATTLE FOR
CHANGE The Indian Army has been slow in catching up with the latest developments in network centric warfare
KEY POINTS The key element in a NCW environment is intelligence gathering in real-time. n The Army does not have military satellites it needs for continuous surveillance. n Supremacy in future battles will hinge on sophisticated command, control and communications systems. n
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peaking on this year’s Army Day, January 15, General V.K. Singh, Chief of the Army Staff, said that his task was to transform the 1.13 million strong Army into an, “agile, lethal and networked force.” Again, earlier, while speaking about
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The India NCW Story
AFP
GURMEET KANWAL
modernisation of the Army, he said, “The primary areas that are being addressed are aimed at greater battlefield transparency, increasing the lethality and precision of firepower capabilities, overcoming night blindness and achieving network centricity.” All of these remarks were said in the context of preparing to fight and win across the full spectrum of conflict – from subconventional to conventional state-onstate warfare under a nuclear overhang – in positional, attritional, manoeuvre, asymmetric and virtual warfare. Armed forces across the world have readily accepted Admiral William Owens’ concept of following a system-of-systems approach outlined in his seminal book, Lifting the Fog of War. This has led to the theory of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) which is nothing but the application of information technology (IT) to warfare to increase the prospects of eliminating the “fog and friction of war” – an idea made famous by military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. The RMA’s real significance in modern warfare emerged when, on November 5,
As usual, India has been slow to catch up with the latest developments in NCW technologies and concepts. This fact was brought out during the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) seminar on NCW held last year which underlined that the Information Technology An Army officer on top vision of the Indian Army (IA) of a Network includes transformation into System truck a dynamic network-centric force, achieving information during the Republic Day superiority through effective parade, New management of information technology. Delhi
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DSI
The IA has made some progress in acquiring Geo Information System (GIS) capability, which provides the spatial orientation and context to the Operational Information System (OIS) and the Management Information System (MIS) system. It forms the base over which the other functionalities and applications ride. The modern GIS system includes features of network analysis, 3D visualisation, fly-through and simulation. A few of them also possess image processing and change detection capabilities. Army Strategic Operational Information Dissemination System (ASTROIDS) is a secure information dissemination system which connects Army Headquarters with Command and Corps Headquarters for exchange of terrain, operations intelligence and logistics information. During the seminar proceedings, Major General D.V. Kalra, former ADG, Information Systems at Army Headquarters said: “The Command Information and Decision Support System (CIDSS) is the hub centre of tactical C3I which connects Corps Headquarters down to infantry battalions. It has computer nodes linked through suitable communication media and provides processed information to commanders and staff on terrain, operational, intelligence and logistics functions for decision making. Further, a Battlefield Surveillance System (BSS) has been developed to provide an automated data fusion of surveillance devices and operational information system to commanders at field force level so as to facilitate decision making in battle in near real-time. “Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS) and Air Defence Control and Reporting System (ADC&RS) are in an advanced stage of development. The Indian Army is making conscientious efforts to overcome various challenges thrown up by the fielding of new systems.” Except for the ACCCS artillery fire control system that is being fielded quite extensively, he noted, the others are at various stages of development. Sadly, noble intentions do not necessarily translate into concrete achievements. Immediate operational considerations invariably override long-term capability development while allocating budgetary priorities; the Indian defence acquisition decision making process is laborious and the proverbial red tape is difficult to throw off.