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ROUNDUP
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IN THIS ISSUE
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
Face-to-Face Lt General S.P. Kochhar, Signal Officer-in-Chief, Corps of Signals
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Lt General Vinod Nayanar, 6 Director General of the Regiment of Artillery Lt General Kuldip Singh, Director General, Army Air Defence Lt General Vinod Bhatia, Director General, Infantry, Indian Army
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COV E R STO R Y
Indian Army’s Decision Support Architecture PHOTOGRAPH: SP Guide Pubns
A Reality Check The Union Budget 2012-13 has increased the defence budget to `1,93,407.29 crore. However, the actual increase is only 13.5 per cent if the figures of the revised estimates are taken into consideration for the year 2011-12. Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor PAGE 12 Watersheds in Land Battle As far as “jointness” and synergy are concerned between the services, it is disappointing to note that in the 21st century, the Indian Army and indeed the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force are still planning for conflicts essentially service wise, the way it was done in the early years of Second World War. Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor PAGE 24 Helicopter Gunships for Engaging Targets on Ground With the ALH WSI and the LCH being indigenously developed by HAL and likely to enter service in the coming years, the Indian armed forces will have formidable and state-of-the-art armament using in their kitty, a useful force multiplier which can turn the tide in battle.
T-90 tank
Lt General (Retd) B.S. Pawar PAGE 26 For Better Deterrence & Lesser Collateral Damage With a larger quantity of PGMs, the employment of Artillery itself will undergo a drastic change.
The Army needs a seamless digitised communication network capable of picking up information from sensors deployed in the battlespace and passing it on a need-to-know basis to all concerned commanders in the field n LT GENERAL (RETD) V.K. KAPOOR
Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor PAGE 28 India’s Internal Security Woes Integrated challenges to homeland security have to be handled at the national level with a centralised framework for adequate response. Lt General (Retd) P.C. Katoch PLUS The Winner’s Choice BAE Systems at Defexpo Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2012 Managing Strategic Military Transformation Interview: AM General Feet Firmly on the Ground at CAE News in Brief
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t present, the IndIan army is organised, equipped and trained for third generation, industrial age conflicts engaging low- and medium-level technology. the threat from traditional adversaries has been paramount in motivating the prevailing concepts and doctrines of war and organisational structures. this has manifested in the preparation and readiness for limited conventional conflicts apart from the low-intensity conflict operations (LICO) which is being fought within India’s borders and in which the army has been embroiled since the 1950s. the latter involvement has become far more acute and critical since the onset of the ‘proxy war’ in Jammu and Kashmir, assisted, encouraged and funded by pakistan since 1989. the future challenges mainly lie in the
domain of LICO, including counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations. however, considering the unstable conditions in most of our neighbouring states and China’s continuing belligerence, India cannot afford to lower its military preparedness because it may well be forced to fight wars whose origin or root cause may be beyond its control. hence, the army has to be prepared to fight limited conventional wars of high intensity and acquire a relatively small but powerful out-of-area (OOa) capability—in other words, a tri-service expeditionary capability, in addition to a nuanced capability for LICO. excessive obsession with conventional defensive operations has skewed the army’s organisations, operational doctrines, concepts, equipment pattern and deployment. even the training of its forces needs a change in orientation. the traditional methods of war fighting have favoured
deliberate set piece offensive and defensive military operations against fixed defences and, hence, the operational philosophy favours ‘force-on-force’ attrition oriented operations which are tactically biased and in short wars, especially in the mountains, where the gains are going to be limited unless the army changes its operational doctrine and the method of waging wars and acquires new capabilities. strategic and tactical air mobility, together with the development of networkenabled warfare capability and the ability to launch effects based operations against state and non-state actors will considerably enhance the Indian army’s capabilities.
A New Battlefield Environment a new battlefield environment has emerged due to the advent of stand-off, multi-spectral sensors with real time communications that give situational awareness so that tar-
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COV E R STO R Y India is passing through a unique era of internal political upheaval. The political leadership at the Centre is trying its best to cope with the dynamics of the pace of political change though it is evident that recent elections in five states and the poor performance of the Congress has added to the woes of the UPA-II Government. The strength of regional parties and their influence on decision-making at the Centre is having an adverse impact on security. This trend can be seen quite clearly by the opposition to the setting up of the National Counter-terrorism Centre (NCTC), a powerful anti-terror agency that will integrate and analyse inputs on terror threats in India and will have legal authority to make arrests and conduct search operations. It was to be set up on March 1, 2012, but opposition from a diverse group of Chief Ministers, who said that the NCTC’s charter was violative of the federal structure, prevented the Central Government from implementing the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security. The Chief Ministers have questioned the manner in which the agency was to be set up, without taking states on board, and have demanded that the decision be reversed. The current situation is that the decision to set it up has been postponed. The Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2012-13 presented to the Parliament on March 16, 2012, had the unenviable task of deciding between fiscal prudence and the competing demands from
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The Indian Army wants to create a seamless link from the top to the bottom as an integrated command and control enterprise. The command information and decision support system will be the hub of this enterprise. gets can be acquired, prioritised and destroyed, by day or by night, in all weather conditions, throughout the battlefield, with stand-off weapon systems firing precision attack munitions. It is being pointed out by many analysts that indirect and stand-off engagements from aircraft, unmanned combat aerial vehicles and long-range artillery can relieve ground elements including armour from the role of destroying enemy combat elements at close quarters. however, this is a fallacious argument as it stands disproved in both Iraq and afghanistan. While such technologies are lethal and do provide an overwhelming advantage over the adversary if he does not possess them; they do not preclude the use of infantry and armour on the ground. no gains can be consolidated without occupation of ground and establishment of a peaceful order. In fact, asymmetric and fourth generation wars in the modern era will demand a greater focus on all arms combat but with selective employment of ground troops. the tactics and the manner of employment will differ considerably. such wars will also mandate a far greater integration within the army and tri-service integration at the operational and military strategic levels which is currently lacking. Further, while the Indian armed forces do possess a few technologies in the stand-alone mode, they are neither integrated nor networked even though they are progressively moving towards this direction.
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various ministries and departments. The question is also whether the defence budget, which impinges upon national security, should be subject to fiscal austerity in India which is facing a two-front threat apart from other diverse challengesn, both internal and external. However, the nation is thankful to the government that no cuts were imposed and the allocation has seen a 18 per cent increase in the defence budget from the concluding year. The allocated amount is `1,93,407.29 crore ($38.68 billion). The increase hyped by the media is quite misleading because if we consider the revised estimates for 2011-12 the increase amounts to only 13.6 per cent and if the fall of the rupee is also taken into account then there is no tangible increase in the defence budget. Recent media reports have indicated that the Indian Army is seriously short of weapons and ordnance. Delays in decisions on key military matters have blunted the operational edge of the armed forces. This has been highlighted in a letter written by Army Chief General V.K. Singh to Defence Minister A.K. Antony. The situation is alarming against the backdrop of the sluggish procurement process of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The Army Chief’s letter highlights delay in setting up the National Counter Insurgency School, shortfall of ammunition and ordnance, lack of potent cyber warfare units, failure to modernise T-72 battle tanks, delay in
upgrade of Arjun main battle tanks, lack of modernisation of artillery and air defence capabilities since the last three decades and delay in procurement of basic infantry weapons and reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters. Considering the above requirements of the Army and the big ticket items of the IAF and the Navy in the pipeline including the Rafale fighter aircraft, Apache attack helicopters, and heavy transport aircraft (C-17 Globemaster III), conventional submarines, aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (rechristened INS Vikramaditya), multi-role helicopters and UAVs, a lot is at stake. Thus it seems that the committed liability of the Ministry of Defence out of a capital budget of `79,579 crore ($15.9 billion) from the overall allocation, is likely to be more than 60 per cent of the allocated capital budget. We hope that the MoD can put its act together and along with the three services expedite and streamline the procurement process and get the “best bang for the buck”. The country desires it and deserves it.
TAC C3I Architecture COMMAND INFORMATION AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM
the architecture depicted diagrammatically comprises of the following elements: l ACCCS: artillery combat command and control system (aCCCs) for automation of all artillery tasks in the field which includes preparation and execution of fire plans, direction, control and correction of fire, and functions at the artillery command post and at the gun end. l EWS: electronic warfare system (eWs) is based on the electronic warfare units operated by the Corps of signals of the army whose linkage in the system has finalised. their integration in the CIdss of the army is under progress. l ELINT: electronic intelligence (eLInt) units are operated by the Intelligence staff of the formation and their linkage in the CIdss is also being progressed. l BMS: Battlefield management system (BMs), which is being designed to operate at the unit level and below, will synthesise the battle picture for the unit commander whether it be an infantry unit or an armoured regiment. tanks and selected infantrymen will become situational awareness platforms. this project which was started only about two years ago is now being pushed at a faster rate as this constitutes the cutting edge of the army’s CIdss programme. Future Infantry soldier as a system (F-Insas), which is a part of this project is being progressed by the Infantry directorate but will be a part of the overall BMs of the Indian army. l AD C&R: air defence Control and reporting system (ad C&r) will automate the detection, identification, designation and destruction tasks of the army air defence artillery. It would, therefore, have to be integrated with the Indian air Force’s air defence network. l BSS: Battlefield surveillance system (Bss) will integrate all surveillance resources of the army, including, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles (UaVs), electro-optical systems, photographic and visual systems to provide a coherent picture to the commander.
Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor
Command & Control the Indian army wants to create a seamless link from the top to the bottom as an integrated command and control enterprise. Command information and decision support system (CIdss) will be the hub of this enterprise which will integrate four functions—operations, intelligence, logistics and terrain. at the core of this enterprise are three vital links. at the apex is the army strategic Operational Information dissemination system, which will connect army headquarters to the Command headquarters and forward to the Corps headquarters while rearwards it will connect to the national command post, the other services and other national level entities. the latter portion dealing with the national strategic level will be enabled through the command, control, computers, communications, intelligence, information, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4I2sr) system as it gets established. the second vital link will connect the Corps headquarters forward to the Battalion headquarters. this will be the tactical command, control, communications and intelligence (taC C3I) system which will be based on the tactical communication system which in turn will currently rely on satellite communications, radio relay equipment and other modes of communications which will allow for static and mobile operations. the third link, the battle management system (BMs), will be at the battalion (unit) level and below and will be based on combat net radio. the army’s taC C3I system is designed to assist in planning, directing and controlling field forces. Its function is to provide: l Commanders at all echelons with accurate, timely and credible information. l Means to process, display and evaluate data for situational awareness as an aid for decision support. l Capabilities to transmit order and decisions to own forces and weapon systems both during war and peace.
Current Weaknesses Currently, communications and information, which cannot be segregated in operational usage, are being dealt by two director Generals (dGs), both Lieutenant Generals, who are handling their respective departments, namely dG signals and dG InformaContinued on page 21
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M777 DELIVERING RAPIDLY DEPLOYABLE AND ACCURATE FIRE SUPPORT.
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‘We are in the process of establishing a robust and secure info-structure which will enable the transformation of the Army into a potent and fully-networked force’ The Corps of Signals has been doing a commendable job in providing reliable, robust and secure communications to the Indian Army. Lt General S.P. Kochhar, Signal Officer-in-Chief, in an interview with SP’s Land Forces, said that his emphasis would be on convergence of networks and towards harnessing the power of wireless technologies in provisioning of mobile communications in the tactical battle area. PHOTOGRAPH: Anoop Kamath / SP Guide Pubns
SP’s Land Forces (SP’s): What is the envisaged role of the Corps of Signals in the transformation of the Indian Army, which is at present under way? Signal Officer-in-Chief (SO-in-C): the Indian army has embarked on the challenging and multidimensional task of transformation based on the Chief of army staff ’s vision— “honing the army into a well-motivated, operationally-prepared, well-equipped force capable of meeting the security challenges faced by the nation. Initiate the transformation process to function in a networked joint services environment to leverage technology and the human resource capital in consonance with the rich values and traditions of the Indian army”. the Corps of signals are a vital component and in fact are the key enablers of this transformation process being brought about by leveraging the power of information communication technology electronics and cyber (ICteC). the Corps is in the process of establishing a robust and secure ‘info-structure’ which will enable the transformation of the Indian army into a potent and fully-networked force.
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SP’s: Could you define the role and charter of duties of the Corps of Signals? SO-in-C: the Corps of signals is a vital component of the Indian army responsible for providing telecommunication and information assurance in all its forms and manifestations to the Indian army. today, donning the mantle of “information warriors”, the Corps has grown from strength to strength and is now in the process of rolling out mammoth info-structures. the Corps is also being charged with the responsibility of providing communications to the Indian air Force and Indian navy in a substantive manner. the Corps, as I mentioned before, is also the key enabler of the transformation process of the Indian army. SP’s: Are the strategic and tactical level communications in the Army keeping pace with the fast changing field of communication technologies in the 21st century? SO-in-C: the Corps has always strived to enhance the technology threshold of its communication networks; both strategic and tactical. proactive measures are being undertaken to leverage both existing technologies as well as factoring in emerging and niche technologies so as to facilitate seamless transition in the times to come. the training offered by our premier institutions have factored this into their curriculum to provide a holistic training framework towards building the necessary skill sets for combatants to administer and maintain our networks. the Corps has assimilated all types of technology from mobile cellular, satellite, microwave and fibre optic communication and are today on the verge of ushering in a next generation network-based futuristic technology. as technology has been evolving at a superlative pace so has the ability of the Corps to garner new technology and exploit these effectively for operations. SP’s: Will the Indian Army’s communications allow it the flexibility required for future oper-
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SP’s: With China and Pakistan being so active in the field of cyber warfare, what steps are being taken to ensure cyber security in the Army’s communication networks? SO-in-C: In the cyber domain, threats are continuously evolving and the race between security system designers and those who want to exploit weaknesses is ever prevalent. the only viable option is to plug the weaknesses by being proactive. Organisations with this mandate are in place and are addressing this issue.
Lt General s.p. Kochhar, adC, was appointed as the 23rd signal Officer-in-Chief on september 1, 2011. the General Officer was elected as the 52nd Colonel Commandant of the Corps of signals on March 1, 2009. he took over as the senior Colonel Commandant of the Corps of signals on november 1, 2011. the General Officer has had an illustrious career spanning almost four decades and has tenanted some very prestigious Command and staff appointments. prior to taking over as the sO-in-C, the General Officer held the coveted appointment of additional director General of personnel services. he also serves as an honorary adjunct professor with IGnOU and BIts pilani, chairs the army IGnOU academic Council and is a member of the Integrated academic Council of IGnOU. he is a recipient of sM, VsM and aVsM.
ational settings with a vastly increased spectrum of war, fighting hybrid wars and conducting joint operations? SO-in-C: Future wars will be dominated by the side which is best able to harness the power of ICteC. hence the challenge is to ensure information superiority over our adversaries. towards this end, the Corps of signals has leveraged the opportunity offered by the rapid advancement of technology in the ICteC domain to create an extremely resilient, versatile and robust ICteC info-structure. I am confident that our existing and planned networks will empower and provide the necessary flexibility to the army in order to perform in the entire spectrum of conflict. SP’s: What are the new technologies in the field of communications which should be considered for adoption by the Indian Army in the future? SO-in-C: relatively new and proven technologies like wireless interoperability for microwave access (WiMaX), long-term evolution (Lte), software defined radio (sdr), mobile cellular (3G and 4G), cloud computing, dense wavelength division multiplexing (dWdM), satellite on the move (sOtM), meshed combat net radio (Cnr), etc are showing great promise for exploitation in the army’s context. the future battlefield will witness proliferation of large number of networks based on a plethora of technologies. the challenge will not be in only assimilating new technologies but will also be in conver-
gence of these networks based on multiple technologies. Further, harnessing wireless technologies for provisioning mobile communications for our combat elements will be a key focus area. the cyber domain would also attain great importance and therefore cyber security would be one of our key concerns. SP’s: Can the term ‘info dominance’ be applied to operations of the Indian Army in the future vis a vis our likely adversaries? SO-in-C: Info dominance is an important facet in today’s warfare and the same has been proven beyond doubt in recent conflicts. the capability is required to achieve a decisive edge over the adversary, thereby compressing the observe orient decide and act (OOda) loop while maintaining a full spectrum engagement capability. suitable initiatives are being undertaken by the Indian army in this regard. SP’s: What are the latest developments in radio communications at the unit and formation levels? What technologies are we inducting in this regard? SO-in-C: technology in the field of radio communications is constantly evolving and rapidly changing. We are taking a keen look at the emerging technologies and the concepts for meeting the communication needs at the forward edge of the battlefield. a number of promising technologies such as software defined radio (sdr) and cognitive radio (Cr) are being closely analysed for their effective military usage.
SP’s: How are we planning to employ the legacy systems in the context of modern technology? What changes would this involve? SO-in-C: at any given time, a large army like ours will have a certain percentage of equipment which is of legacy and vintage technology. Further, with the rapidly changing technological landscape, equipment will become legacy at a much faster rate. therefore, while we plan for the future projects, we ensure continuity of the operational life and coexistence of legacy systems with modern systems by ensuring adherence to standards and protocols ensuring backward compatibility. SP’s: Is the private industry geared up to provide modern hardware and software technology to support the futuristic communication requirements? SO-in-C: the private industry in India has geared up towards providing modern hardware and software technology to support the futuristic communication requirements of the Indian army. In fact a large number of communication projects are being undertaken by the private sector. the public-private partnership between the defence forces and the industry is of tremendous importance and most projects and initiatives in future shall gravitate towards this. SP’s: What was the theme of Defcom 2011 and what do you feel has been achieved in the seminar this year? SO-in-C: the theme for defcom 2011 was “enabling Information and Communications technologies (ICt) for Information age Warfare”. the seminar-cum-exhibition was attended by a large number of dignitaries from the services, industry and academia. the seminar was conducted over two days with five scheduled sessions. the sessions were chaired and co-chaired by eminent personalities from the defence and industry, notable being the first session on “Foreseeable demands on ICt Infrastructure for the armed Forces” chaired by the Minister of defence for state M.M. pallam raju. Lt General K. surendranath, GOC-in-C, artraC, Lt General ramesh halgali, dG Military training, Lt General (retd) p.p.s. Bhandari and Lt General (retd) aditya singh chaired the subsequent sessions. Various notable speakers delivered highly educative and seminal talks on various contemporary issues related to the ICt domain. defcom 2011 was a landmark event and provided an excellent forum to the industry, academia and the three services to share views on important and contemporary issues related to defence communications.
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‘We would soon have in our inventory the latest surveillance equipment, UAVs and communication system’ Lt General Vinod Nayanar, Director General of the Regiment of Artillery, in an interview with SP’s Land Forces said that the Artillery is in the process of procurement and development of gun systems, ammunition (including propellants and fuzes), support systems and networking resources in terms of software and hardware which incorporate state-of-the-art technology. Excerpts of the interview: PHOTOGRAPH: Neetu Dhulia / SP Guide Pubns
SP’s Land Forces (SP’s): In the transformation of the Army which is under way, what are the broad changes that have been envisioned as far as the Artillery is concerned? Director General Artillery (DG): In the transformation of the army the broad changes that have been envisioned for the artillery are as follows: l Modernisation of all guns for the contact battle. l rockets and missiles for degradation and engagement of targets in operational depth. l enhanced target acquisition and battlefield transparency by introduction of cutting edge ground, aerial and space based sensors. l Integrated and synergised utilisation of firepower and surveillance and target acquisition resources through automated systems i.e. artillery combat command and control system (aCCCs) and battlefield surveillance system (Bss).
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SP’s: The concept of firepower has undergone changes in recent times. What are the basic changes which have impacted the way we plan or conduct battles as far as firepower is concerned? DG: artillery has traversed through nearly two centuries of evolution. In recent times, a distinct shift in concept of application from neutralisation to degradation and destruction has taken place. this shift has come about with the enhanced capability of the artillery in terms of reach, delivery of larger calibre and more lethal munitions, enhanced precision systems as also greater battlefield transparency. With these enhancements, the artillery is able to strike deep with precision and thus has the capability to degrade and destroy the targets effectively. the reach of artillery is now clearly beyond the tactical battlefield, well into the operational depth with enhanced precision and lethality. SP’s: Despite a lot of talk on the importance of firepower in future wars; our procurements are lagging way behind our aspirations. What are the basic reasons for which we have not been able to move forward in procurement of the light howitzers for the mountains (M 777, 155mm calibre 39) or in the induction of towed 155mm, 52 calibre howitzer, and the self-propelled (wheeled and tracked) howitzers? DG: artillery modernisation plan has factored in the latest technological developments and is aligned towards acquisition of modern equipment. though there have been slippages in procurements, efforts are on to meet the timelines. Besides modernisation through procurement of state-of-art weapon systems available globally, we are also working towards bolstering our inventory through indigenous development of guns systems and munitions. this will open up multiple avenues for intake of modern equipment. SP’s: The Regiment of Artillery is a very large and a vital arm of the Army. Currently, it has a vast variety of weapons and equipment. Is it time to think of bifurcating certain wings of the artillery, such as the surveillance and target acquisition (SATA), self-propelled artillery, or the missile regiments which fall within the purview of strategic weapons, etc. What are
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ammunition like sensor fuzed munitions, terminally guided munitions and trajectory correctible munitions and the same we hope will fructify in the next few years, based on the pace of the procurement process. SP’s: What has been the result of fielding the ACCCS in the field formations? DG: aCCCs has been a landmark achievement for the artillery in its quest for network-centricity. It has greatly enhanced our capability to deliver highly accurate and responsive fire power. the fielding of the equipment has brought forth many challenges which are being addressed quite successfully. some of these challenges relate to the types of communication equipment being used, as also integration with other networks. highly innovative methods are being looked at to address these challenges.
Lt General Vinod nayanar was commissioned in the regiment of artillery on november 14, 1971. he is an alumnus of rashtriya Military school, Bangalore and national defence academy, Khadakvasla. In this eventful career spanning over 40 years, he has held many coveted command and staff assignments. he was elected as Colonel Commandant regiment of artillery in 2009 and is currently the sr Colonel Commandant of the regiment. prior to his present appointment as director General artillery, he was Commandant school of artillery. he is currently posted as the director General of artillery at the army headquarters. he is a recipient of aVsM and pVsM.
your views on this subject? DG: the purpose of all surveillance is to detect enemy assets for subsequent destruction. sensors, therefore, must have total synergy with the associated firepower vectors. this is the essence of all firepower employment philosophy. the aim is to shorten our OOda loop so as to overtake the enemy’s OOda cycle. the thought of bifurcating surveillance from firepower assets is indeed misplaced. In my opinion, it would place us at a disadvantage in any future war. SP’s: What is the new equipment being inducted in SATA? DG: In the field of surveillance and target acquisition (sata), we already have UaVs, BFsr and LOrrOs. additionally, we are planning to acquire sensors for persistent aerial surveillance. We are looking for upgrades in existing equipment to include the electronic theodolite, inertial navigation system, sound ranging system and lighter weapon locating radar (WLr) system. SP’s: What is the philosophy for induction of UAVs? Is the Army interested in inducting any UCAVs? DG: Our philosophy is to have a credible capability of various UaV systems to ensure battlefield transparency, target acquisition, direction of own artillery fire, target designation and post strike damage assessment across the frontage and depth of the tactical, operational, and strategic areas of operations. UaVs have immense potential for operations in conventional as also in counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism operations. It is also of importance in disaster management roles. the stand-off capability of UCaVs to carryout surgical strikes in depth needs no reiteration. UCaVs definitely are on the wish list. SP’s: Artillery technology is undergoing trans-
formation rapidly. What changes do you propose in the existing plans to conform to the latest trends in technology? Which are the new technologies which need induction in the artillery? DG: there has been a fair amount of stabilisation of technology as far as guns per se are concerned. Much of the developments in artillery technology the world over are related to munitions and allied equipment. We are in the process of procurement and development of gun systems, ammunition (including propellants and fuzes), support systems and networking resources in terms of software and hardware which incorporate state-of-the-art technology. Indigenous efforts in this field are extremely encouraging. In addition, we would soon have in our inventory the latest surveillance equipment, UaVs and communication system. SP’s: What is the status of precision munitions with the Artillery? Are we planning to induct more such ammunition? DG: at present laser designated precision ammunition is held with artillery. Yes, we are planning to induct more precision
We are planning to induct more precision ammunition like sensor fuzed munitions, terminally guided munitions and trajectory correctible munitions
SP’s: As part of the battlefield management system (BMS), is every artillery weapon platform going to be a ‘situational awareness platform’ or is this being done at the battery level? DG: Most of the “new generation” guns available worldwide are equipped with integrated fire control and communication systems which enables them to function as autonomous units. all the new generation guns which are under procurement/development for the Indian artillery too, are envisaged to have the above mentioned capability. this however does not take away the capability to also control them at the battery level (which in fact would be the norm), thus bringing in inherent flexibility in the system. SP’s: We believe that the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has had the design of the 155mm Bofors with them for the last two decades. Why have we not been able to design and manufacture 155mm howitzers ourselves? Has the private sector shown any interest in this field? DG: the transfer of technology by Bofors was available with the OFB. hitherto, the technology was utilised for production of spare barrels, breech block and certain other critical parts of the gun. the technology was also utilised for production of ammunition. With a view to open an alternate avenue for procurement of gun system, OFB has been given an opportunity. this is also in keeping with our long-term aim of achieving selfreliance. the private sector is being used extensively to source components/subsystems for this project. SP’s: Has the concept of Artillery Divisions been successful? What are the advantages that have been experienced by grouping Artillery in a division level organisation? DG: Yes, the concept of artillery division has been successful in providing a flexible, responsive and effective organisation at theatre level to plan, coordinate, employ and exploit firepower to optimise effectiveness. It is a force multiplier and it has indeed added a new dimension to the concept of employment of artillery. rockets, missiles and long-range guns with a variety of ammunition including precision guided ammunition grouped in the artillery division level organisation gives us the capability to concentrate firepower for the conduct of tactical degradation operations as well as fire support to the formations as part of overall theatre plan.
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‘Airpower by itself cannot achieve lasting victory or success without boots on the ground’ Army Air Defence aims to evolve into a modern net-enabled force capable of providing air defence protection to field forces and strategic assets against the complete spectrum of air threat, in all operations of war and all types of terrain. In an interview with SP’s Land Forces, Lt General Kuldip Singh, Director General, Army Air Defence, laid down the plans at the national level to counter air threat and the role of the Army Air Defence in executing the national air defence plan. PHOTOGRAPH: Anoop Kamath / SP Guide Pubns
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SP’s Land Forces (SP’s): The use of air power including UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan has had a major impact on the conduct of war. May we have your comments? Director General, Army Air Defence (DG): events in Iraq and afghanistan have demonstrated yet again the increasing significance of airpower in modern warfare. But it also becomes apparent that airpower by itself cannot achieve lasting victory or success without “boots on the ground”. this is an important lesson from the perspective of army air defence (aad) which is an integral and important part of the ground forces. a noteworthy aspect of these conflicts has been the reliance on space assets for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4Isr) tasks and control of high-flying UCaVs. these developments portend a future in which airpower and aerospace power will become synonymous with each other. thus future ground-based air defence weapons systems (GBadWs) will have to operate well beyond the traditional threat envelope of the current generation weapons. Lastly, while important lessons can be drawn from both Iraq and afghanistan wars, as far as conduct of air-land battle is concerned, it needs to be kept in mind that the air war was executed in face of unprecedented asymmetry. It is extremely unlikely that the possibility of an overwhelming air superiority similar to that achieved by the coalition forces will arise in a south asian context and hence cannot form part of our security calculus. SP’s: Can you give out the current and the future pattern of air threat globally and how do you relate it to the South Asian region? DG: While some of the issues related to current and future pattern of air threat have been tackled in response to the previous query, I would like to reiterate the multifaceted nature of the threat from the third dimension. today, the threat envelope ranges from extremely complex aerial platforms to missiles/rockets and guided munitions. thus modern armies like the Us army operate air defence systems ranging from the longrange terminal high altitude area defence down to the short-range counter rocket artillery and mortar systems. sooner or later the Indian army too will have to graduate to similar capabilities. another proliferation trend which is gaining prominence is the shift from manned to unmanned aerial systems. It is a well known fact that unmanned systems like UaVs and missiles provide low-cost, high pay-off alternatives to manned fixed/rotary wing platforms. these platforms are capable of carrying out multifarious tasks like intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (Isr), delivery of munitions, electronic warfare, etc. not surprisingly, trends in development of aerial vehicles suggest the eventual preponderance of unmanned systems for several tasks currently being performed by manned systems. this is not to suggest that manned systems will be phased out, but will become much more specialised and potent. this proliferation of unmanned systems poses a major challenge to GBadWs in view of their high altitude profile and very low
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Indian army’s vision of the future, army air defence aims to evolve into a modern netenabled force capable of providing air defence protection to field forces and strategic assets against the complete spectrum of air threat, in all operations of war and all types of terrain. SP’s: Does it include AD for homeland security? DG: ad for homeland security has assumed a significant role increasing prominence in the aftermath after the 9/11 events. In the subcontinent too, we have the example of the Ltte using light aircraft for terrorist attacks. thus the possibility of innovative application of aerial resources by terrorist groups and non-state actors cannot be ruled out. Like other services, aad too plays an important and critical role in ensuring ad for homeland security. this includes deployment of sensors and suitable weapon systems to neutralise such threats.
Lt General Kuldip singh was commissioned into the 29 air defence regiment on June 16, 1974 and is a second generation army air defence (aad) officer. he has commanded a Lt ad Missile regiment (sp), an (I) air defence Brigade of a strike Corps and was also Commandant army air defence College, Major General aad of south Western Comd. he was also adG at aad directorate. he has been direct staff at defence service staff College (dssC), Wellington. he has also been defence attaché at embassy of India, stockholm. Lt General singh is now the director General and senior Colonel Commandant army air defence. he is a recipient of aVsM.
radar cross section (rCs). In a subcontinental scenario, trends in the region point to a major focus on ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and UCaVs. Our neighbours have already made rapid progress and are fast becoming major players in the fields of missiles and unmanned aerial platforms. the emergence of innovative asymmetric air threat from non-state actors is another issue which is gaining prominence. today each flying object, whether civil or military, is a potential threat when it is in the wrong hands. It is thus imperative that we keep ourselves abreast of emerging threats, both conventional and sub-conventional. as far as the tactical battle area is concerned, global trends point towards proliferation of long-range, precision-guided, fireand-forget missiles delivered by manned or unmanned platforms. the threat envelope is increasing exponentially both in range and altitude, making it imperative that the range and altitude coverage of GBadWs is increased commensurately. air defence in the emerging battlespace necessitates deployment of multi-layered and multi-tiered mix of weapon systems. these developments throw up interesting challenges from air defence point of view. In addition to our traditional focus on tackling airborne delivery platforms like aircraft, helicopters, UCaVs, etc, we will eventually have to develop capabilities to tackle the weapon payloads of these platforms. thus, systems to destroy/disable warheads and defeat softkill options like blinding/ misguiding sensors will sooner or later become a part of the arsenal of aad.
SP’s: What are the plans at the national level to counter air threat and what role does the AAD play in executing the national air defence (AD) plan? DG: In order to meet the complex and intricate challenges posed by modern air threat, the need of the day is an integrated ad system, comprising sensors and shooters in which various control centres can exercise effective battle management over ad weapon systems through real-time and failsafe linkages. Centralised planning and decentralised execution will be the hallmark of this system with each service playing its designated role. aad is a crucial component of this integrated system and will be a major player at the national, theatre and operational levels. aad protects a large variety of critical assets spread over the length and breadth of the country with a plethora of weapon systems ranging from guns to sophisticated surfaceto-air missiles. One of the major focus areas of aad, however, remains the tactical battle area on commencement of hostilities. aad units will continue to operate in varied terrain ranging from heights of siachen Glacier to the vast open stretches of the thar desert. the activities of aad are not restricted to deployment of GBadWs only. We also have a large inventory of surveillance sensors in the tactical battle area to detect hostile aerial intrusions. the army surveillance and battle management systems are closely integrated with the air Force so that hostile aircraft are detected and engaged with appropriate weapons well before they can carry out their mission. Overall, within the gamut of the
SP’s: Are the responsibilities between the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and civil agencies clearly defined? DG: delineation of responsibilities between the three services is adequately defined besides most of the coordination issues to promote a high degree of interoperability. as a matter of fact, a number of inter-services study groups constituted in the recent past have been successful in resolving most issues between the services. SP’s: A majority of the weapon systems in the inventory are either obsolete or obsolescent. The L/70 gun, which is the mainstay of AAD and is still carrying on after more than four decades, is an example. Are there plans to replace it with a more modern system? DG: as part of the modernisation process, steps are being initiated for replacement of the existing gun systems in addition to upgradation of a part of the gun inventory. SP’s: Do you consider the gun systems relevant in the current and future air threat scenario? DG: although concerns about the relevance of gun systems in the future ad environment are genuine, I am of the opinion that gun systems will remain relevant for effective terminal air defence against the raM threat and leakers. While modern ad missiles can take care of the delivery platforms like aircraft, UaVs, helicopters, etc, high rate of fire gun systems are best suited for addressing threat from very low rCs targets such as rockets and shells. this is achieved by creation of a ‘cloud’ of shrapnel in the direction of the threat to neutralise warhead/shell. It is due to this reason that guns form the bedrock of many modern terminal air defence systems like Vulcan phalanx, Iron dome, etc. these gun systems will continue to be an important part of arsenal of aad till such time directed energy weapon technologies mature to a stage where they can perform the same in a cost-effective manner. SP’s: What are the plans for the successor of quick reaction and medium-range surface-toair missiles (SAM)? DG: plans for acquisition of both quick reaction and medium-range saMs are in progress.
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A Reality Check The Union Budget 2012-13, presented to the Parliament on March 16, 2012, has increased the defence budget to `1,93,407.29 crore. However, the actual increase is only 13.5 per cent if the figures of the revised estimates are taken into consideration for the year 2011-12. PHOTOGRAPH: PIB
n LT GENERAL (RETD) V.K. KAPOOR
cent to `63,182.46 crore, accounting for around 46 per cent growth of the total defence budget.
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UILdInG a MILItarY CapaBILItY is a long-term exercise. In the Indian context, it involves formulation of the 15-year-long-term integrated perspective plan (LtIpp) by headquarters Integrated defence staff in consultation with the service headquartes (army, navy and air Force). the five years capital acquisition plan and the annual acquisition plans are derived from the LtIpp and form the basis of working out the capital budget for all major procurements during a year. the capital budget requirement of each service added to the revenue budget constitutes their overall budget demand during the year. the security threats and challenges facing India have increased enormously. While the old adversarial threats due to unresolved borders remain, new threats and challenges like terrorism and insurgencies have been added to the old inventory. thus India needs to prepare itself for the full spectrum of warfare ranging from low-intensity conflict involving counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations to conventional conflicts under the nuclear shadow on two widely separated fronts on its western and eastern flanks. the dilemma is only regarding the extent of emphasis that should be laid to acquiring each type of capability. thus the requirements of the services are vast and wide-ranging. the Union Budget 2012-13, presented to the parliament on March 16, 2012, has increased the defence budget to `1,93,407.29 crore ($38.68 billion). this represents a growth of 17.63 per cent over the previous year’s budget. after 2009-10, when the budget was increased by 34 per cent due to the heavy increase in revenue expenditure caused by the recommendations of the sixth Central pay Commission, it is this year’s defence budget which has witnessed the highest increase in recent years. Laxman Behera, the well-known analyst of the Institute for defence studies and analyses (Idsa) who invariably gives a detailed analysis of each year’s defence budget has the following to say regarding the reasons for the increase: “the new defence budget comes at a time when the performance of the Indian economy is under stress and the prospect of recovery is tenuous. as the economic survey 2011-12, presented to the parliament a day before the Union Budget puts it, Gdp growth is projected at 6.9 per cent in the present fiscal year and at 7.6 per cent in 2012-13. these growth rates, which are significantly lower especially in comparison to the nearly 10 per cent growth registered in 2006-07, has however not forced the government to tighten its purse. Instead, it has resorted to what can be termed as fiscal profligacy, by increasing the overall Central Government expenditure by a hefty 18.54 per cent, with little regard for the fiscal situation. Consequently, the fiscal deficit, which the Finance Minister had promised in his previous budget speech to be reduced to 4.1 per cent of Gdp in 2012-13, is now projected to increase to 5.1 per cent. this expansionary fiscal policy has been the prime mover for the large increase in the budget of the defence Ministry, which would otherwise have come under severe budgetary pressure if the Finance Minister had chosen a tight budget. the increase in the defence budget has been shown as about 17.63 per cent. how-
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Service-wise Share in the Budget the army with an approximate budget of `97,302.54 accounts for 50 per cent of the latest defence budget, followed by the air Force (`48,191.16; 25 per cent), navy (`37,314.44; 19 per cent), the defence research and development Organisation (`10,635.56 crore; six per cent) and ordnance factories (`135.13 crore). It is noteworthy that compared to the previous year’s budget, navy is the only service which has an increased share in its total defence allocation (from 15 to 19 per cent). the air Force’s share has decreased the most (by four percentage points), whereas the army’s share has declined by one percentage point. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee
Comparison of the Defence Budget 2011-12 & 2012-13 Defence Budget (` crore)
2011-12 1,64,415.49
2012-13 1,93,407.29
Growth of Defence Budget (per cent)
11.59
17.63
Revenue Expenditure (` crore)
95,216.68
1,13,828.66
Growth of Revenue Expenditure (per cent)
9.01
19.55
Share of Revenue Expenditure in Defence Budget (per cent)
57.91
58.85
Capital Expenditure (` crore)
69,198.81
79,578.63
Growth of Capital Expenditure (per cent)
15.33
15.00
Share of Capital Expenditure in Defence Budget (per cent)
42.09
41.15
Share of Defence Budget in GDP (per cent)
1.83
1.90
Share of Defence Budget in Central Government Expenditure (per cent)
13.07
12.97
ever, the actual increase is only 13.5 per cent if the figures of the revised estimates (re) are taken into consideration for the year 201112. the upward revision from re stage of 2011-12 to budget estimates (Be) stage of 2012-13 of the revenue budget amounts to `9,036 crore and of the capital budget is `13,435 crore, thus bringing the total increase in defence budget from re stage of the concluding year to the Be stage of 201213 to `22,471 crore. however, if the figures of the Be stage of the concluding year to Be stage of 2012-13 are taken, the increase is `28,993 crore. therefore, the actual increase from the re stage is only 13.5 per cent.
the increase in the defence budget is misleading if one does not see the finer print and understand the totality of the impact on various aspects of the budget. It can be broadly concluded from the figures (see table) that while the share of the defence budget in the Gdp has marginally increased, its share in Central Government expenditure has fallen. Moreover what is quite evident is the fact that in comparison to the capital expenditure, the revenue expenditure has increased faster. the growth of the defence budget has been driven primarily because of the increase in pay and allowance of the armed forces, which has increased by 27 per
CHINA’S DEFENCE BUDGET China’s plan to boost its defence spending to 11.2 per cent in 2012 implies that military spending shall cross the $100 billion mark for the first time to approximately 670 billion yuan ($106.4 billion). the increase is in accordance with the double-digit increase in the pace of military spending by China over the past decade. however, the official statements emanating from China’s hierarchy do not give details of what weapon systems China is developing. defence analysts say that the true figure is probably significantly higher. China has been constantly underreporting its military expenditure because much of the military’s decision-making is kept opaque. China boasts of the world’s second highest military budget following the United states. according to estimates, Chinese defence budgetary investments will race ahead at 18.75 per cent, likely to touch $238.2 billion by 2015. this would exceed the combined spending of all other key defence budgets in the asia-pacific region, thus reaching around four times Japan’s defence budget, the region’s next biggest spender.
How Does it Impact Modernisation the capital budget shows an increase of 15 per cent with an additional amount of `10,379.82 crore. Capital budget is mainly meant for new procurements for modernisation of the armed forces. so let us examine how it impacts each service. the three services (army, navy and air Force) account for 94 per cent (`74,439.95 crore) of total capital budget in 2012-13. air Force has the maximum share of 38 per cent (`30,485.35 crore), followed by the navy (31 per cent or `24,766.42 crore) and the army (24 per cent or `19,188.18 crore). Of the total capital budget of the three services, around 89 per cent (`66,459.43 crore) is earmarked for capital acquisition or modernisation. these impressive figures are however misleading. a closer look at the growth of the modernisation budget of 2012-13 reveals that the focus is entirely driven by the navy, which has got a 72 per cent hike (to `24,151.51 crore) in its modernisation budget. the air Force’s modernisation budget has increased marginally (by 0.5 per cent) to `8,503.9 crore, while the army’s capital budget has declined by three per cent to `13,804.02 crore. the insignificant increase in the air Force’s modernisation budget and the decrease in the army’s budget do not augur well for these two services and do not meet their modernisation goals. It seems that the army Chief has already apprised defence Minister a.K. antony that delays in decisions on key military matters have blunted the operational edge of the army. the situation is quite alarming. the army Chief ’s letter highlights delay in setting up the national counter-insurgency school, shortfall of quality ammunition and ordnance, lack of potent cyber warfare units, failure to modernise t-72 battle tanks, delay in upgradation of arjun main battle tanks (MBts), lack of modernisation in artillery and air defence capabilities and delay in procurement of infantry weapons and reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters. as far as the IaF is concerned, the big ticket items in the pipeline include aircraft such as the rafale fighter aircraft; apache attack helicopters, and heavy transport aircraft (C-17 Globemaster III). thus we can ill afford the stagnation or reduction in the capital budget of the army and the air Force at this juncture. the above observation should be seen in light of the fact that `3,055 crore (4.41 per cent) of the capital budget has been surrendered at the time of revised estimate of 2011-12.
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LAND WARFARE
Watersheds in Land Battle As far as “jointness” and synergy are concerned between the services, it is disappointing to note that in the 21st century, the Indian Army and indeed the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force are still planning for conflicts essentially service wise, the way it was done in the early years of Second World War. PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Army
Exercise Vijayee Bhava in progress
concepts of land warfare briefly described in the following paragraphs.
Fourth Generation Warfare William s. Lind and others of the Us army have deliberated and reflected and then written on the fourth generation warfare in which the target is the whole of the enemy’s society (ideology, culture, political structure, infrastructure and civil society). this generation of warfare is characterised by dispersion, increased importance of actions by small groups of combatants, decreasing dependence of centralised logistics, high tempo of operation and more emphasis on manoeuvre. Concentration of men, materiel or firepower may become a disadvantage, as it will be easy to target. small, highly manoeuvrable agile forces will tend to dominate. the aim would be to cause the enemy to collapse internally rather than physically destroying him. there will be little distinction between war and peace. It will be nonlinear, possibly to the point of having no definable battlefields or fronts. Major military and civil facilities will be the targets. the success will depend heavily on joint operations. If we combine these general characteristics with new technology, we see one possible outline of the new generation of warfare. It therefore emerges that to defeat ideologically oriented but amorphous terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Lashkar-etoiba (Let) currently ensconced in pakistan, will require the adoption of such concepts to defeat their designs.
Asymmetric Warfare n LT GENERAL (RETD) V.K. KAPOOR
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and WarFare has WItnessed three watersheds in which the change has been qualitative. the first generation warfare reflected the tactics of the era of the smooth bore muskets and the linear battle of lines and columns. the second-generation warfare was a response to the rifled weapon, breechloaders, barbed wire, machine-gun and indirect fire. the tactics were based on fire and movement and they remained essentially linear. the term “third generation warfare” was created by the Us military in 1989 and refers to the tactics of warfare used consequent to the development of the blitzkrieg concept by the Germans. essentially, this marked the end of the linear warfare on a tactical level, with units seeking to out-manoeuvre each other to gain advantage instead of a head on clash. the third generation warfare was also a response to the increase in battlefield firepower. horsed cavalry gave way to armour and mechanised infantry achieving greater speed. tanks, mechanised infantry and selfpropelled artillery supported by close support aircraft imparted mobility to the battlefield and thus manoeuvre on the ground by mobile forces was used to defeat defensive design of the defender. as linear fighting came to an end, new ways of moving faster began to appear. armoured and mechanised divisions replaced the infantry divisions where terrain permitted their use. the development of the helicopter added to the speed and momentum of an offensive force. the speed inherent in these methods necessitated a greater degree of independence for frontline units and formations. Greater trust needed to be placed in junior
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officers commanding sub-units based on the belief that they could adequately achieve their objectives without micromanagement from higher commanders. Formations at the level of divisions were allowed greater decision flexibility to deal with changing situations on the ground, rather than having decisions made for them by commanders who were distant from the front. this led to the delegation of greater command authority to commanders in the front and the Germans excelled in this field. they termed it “directive style of command”. Blitzkrieg: this concept was developed by the Germans after the advent of aircraft and tanks. It brought a major shift at the operational level in the second World War in which emphasis was placed on manoeuvre, speed and tempo to carry out wide outflanking movements avoiding enemy’s defences to strike at his rear areas in order to cause his psychological collapse. the Germans exploited their tactical excellence to cause unprecedented defeats in the first two years of war. despite the German’s successes in the early years of the war, hitler’s impractical strategic aspirations and underestimation of soviet capabilities led to the ultimate defeat and destruction of Germany. Manoeuvre Warfare and Doctrine of Airland Battle: americans picked up their ideas from the Germans and the russians of simultaneous engagement of operational components of the enemy’s defensive system, to cause ‘operational shock’ by development of an operational momentum far exceeding the relative reaction capability of the opponent. post Vietnam doctrinal reform in the Us army led to the adoption of “active defence” doctrine in the early 1970s. this was followed by a sharp revolution in doctrinal thinking, which led to the second stage of post-Vietnam
doctrinal reform and the evolution of the doctrine of airLand Battle. the tenets of depth, agility, initiative and synchronisation, became the heart of the airLand Battle doctrine. the basic idea, applicable to both offence and defence, was to throw the enemy off balance with an offensive from an unexpected direction, to seize and retain the initiative and defeat the enemy. the airLand Battle provided the conceptual basis for the Us army to adopt an initiative oriented readiness posture. the concept developed along with the principle of directing the main strike into the opponent’s principal operational weakness. the doctrinal reform was the symbol and basis of the 1970s and 1980s modernisation of the Us army.
Employing Force to Safeguard National Interests after the Cold War, it is now seen that the classical logic, legitimacy and effectiveness of employing force to safeguard national interests is becoming more intricate and sophisticated due to a large number of pressures on both political and military leaders. non-state actors do not seem to be deterred by the military sophistication of the western world. India despite having one of the largest army in the world and a very strong and effective air Force and navy has not been able to deter insurgencies and terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir and in the northeast and has been at the receiving end of a proxy war advanced and encouraged by pakistan since 1989. It is clear that classical deterrence is less reliable against asymmetric challenges such as insurgencies and terrorism, yet military doctrine and force structures have been slow in adjusting to these new security challenges. this environment has given rise to some revised as well as new
asymmetric threats are not new and have been known since ancient times. Forces which are weaker have always employed surprise, new weapon and technology together with innovative tactics to deal with stronger forces. today the non-state actors are employing the same concepts in their terrorist activities against stronger opponents. the al-Qaeda attacks on the World trade Center and other targets in the Us on september 11, 2001, were of this nature. Wikipedia describes asymmetric war as a war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly. It goes on to state, “It is a conflict in which the resources of two belligerents differ in essence and in the struggle; interact and attempt to exploit each other’s characteristic weaknesses. such struggles often involve strategies and tactics of unconventional warfare, the “weaker” combatants attempting to use strategy to offset deficiencies in quantity or quality.” the asymmetric means employed could also include nuclear biological and chemical (nBC) or radiological warfare; terrorist strikes against soft targets, information or cyber warfare.
Unrestricted Warfare Colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui of the people’s Liberation army of China in their highly publicised book, Unrestricted Warfare, champion the art of “asymmetrical warfare”. they advocate that the more traditional practice of urban terrorism (as witnessed in Chechnya, somalia, northern Ireland, Kashmir and in Islamic Jihad against the Western World) combined with current technology tools as a method of imposing a severe psychological shock on the adversary. the highly imaginative
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LAND WARFARE
colonels outline a new doctrine of total war by conducting ‘asymmetrical’ or multidimensional attacks on almost every aspect of the opponent’s social, economic and political system. this new form of warfare, which borrows from ancient wisdom of sun tzu and his doctrines of surprise and deception, also employs civilian technology as military weapons “without morality” and with “no limits” in order to break the will of democratic societies.
Insurgency and Counter-insurgency Insurgency has existed as a form of warfare since the earlier times. It can be termed as a strategy of desperation in which those with no other options turn to protracted, asymmetric violence, psychological warfare, and political mobilisation. In some modes, insurgents seek to attain their objectives directly by wearing down the dominant power. In other forms, particularly the one developed by Mao Zedong and refined by his disciples, asymmetric methods are used to rectify an adverse conventional military balance, with ultimate victory coming through conventional means, once parity or something like it is attained. Ultimately, though the result is the same, the weak avoid defeat and over time, the power balance changes and they become stronger. throughout history, insurgency has ebbed and flowed in strategic significance determined by contextual factors. the less the chances of direct armed conflict between great powers and the greater the tendency of major powers to sponsor insurgency as a form of surrogate conflict, the greater the strategic significance of insurgency for regional and global power balances and stability. In the Indian context, with nuclearisation of the region, the likelihood of large state-to-state conflicts has reduced considerably. Moreover, due to India’s conventional superiority in south asian region, inimical and adversarial states like pakistan have sponsored insurgency and proxy war as a method of attaining power balance. today, the combination of the massive conventional military pre-eminence of the United states; nuclear deterrence between great powers and multiple sources of global discontent arising from globalisation; the collapse of traditional political, economic, and social orders; environmental decay, population pressure and other factors; insurgency is again surging in strategic significance. In fact, the world has entered another “age of insurgency” analogous to the period from the 1950s to the 1980s. this is likely to continue for at least several decades. every insurgency era differs from its predecessors in some significant ways. the key for those who must confront the threat is discerning the salient changes. It is clear that insurgency has metastasised into a networked global phenomenon motivated by a violent form of radical Islam. But what does that mean? Will old counter-insurgency concepts and strategies still apply? these same questions must be asked when dealing with specific national insurgencies as well. since the Indian army has been confronting this challenge since independence, they have a wealth of experience. this is both a blessing and a curse. It can provide insights into today’s insurgencies, but it can also prevent strategists and senior leaders from seeing what is new and different.
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Concept of Discriminate Force another viewpoint of the new generation warfare is the “Case for discriminate Force” put forward by professor ariel Levite and elizabeth sherwood-randall. according to them, western democracies are facing increasing constraints on the use of their overwhelming military power because the logic of the use of force to safeguard national interests is becoming less applicable. state and non-state adversaries who threaten important values and vital interests are no longer deterred by the western military might. at the same time, globalisation and
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the growing transparency of the battlefield and changing western value systems are compelling civilian and military leaders to wield military power selectively and to use fine judgement in the choice of the method adopted to achieve the political and military aims. It is obvious that even in the post-Cold War era, preventive diplomacy has to be backed by credible threat of the use of force but classic deterrence is not reliable against asymmetric challenges such as terrorism. the authors state that non-military means of coercion often fail to change the behaviour of adversaries while military responses have not changed fundamentally despite the new realities and constraints. hence they are of the view that unless the military changes its structures and methods to adapt to the changing nature of war, it will be weakened in three respects. First, it will not be able to repel attack on its territory or its interests abroad. second, it would not be able to coerce or compel the adversary to cease hostile action and third, it would be weakened, as a viable war fighting tool if diplomacy, deterrence and compellence fail. selective and discriminate use of force will reinforce the three areas mentioned and increase the effectiveness of military action and this can come about through doctrinal and technological innovation. the three doctrinal imperatives advocated for making a successful transition to a discriminate force strategy in order to delicately balance the requirement of resolve and restraint, include ‘pre-emption’, ‘image wars’ and ‘modifying the concept of victory’. pre-emption is favoured because it affords the opportunity to reduce the challenge from non-state actors to national security before it manifests itself. another benefit is that action is taken before the situation worsens to a stage when use of discriminate force is no longer feasible. the second imperative focuses on influencing images and public perceptions in determining the outcome of contemporary military engagements. the third imperative deals with the concept of victory in which the goal of war has to be redefined as success rather than victory where success is measured as much in avoiding excessive civilian causalities, suffering and destruction as in furthering political goals underlying the military operations.
Network-Centric & Effects-Based Operations network-centric operations have also been described as a high tempo, precise, agile style of manoeuvre warfare focused on effects based operations (eBO) that derive their power from robust networking of geographically separated entities. eBO themselves are coordinated sets of actions directed at shaping the behaviour of friends, foes and neutrals in peace, crises and war. the Iraq war in 2003 and effects-based targeting clearly demonstrated the changed paradigm from old war to new—from former military objectives of exhaustion and attrition to the more direct achievement of control utilising a far smaller scale of force and involving less ground combat. this implies timely, appropriate and skilful use of all or selected elements of national power which include political/diplomatic, economic, technological, social, psychological, information/ media and military among others. timely sharing of information and intelligence, results in increased speed of command, higher tempo of operations, greater lethality and increased survivability. In essence, therefore, nCW advocates and enables integration and “jointmanship” in which the three services, in the Indian context, are lagging behind, despite all their diplomatic eloquence from time to time. the final aim is to achieve strategic (political) objectives of war with the least amount of tactical effort which incidentally is also the essence of “operational art”. hence “jointness” and “integration” together with innovative operational art are vital parameters of this type of warfare.
Doctrinal differences, lack of suitably integrated/joint organisations, poor knowledge and experience of joint staff work, and lack of networked communications, the Indian armed forces lack the organisational culture and response to effectively fight future conflicts
Use of Air and Space Power and Precision-Guided Weapons the vital characteristics of modern air and space power are its reach, responsiveness, concentration and flexibility. Modern multirole fighter aircraft together with force multipliers like the aWaCs, networked through C4Isr capabilities, can be configured to undertake any type of offensive role and deliver a wide variety of conventional or non-conventional munitions. even transport aircraft and helicopters can be used to deliver weapons in addition to their primary role of logistic support. the flexibility of airpower is limited only by the imagination of the user. With the advent of precision-guided munitions and target designation; modern technology has given airpower the capability of destroying targets with single digit Cep and with least amount of collateral damage. Given the wherewithal, these characteristics endow airpower with the ability to psychologically and physically imbalance an opponent and achieve strategic aims set up by the national leadership with highly selective employment of land forces. this calls for a change in the methodology of military operations. It promises a capability of achieving operational and strategic level objectives with speed and precision and with selective use of the army. the Indian armed forces also require enhanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability and a greater quantity and more variety of precision munitions, but most of all require a national will for an “air-first” response, considering that the Indian air Force was made to sit out the war in 1962 and in Kargil, the air response was delayed as it waited to be “cleared” by the government. such “operational disconnects” could prove embarrassing in the next war.
Impact on the Indian Army the Indian army is organised, equipped and trained for third generation industrial age low- and medium-technology conflicts. the threat from traditional adversaries requires preparation and readiness for high intensity conventional conflicts in addition to low intensity wars and internal strife. some of the above concepts find relevance in the entire spectrum of conflict but more effectively in low-intensity spectrum and would need detailed examination and contextual amendments before adoption. Our traditional methods of war fighting in conventional conflicts favour deliberate set piece military operations against fixed defences, and hence our offensive operations are attrition-oriented and tactically biased. these need to be changed in favour of manoeuvre both in the mountains and in the plains. triservice (Joint) planning and execution should be resorted to at the operational level
through integrated/joint staff work. the Indian army deploys a large number of combat formations (pivot formations) in defensive operations and has considerable staying power and exceptional resilience, but this capability will have to be transformed into a dual capability for undertaking offensive and defensive operations as per the prevailing operational requirement. achieving political objectives of war in short duration conflicts waged at short notice demands a nuanced capability for offensive operations in limited conventional conflicts and low-intensity conflict (LIC) environment involving counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. the new structures must include rapid deployment forces, smaller fully integrated strike forces (integrated with air power) for the initial stages of offensive operations followed by larger “follow-up” formations if the war lasts longer than anticipated and forces for LIC and for out of area contingencies. India would also need integrated special Forces for special operations for internal and external use and a robust army aviation force capable of undertaking close support aviation tasks on the battlefield. Modern weapons and equipment will have to include, among others, larger quantum of army aviation comprising attack helicopters, troop lifting helicopters and helicopters for observation and liaison; longrange artillery capable of firing precisionguided ammunition; land-attack cruise and ballistic missiles, mobile air defence weapons capable of destroying multi-role fighters at different altitudes and ranges, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance means to achieve C4Isr capability. the requirement for restructuring will have to be met through reengineering of the existing forces. the eastern theatre against China, neglected in the past, will require additional formations for creation of an offensive capability in the mountains. Inter- and intra-service network-centricity will enable coherent jointness which facilitates battlespace awareness, enhanced command and control, synergised application of force, focused logistics and protection.
Leadership and Command Style the army has an excellent record of junior leadership but the higher leadership largely remains mired in conservative attrition oriented methodologies. the command style is generally authoritative and excessively dominating, which prevents intellectual growth of junior and middle level leadership and encourages sycophancy, resulting in mediocrity being pushed up, in substantial measure to senior ranks. Beyond the rank of major general, in the complex arena of operational art, which requires versatility, good character and intellect, the promotions are age based, and expertise and competence, quite often, get sacrificed for a younger age profile. these are some of the biggest drawbacks of the current Indian army. therefore, if we wish to adopt the “directive style of command”, which is suited for future conflicts, it will require a change of culture within the army. this is not going to be easy without resorting to wide-ranging reforms and by adopting new training methods. as far as “jointness” and synergy are concerned between the services, it is disappointing to note that in the 21st century, the Indian army and indeed the Indian navy and the Indian air Force are still planning for conflicts essentially service wise, the way it was done in the early years of second World War. doctrinal differences, lack of suitably integrated/joint organisations, poor knowledge and experience of joint staff work, and lack of networked communications, the Indian armed forces lack the organisational culture and response to effectively fight future conflicts. The author is a former Commandant of the Army War College
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LAND WARFARE
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Continued from page 2 PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Army
Organisation of DGIS DGIS (Director General Information System)
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tion systems (dGIs). their cohesion and integration are proving difficult due to differing perceptions and turf wars and hence these two departments together have to be handled by yet another agency. theoretically, this can be done by the deputy Chief of army staff (Information systems and training), or the dCOas (Is&t), to whom both the dGs report. however, in reality, this is not possible as the dCOas does not have the staff or the technical expertise to handle the subjects concerned. different armies have evolved different models. the most favoured model is where one dG (from the command stream, general cadre) controls both information and communication. however, the Indian army being very large and the Corps of signals being a vital component and a major arm
may have felt the necessity of letting the signals have its own identity. thus it seems that the army has now decided to put both the dGs under the director General Military Operations (dGMO) who in the restructuring of the army headquarters has become a psO. But this model alone will not solve the problem because, at present, the dGMO’s organisation does not have any section head with any expertise or knowledge of information systems under development and is staffed, in the concerned sections, with officers from the Corps of signals. the dGMO will have to have a section solely responsible for information systems with qualified officers from the General Cadre stream to be able to render operationally useful advice and to come to logical conclusions in respect of the problems fac-
ing the dGIs.
Time is of the Essence the work on Indian army’s CIdss and many of its various projects had started few decades ago. however, a fresh impetus was injected into this project with inputs from the Us military operations in Iraq and afghanistan, and the combined effects of digitisation of the battlefield with the standoff, multi-spectral sensors that give situational awareness about enemy and own troops. this led to the amalgamation of existing structures and the creation of the dGIs organisation in 2004. despite the dynamism of the present dGIs, the overall progress in the army is slow considering the vital necessity of establishing a seamless digitised communication
network within the army, which is capable of picking up information from the sensors deployed in the battlespace and passing it on a need-to-know basis to all concerned commanders in the field. this requires complete integration of information and communications which seems to be the major weakness of the army. Out of the projects undertaken by the dGIs, BMs is the least developed as it started start. this being at the cutting edge of our combat capability requires close and constant monitoring at all levels. Moreover, due to the fast changing and evolving technologies in the two fields of communications and information and the time required for absorption and development; delays in decision-making and acquiring new technologies can adversely impact our combat capability in the long run.
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‘Fourth generation warfare imperatives would make the battles Infantry predominant involving close combat and fighting’ In an interview with SP’s Land Forces, Lt General Vinod Bhatia, DG, Infantry, Indian Army, said that constant endeavour is being made to absorb new technology and upgrade the equipment profile of units. PHOTOGRAPH: Anoop Kamath / SP Guide Pubns
www.spslandforces.net
SP’s Land Forces (SP’s): What is your vision for the infantry in the context of future wars? Would there be change in the roles and tasks of the infantry? DG Infantry (DG): the prevailing geopolitical scenario clubbed with the advancement in technology necessitates that the Infantry has to be prepared to fight in all types of terrain in the entire spectrum of conflict from subconventional war to an all-out nuclear war. the vision is to equip and train the Infantry for the future battlefield. this has also been articulated in the Infantry Vision 2020 which is ‘Be optimally configured to conduct operations at short notice across the entire spectrum of conflict prevention, conflict and postconflict activities both within and outside the region’. the Infantry will continue to perform the role and tasks as hitherto fore. however, the battlefield milieu would change. hence, it is imperative that the infantryman is suitably equipped and trained to effectively execute assigned battle missions. SP’s: What is the broad framework of modernisation of Infantry at unit and sub-unit level with particular reference to lethality, survivability, mobility and situational awareness? DG: as the armies across the world are shifting their focus to rapid modernisation based on advanced technologies, it is prudent for us to ensure that Indian Infantry is also modernised rapidly. I envisage that the modernisation programme of Infantry at unit and sub-unit level will be undertaken in a phased manner with laid down priorities. the priorities are: Lethality: this entails that an Infantryman should be able to employ his weapon system accurately and effectively to destroy the enemy by day or night and in all-weather conditions. the procurement process has been initiated with replacements and upgrades of weapon systems in progress. some weapon systems, which are being inducted on priority basis for rapid capability development are: (a) third generation atGMs and launchers which will replace existing missile systems along with simulators. (b) the advanced and upgraded versions of assault rifles will replace the existing Insas rifles. Survivability: We are addressing survivability under individual and collective protection. (a) state-of-the-art modular bullet proof jacket (BpJs) and ballistic helmets are being procured for troops deployed on counter-insurgency (CI) and line of control (LC) duties as part of individual protection. the procurement is in an advanced stage and should fructify soon. (b) Multi-purpose vehicles (MpVs) developed by Ordnance Factory (OF) Medak are being procured for troops deployed in counter-insurgency/counter-terrorist (Ct) operations under collective protection. delivery of these vehicles has commenced. Light bullet proof vehicles (LBpVs) authorised to Infantry battalions deployed in CI/Ct duties are at present undergoing pre-induction evaluation. Mobility: I visualise that the Infantry will be assigned the task and should be capable of rapid inter/intra theatre deployment. adequate mobilisation resources are catered
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SP’s: The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is planning to become a technology-intensive force instead of being manpower-intensive. The Indian Infantry today is a manpower intensive force. Is there any thinking in the direction of making the Infantry a technology and firepower-intensive force? What changes would you recommended achieving this? DG: Worldwide all armies are changing their force structure from manpower-intensive to technology-intensive. pLa is therefore no exception to the rule. We in the Indian army and particularly in the Infantry are alive to this shift and have embarked on a programme for capability enhancement of the Infantry soldier and integration of the soldier into the combat network. technology is being exploited to increase the lethality and battlefield transparency for the Infantry soldier. some of the technology-intensive systems being inducted are new generation weapons, target acquisition devices, computers and communication systems. Lt General Vinod Bhatia was commissioned into the parachute regt in June 1974. the General Officer is a graduate of defence services staff College, College of defence Management and the national defence College. the General has wide ranging experience in command, staff and instructional appointments, and had the privilege of commanding both a parachute Battalion and an assam rifle Battalion. his higher command assignments include that of Mountain Brigade in north Bengal, Infantry division on the line of control (LOC) and an operational Corps in the northeast. his staff tenures included operational staff assignments at Brigade, Infantry directorate and Military Operations directorate. he was also the additional director General of Complaint advisory Board. he took over as the director General Infantry in november 2011. he is a recipient of aVsM and sM.
for with bulk carriers for Infantry formations forming part of strike corps and for brigades earmarked for offensive roles in pivot Corps. With this capability, Infantry will be able to strike the enemy in depth, reposition its reserve rapidly, secure lines of communication and conduct other conventional and sub-conventional operations in all types of terrain. We are working towards intrinsic tactical mobility with adequate protection. Infantry mobility vehicles, obstacle crossing expedients, high mobility vehicles are being inducted in Infantry. Situational Awareness: restricted surveillance ranges and lack of over the hill capability are being made up for Infantry. Mini UaVs and medium-range surveillance devices are planned for a deeper look into enemy territory. the present shortcomings of quantity and quality of night vision devices have been addressed and we are increasing the scaling and procuring of better quality of night sights. SP’s: What are the changes in the nature of warfare which directly impact upon the Infantry soldier? It is seen that the project for F-INSAS is being vigorously progressed by your Directorate. Can you give us a broad idea regarding the project—its goals and thrust areas and its current status? DG: With rapid advancements made in the field of science and technology, the nature of warfare is also changing. Future wars are likely to be swift, violent and technology intensive. Fourth generation warfare imperatives would make the battles to be Infantry predominant involving close combat and fighting in built-up areas. the Infantry would be required to perform its role in varied terrain across the entire spectrum of conflict. punitive precision strikes would be
feasible, and the concept of sub-unit operations would gain primacy. as I see F-Insas concept identifies the need to provide infantry soldier with enhanced capabilities. F-Insas perceives a multi-mission, multi-role war fighter who is part of the system that contains numerous modular integrated sub-systems. the project F-Insas is a soldier modernisation programme designed to enhance the capability of an infantry soldier. Being a ‘system of systems’, it has the following sub-systems: (a) Weapon sub-system which includes assault rifle, close quarter battle carbine and light machine gun. (b) Body armour and individual equipment (BaIe) sub-system which includes bullet proof jacket, ballistic helmet, individual load-carrying and survival equipment. (c) target acquisition sub-system which includes surveillance devices and weapon night sights. (d) Computer and communication subsystem. the project F-Insas is progressing well since its inception in the year 2005 and we are leaving no stone unturned to see the fructification of this prestigious project. the induction of various weapons and equipment of F-Insas are being done in a phased manner with priority to personal weapon and protection systems. procurement cases of few items of equipment are in very advanced stages. the soldier will have modern personal weapon in terms of carbine, assault rifle and light machine gun. the Infantry has also embarked on night enablement with procurement of state-of-the-art night vision devices and sights which would be a mix of tI and II technology.
SP’s: The Infantry has been the bedrock of Indian Army’s participation in the UN peacekeeping operations. What are the reasons for our good performance in such operations and how can we further improve upon our performance in the future? DG: India is one of the largest contingent contributors of peacekeeping forces under the Un mandate. Infantry Battalions deployed in Un peacekeeping missions primarily in Central africa and Mediterranean countries have acquitted themselves in the best traditions of our armed forces. the Infantry battalions have carved a niche for themselves and have won international accolade for their performance in Un peacekeeping missions. the main contributing factor towards the success is the high motivation level amongst all ranks. the Infantry battalions earmarked for Un peacekeeping missions are selected through a stringent process where the past performances of the unit is the guiding factor. hence the units selected for Un peacekeeping missions consider it a matter of great pride and honour for having been given an opportunity for overseas duty and to earn name and fame for the country. Besides, the battle hardiness and vast combat experience in varied terrain gained by Infantry for such a prolonged duration has stood the test of time, trials and tribulations. It is for this reason that the Infantry has displayed professionalism with a great sense of devotion towards its duty in Un peacekeeping operations. SP’s: Sometime back, the media had reported that the Infantry because of the tough life involved, is not a popular arm with cadets at the Indian Military Academy and hence they do not opt for the Infantry in their choice of arms. Is it true? How is the Army coping with this phenomenon? What policies has the Army evolved in this regard to make Infantry more attractive for young officers? DG: there is no doubt that the life in the Infantry is very challenging and demands the best of an individual. It is also partially true that Infantry is not the first choice amongst the cadets at pre-commissioning training establishments. If one has to go by the statistics compiled for over last 10 years, the difference in the number of candidates
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opting for Infantry vis-à-vis the Infantry vacancies is diminishing. nevertheless, the shortfall in Infantry officer cadre is being met by sending service officers on Infantry attachment on initial commissioning for two to three years. Besides, the intake level is also being enhanced and the situation is likely to improve in the coming years. Moreover, the cadets are also being motivated to come forward to join the Infantry by posting decorated Infantry officers to training institutions to act as a role model. Motivational lectures by war veterans and visits to Infantry battalion deployed in forward areas are also being conducted during the precommissioning training period. I am sure there will be a reversal of trend in the coming years. SP’s: What are the challenges faced by your Directorate in the modernisation of the Infantry and how are you tackling them? Have sufficient funds been allotted for modernisation of the Infantry? DG: the modernisation process of Infantry is aimed at harnessing advanced technologies to enhance the operational capabilities of Infantry across the full spectrum of conflict. there has been development in technology, which has a profound influence on the destructive power of weapons systems in lethality and accuracy, resulting in quick obsolescence of weapons system and calling for periodic upgrading and modernisation. this is the most important challenge faced by us. the Infantry directorate is fully aware of the requirements of a modern Infantry and has taken a holistic view of the situation. We
are constantly working towards the goal of keeping our Infantry in tune with the changing nature of the battlefield across the entire conflict spectrum. Funds are not a constraint as regards the modernisation of Infantry. the modernisation process is well under way and we will see an advanced and well-equipped Infantry battalion in the near future. SP’s: What steps have been taken to improve the terms and conditions of service of other ranks in the Infantry? DG: the combat edge of the Infantry is dependent on the well-being of the infantryman. therefore, there is a requirement to have a well-trained and motivated soldier to meet the challenges. the scheme of “assured Career progression” has been implemented to give automatic financial upgradation after eight years of service. to address the aspiration of other ranks, “third Cadre review” recommendations have been made in the Infantry. this would cater to increased vacancies in junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and non-commissioned officers (nCOs) rank. In effect the promotion prospects would also increase considerably. the Infantry personnel retire young and more often than not they have to take up a second career. In the recent years, there has been a concerted drive to improve in-service education to enable them to work out a successful second career. Under the projects of “Gyandeep and Kshamta”, a jawan can earn an associate degree. human resource development Commissions (hrdCs) at formation level are conducting personality development pro-
grammes for the jawans to enable them to get commissioned as officers through army Cadet College (aCC) or short service Commission (sCO) entry. In the Infantry, there is an emphasis on providing in-service growth opportunities to all ranks without any bias. SP’s: In future wars, smaller, lighter and more mobile forces will dominate the battlefield. This will demand a very high standard of junior leadership. How is Infantry going to achieve this? DG: smaller, lighter, more mobile and well dispersed forces will demand high quality and quick decision-making ability of junior leaders. the training of junior leaders to meet the above challenges thus assume importance. Infantry is constantly endeavouring to keep pace with these developments. some of the measures being undertaken are: (a) Constant endeavour is being made to absorb new technology and upgrade the equipment profile of units. (b) alongside induction of equipment in units, the equipment being procured is being scaled to training establishments to enable formalised training of junior leaders on technical and tactical aspects. (c) the curriculum at various Category a & B establishments is constantly being upgraded to enable systematic absorption of this technological advancements by junior leaders. (d) the training capacity of training establishments is being enhanced to enable structured training for more number of junior leaders. e-learning and distant learning packages have been introduced
to enable better assimilation. (e) the equipment is being fielded in unit and formation level exercise to further finetune the tactical employment and its understanding by junior leaders. (f) the pe/Org of Infantry Battalion is constantly being reviewed to ensure availability of dedicated manpower to optimally exploit the equipment. (g) there has been a significant increase in the number of joint training with foreign armies and our contribution in the Un missions. Junior leaders are getting more opportunities to interact with their counterparts from other armies of the world, thus widening their horizon. SP’s: How can the Infantry unit be made lighter in manpower and yet capable of generating greater firepower and lethality to cater to the requirements of network-centric environment? DG: even in the future battlefield scenario, the role of Infantry is likely to remain unchanged though the nature of war is likely to be significantly different. More accurate and lethal weapons are likely to be used in battle and therefore there is the need to equip Infantry soldiers accordingly. In summary, the combat ensemble of the future soldier would be lightweight, low bulk, multifunctional with grades of body armour protection as per different operational requirements. the technological innovations in the upgrades of ammunition along with state-of-the-art personal weapon having an enhanced sighting system will further increase the much needed effectiveness and lethality of the soldiers.
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>> AT T A C K H E L I C O P T E R S
Helicopter Gunships for Engaging Targets on Ground With the ALH WSI and the LCH being indigenously developed by HAL and likely to enter service in the coming years, the Indian armed forces will have formidable and state-of-the-art armament using helicopters in their kitty, a useful force multiplier which can turn the tide in battle PHOTOGRAPHS: Boeing, Eurocopter
n LT GENERAL (RETD) B.S. PAWAR
A
rMed heLICOpters Or COMBat helicopters can be classified into two categories i.e. the armed helicopters/gunships and the modern day dedicated attack helicopters (ah). Both are military helicopters, wherein the armed helicopters are normal utility, cargo or reconnaissance modified with weapon mounts for defence against enemy fire from the ground as well as air and for attacking targets on the ground. the purpose of modification could be field expediency during combat as well as the need to maintain helicopters for missions that do not require weapons. the attack helicopters on the other hand are specifically designed and built to carry weapons for engaging targets on ground and air with special emphasis on anti-tank role. the weapons include machine guns, cannons, rockets and guided missiles for air-toground and air-to-air engagement. Modern day attack helicopters have two main roles: of providing direct and accurate close air support for ground troops and anti-tank role to destroy enemy armour. specialised armed helicopters flying from ships at sea are equipped with weapons for anti-submarine and/or anti-shipping operations.
AH-64D Apache Block III helicopter
www.spslandforces.net
The Concept of Arming Helicopters the concept of arming helicopters evolved with the French during the algerian and first Indo China wars (1954-62), in the form of modified armed helicopters. the first use of armed helicopters by Usa in large-scale combat operations was in Vietnam. Until the Vietnam conflict, military helicopters were mostly used for troop transport, observation and casualty evacuation. these helicopters, while flying the missions, often came under heavy fire resulting in the need for arming them. the huey Uh-IC troop transporter was modified with stub wings attached to its fuselage and kitted with machine guns and rockets. the other helicopters modified as armed helicopters were the sikorsky and Chinook Ch-47. this was a quantum jump from the manned door-fitted machine guns of the earlier versions of armed helicopters. during the 1960s, the soviet Union also felt the need for armed helicopters and modified the military MI-8 troop transporter helicopter with weapon pods for rockets and machine guns. this subsequently led to the development of a dedicated armed helicopter/gunship, the MI-24, which saw active action in afghanistan during the 1980s. In our context, we had earlier MI-8 and ranjeet (modified Cheetah helicopter), fitted with machine guns fired from the side doors. Currently, the MI-17 and Lancer (Cheetah helicopter) are modified for armed role capable of mounting guns and rockets. With the armed helicopter/gunship concept battle proven, began the development of dedicated attack helicopters with the primary aim of engaging tanks. the late 1970s/early 1980s saw the advent of attack helicopters like the american apache (ah 64a) and upgraded huey Cobras (ah 1), the soviet MI24 and the Italian Mangusta (a-129). While some questioned the relevance of these ded-
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prises of a single modified 30mm cannon for targeting and neutralising the mines in shallow depth and is fitted on the Us navy Black hawk helicopter. the attack helicopters, on the other hand, carries guns, rockets and guided missiles both air-to-ground and air-to-air. the gun is normally a 20mm/30mm weapon and is located in the chin of the helicopter. the gun provides suppressive ground fire while the attack helicopter carries out its anti-tank mission. the unguided aerial rockets complement the short-range gun and the long-range antitank missiles. the rockets are cheap and effective as an area weapon. the rockets can also be used to attack and destroy soft ground targets that are not vulnerable to anti-tank missiles like depots and anti-aircraft gun sites. In emergent situations they could also be used in the air-to-air role. today, there are rockets with sub-munition warheads which can disperse a number of grenades/bomb lets over specified target areas. the air-to-air missile system is basically to counter the threat from other attack helicopters and is more of a defensive armament system. the anti-tank guided missile is the main punch of the attack helicopters. the advent of fire and forget missiles is the greatest asset of the attack helicopters, which increases its lethality. the hellfire missile on the apache attack helicopter is in this class. the carriage of the armament and the type will depend on the mission and area of operations. the armed helicopters will have to be fitted with countermeasures suite to include radar and missile detectors, infrared jammers and chaff and flare dispensers, depending on the degree of threat perceived for their own defence and survival.
Modern Attack Helicopters TIGER helicopter
icated attack helicopters due to increased cost over gunships, the 1991 Gulf War put at rest these doubts. Fleets of apaches and huey Cobras dominated Iraqi armour in the open desert during the war. In fact, the apaches fired the first shots of war destroying early warning radars and surface-to-air missiles (saM) sites with hellfire missiles. the soviet operations in afghanistan during 1979-89 saw the emergence of the MI-25/MI-35 ah, a variant of the MI-24. We have in our inventory the russian MI-25/ MI-35 ah which are vintage; though certain amount of upgrading has been carried out to make them night capable.
Types of Helicopter Armament Systems the most common weapons are machine guns and rockets for use against soft targets on the ground and for self-defence while transporting troops over conflict areas. While armed helicopters have mostly used direct firing weapons with bombs considered more appropriate for fixed wing aircraft, certain armed helicopters have successfully lent themselves to use with heavy bombs. the Us army used the Chinook helicopters for dropping bombs to clear landing zones and saturate base camps and infiltration routes during the Vietnam War. armed helicopters
today can also be fitted with mine dispenser/mine clearance systems. the mine dispenser system is fitted on the Us Black hawk 139. the system is composed of racks on both sides of the helicopter for up to 40 canisters. each canister contains six antitank and one anti-personnel mine. the rapid airborne mine clearance system is another armament sub-system where the intended targets are naval mines. the system com-
The use of armed helicopters in counterinsurgency operations can pay rich dividends as they facilitate carriage of troops as well as suitable weapons for use against insurgents/terrorists
AH 64D: the american apache Longbow (ah 64d) demonstrates many of the advanced technologies being considered for deployment on future attack helicopters. the Longbow apache attack helicopter is an upgraded version of the ah 64a apache and is the most sophisticated attack helicopter in the world today. the Longbow attack helicopter has a radar dome atop the main rotors, which facilitates firing of hellfire missiles in full-fire-and-forget mode, allowing the attack helicopter to stay masked behind terrain as it acquires and engages the targets. the earlier apache had to pop up to scan the battlefield, leaving it exposed or relying on target data from other sources such as scout helicopters. the Longbow armament consists of a 30mm cannon, 70mm rockets, longbow hellfire missiles and stinger/sidewinder air-to-air missiles. It has the honeywell integrated helmet and display sighting system with state-of-the-art countermeasure sensors. KA-50 and MI-28: the russians have also developed state-of-the-art attack helicopters in the Ka-50 and MI-28. this decision was taken after their experience in afghanistan with the MI-24 attack helicopters, which was basically an armed helicopter and hence not suited for a typical attack helicopter role. the Ka 50 is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first coaxial, single-seat attack helicopter. the MI-28
AT T A C K H E L I C O P T E R S <<
PHOTOGRAPH: Anoop Kamath / SP Guide Pubns
on the other hand is roughly equivalent to the apache Longbow but without command and control linkup. the MI-28 has a 30mm chain gun, ataka anti-tank guiding missile and rocket pods for s-8 and s-13 rockets. the ataka is an improved version of the Vikhr anti-tank guided missile fitted on the MI-25/ MI-35 ah. It also has in its armament the Igla/ Vympel air-to-air missiles. the other dedicated attack helicopters operating are the Italian augustaWestland aW129 (Mangusta), Bell helicopters Viper (the latest version of huey Cobra) and eurocopters tiger.
Light combat helicopter
Counter-insurgency Operations
Indian Scenario Advanced light helicopter (ALH): It is also known as the dhruv and is already in service with the armed forces. the army aviation Corps has four units of aLh fully operationalised and operating in different sectors including high altitude. the weaponised version of the aLh called the aLh weapons systems integrated (aLh WsI) is currently undergoing weapons integration. the weaponised version is fitted with the more powerful shakti engines being manufactured by the hindustan aeronautics Ltd (haL) in collaboration with French turbomeca. this engine has also been trialevaluated for high altitude operations on the utility aLh. Basically, the aLh WsI is a new generation armed helicopter duly modified for fitment of all types of weapon sub-systems which can be fitted on a modern-day attack helicopter. the aLh WsI has a 20mm gun turret, 70mm rockets and the Mistral air-to-air missile. the integration firing for the above sub-systems has already been suc-
fielded should compare well with eurocopters tiger, Italian Mangusta and Bells huey Cobra as it is in the same weight class.
cessfully carried out. however, the anti-tank missile helina, the air version of nag being developed by the defence research and development Organisation (drdO) is still not ready. to meet the interim requirement, the Indian army is scouting in the world market for a suitable missile. the helina, once developed, is stated to be a fire-andforget missile with seven kilometres range and would compare with the hellfire missile. the aLh WsI will carry eight anti-tank guided missiles, four air-to-air missiles or four rocket pods for 70mm rockets and a 20mm gun, making it a formidable armament using helicopter. Light combat helicopter (LCH): the haL has also embarked on the development
of the light combat helicopter. the LCh is using the technology of the aLh and its configurations, except the fuselage which is streamlined and suitably modified for tandem seating of pilot and weapons system operator with adequate armour protection. the weapons and systems will be the same/similar to the aLh WsI. the above approach has an inherent advantage as most of the critical systems have been proven either on the aLh or the aLh WsI. an indigenous attack helicopter like the LCh is a step in the right direction as it can be tailored to suit the terrain and climatic conditions in our area of operations. the first flight of LCh took place on March 29, 2010, and the attack helicopter is likely to enter service by 2014. the LCh once
the armament using helicopters whether armed or dedicated attack helicopter will be extremely relevant in future conflicts which will be short notice, short duration and high intensity with emphasis on deep battle. the 9/11 bombings and subsequent american foray in afghanistan has put this class of helicopters in centre stage due to their inherent characteristics. the battle proven apaches from their anti-tank role in Iraq have got into infantry support role against the taliban in afghanistan. however, whatever may be the weapon systems and capabilities of these helicopters, their vulnerability to ground fire is a major concern in their employment. proper planning and coordination can take care of these aspects and enable effective employment even in extremely hostile environment. the use of armed helicopters in counter-insurgency operations can pay rich dividends as they facilitate carriage of troops as well as suitable weapons for use against insurgents/ terrorists. Both the armed MI-17 and Lancer have been used in some operations though to a limited extent due to concern for collateral damage. the MI-17V currently being acquired by the air Force is capable of armed role. With the aLh WsI and the LCh being indigenously developed by haL and likely to enter service in the coming years, the Indian armed forces will have formidable and stateof-the-art armament using helicopters in their kittyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a useful force multiplier which can turn the tide in battle.
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>> P R E C I S I O N G U I D E D M U N I T I O N S
For Better Deterrence & Lesser Collateral Damage The Artillery needs large quantities of PGMs for more accurate targeting in future battles. PGMs are increasingly gaining currency to accurately destroy critical hard targets quickly as well as to reduce collateral damage. With a larger quantity of PGMs, the employment of Artillery itself will undergo a drastic change. PHOTOGRAPH: US Army
n LT GENERAL (RETD) V.K. KAPOOR
Changed Nature of Warfare
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preCIsIOn-GUIded MUnItIOn (pGM) also termed as “smart munition”, is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target and to minimise collateral damage. It is well known that the damage effects of explosive weapons fall off with distance. thus even modest improvements in accuracy enable a target to be effectively attacked with fewer or smaller bombs. the creation of precision-guided munitions resulted in the renaming of older bombs as “gravity bombs”, “dumb bombs” or “iron bombs”.
Advantages of PGMs precision munitions give a decision-maker the confidence of contemplating the use of force in circumstances where collateral damage would be unacceptable or call into question the viability of continued military action and hence may preclude the use of force as an option. thus precision technologies have been used to design munitions which could be employed to overcome such inhibitions. In low intensity conflict operations like counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism and even in high intensity conventional conflicts, attitudes towards own and enemy
XM25 individual airburst weapon system
causalities have changed. this has come about because of negative publicity regarding the use of heavy weaponry which results in a large number of civilian causalities and which has serious implications for public opinion and policy. this is more so in democratic countries where the political leader-
ship is often at pains to explain the necessity of use of force. Moreover, due to availability of excellent communications worldwide, it is not possible to hide excesses anywhere and in a seamless world, adverse global opinion can have an adverse impact both internally and externally.
additionally, wars and warfare have changed considerably. It is in this context that richard p. hallon in his article “precision-guided Munitions and the new era of Warfare” (aspC paper no. 53) states, “there has been a generalised lack of appreciation of how warfare has changed since the second World War. On the eve of the Gulf War, for example, critics of proposed military action posited scenarios where tens of thousands of Iraqis would be killed by largely indiscriminate air attacks that would ‘carpet bomb’ population centres, particularly Baghdad. to give viewers some idea of what a ‘modern’ air war might be like, commentators, ironically, ran footage of Berlin and other German cities after Victory in europe (Ve) day. In fact, of course, coalition leaders had no intention whatsoever of using such a level of force against an opponent, recognising that given the moral climate of the present day; this use of power simply would not be tolerated by the world community, or even the population of a coalition nation that engaged in such action. But after being briefed on the air campaign plan for the Gulf War, coalition political and military leaders were very comfortable with the notion of using precision weapons in attacks deep in the midst of major cities, once they had been assured that the accuracies claimed for such
The Winner’s Choice Saab RBS15 missile family has proven potential to meet the existing and future requirements of all branches within the Indian armed forces
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T
he FUtUre OF Wars is going to compel defence establishments across the world to think big with more agile, precise, manoeuvrable and smaller but effective forces. the asymmetric nature of today’s military conflicts and emerging trends in the battle field environment necessitates holistic exploitation of the entire technological spectrum available to secure war winning advantages. Militaries today tend to walk the extra mile towards winning edge by harnessing the cruise missile technology even for high seas and land attacks. saab’s rBs15 missile family has proven potential to meet the existing and future requirements of all branches within the Indian armed forces. they come with unique flexibility and ability of being launched from various platforms. the rBs15F er and the rBs15 Mk3 constituting the rBs15 family has the potential to become the common missile for many attack purposes. the rBs15 Mk3 is the latest developed surface-to-surface (ssM) missile system. It is a true fire and forget multipurpose antiship/land attack, sea skimming, cruise type missile. the missile possesses a high hit probability due to a flexible pre-launch programmable active radar seeker. It has unique eCCM and defence penetration capabilities by an offset stealthy approach featuring a very low terminal trajectory with a set of evasive
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Gripen Maverick and RBS 15
RBS15 Ship launch
measurement unit along with optimised he blast and pre-fragmented warhead. the instantaneous or delayed initiation of the warhead is triggered by direct impact or fused by a proximity sensor. the state-of-the-art design of the rBs15 Mk3 results in high availability, reliability and maintainability and long maintenance intervals, thus the cost of ownership is very low during the system’s specified lifetime of 30 years.
Missile Engagement Planning System manoeuvres and re-attack. thus, it is packed with all features that contribute to the missile’s high defence penetration capability. the rBs15F er is the air-launched missile in the rBs15 missile family. It can be launched from both fighter aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft. the performance of the two missiles are principally the same and they use the same software in the planning and fire control system. the rBs15 missile is designed to operate in the naval scenario, from blue sea conditions to littoral warfare and in land attack missions. Launches can be made from ship, land and airborne platforms making it suitable for a wide spectrum of threat scenarios. the long flight range and extremely flexible trajectory enables attacks from short distances to ranges well beyond the
horizon. attacks can also be mounted from different directions with pre-selected time of arrival for each missile as well as simultaneous arrival.
RBS15 Mk3 Missile Design each missile is contained in a canister, which serves as launcher as well as environmental protection throughout the missile’s life cycle—a round of ammunition concept. the length is 4330mm and diameter is 500mm. the missile weighs 660 kg and comes with high Ku-band active radar target seeker with jittered prF and frequency agility providing inherently good eCCM characteristics. the wide antenna and the very short high power monopulse provide excellent angular and range resolution. rBs15 comes with a navigation system including Gps and inertial
all targets are displayed for the operator together with the complete engagement plan for each missile. the MMI comprises a map of the combat area enabling the operator to overview the operational scenario and to make changes to the engagement plans. to facilitate coordinated attacks from several weapon carriers, engagement data can be exchanged over a digital interface and be displayed on the screen. the system can also receive and transmit complete engagement plans to and from higher command levels. this enables an extensive support to the tasking, direction and control of the rBs15 Mk3 system. rBs15 Mk3 is already in production for Germany, poland and sweden and deliveries are in progress.
P R E C I S I O N G U I D E D M U N I T I O N S << weapons were realistic and not the stuff of an overenthusiastic trade-show sales briefing. On the ‘opening night’ of the Gulf War, for example, Baghdad was struck by two kinds of precision-attackers: ship-launched cruise missiles and air-launched laser-guided bombs. Later, the extensive use of precision weaponry in the north atlantic treaty Organisation (natO) air campaign in Bosnia without (to the author’s knowledge) any collateral losses, affirmed again that this kind of attack offers decision-makers an option to exert force in circumstances that just two decades ago, they would not have considered possible.” the capability of launching precision attacks via drones flying overhead has been fully exploited by the Us in afghanistan and pakistan where predators (unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCaVs)) with hellfire missiles have been employed extensively to get at taliban and al-Qaeda leaders who otherwise would have been inaccessible. thus, decision-makers now have a freedom to use military force in built up areas (cities and towns), in an enemy homeland or in enemyoccupied territory without risking their own troops and without the fear of causing collateral damage.
Air and Space Aspects With the advent of precision-guided munitions combined with accurate reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition systems and global positioning system (Gps)-aided navigation systems; modern technology has given airpower the capability of destroying targets with single digit circular error probability (Cep) and with least amount of collateral damage. Given the wherewithal, these characteristics endow airpower with the ability to psychologically and physically imbalance an opponent and achieve strategic aims set by the national leadership with highly selective employment of land forces. the effects are fundamentally greater than before. airpower has become the decisive force in war, allowing airpower to shape the battlefield before the ground forces. In high-intensity combat, the main role of land forces would now be to secure a victory, rather than achieve it. It is becoming increasingly evident that in the long-term, manned fighters will give way to unmanned combat. the transition from operating UaVs as sensor platform to employing them as weapons carriers is seen by analysts as the logical outcome of the available technologies and the extensive use of predators mounted with hellfire missiles in the afghanistan-pakistan region, proves the efficacy of this concept. the Us air Force has armed its predator and Global hawk UaVs with precision weapons. the Us Congress has mandated that a third of all Us deep-strike aircraft in the future will be unmanned. In the future, manned fighters may be used for only a limited number of roles, whereas stealthy unmanned combat aircraft, together with low-observable long-range stand-off munitions, will lessen the need for manned aircraft to penetrate enemy defences. these factors raise the question of whether and for how long manned aircraft will be needed for the delivery of precision-guided munitions. Military experts predict that space will become an actual theatre of military operations. Currently, it is felt that space operations could involve everything from protecting military satellites to knocking out enemy spaceborne threats and denying adversaries the same opportunities in space. Future threats to satellite systems could include satellites armed with lasers, as well as electronic jamming devices and viruses that could shut down the flow of information.
Some PGMs in Use Currently In the development of pGMs, today’s “smart” or “brilliant” weapons include a host of weapons that range from missiles to individual warheads to defences against enemy smart weapons. In the Us, the tomahawk cruise missile, guided by the Gps, can
reliably hit a target the size of a small room from a thousand kilometres away. the Us army’s second generation tactical missile system is able to destroy battalion-sized formations of moving armoured combat vehicles at ranges in excess of 140 kilometres when it is loaded with the brilliant anti-tank (Bat) sub-munitions. Combat aircraft today can engage targets with the joint direct attack munition from a stand-off range of about 100 kilometres and hit their targets by day or night under any weather conditions. It is reported that the total quantum of pGMs used by the Us army in Vietnam was just 0.2 per cent of total munitions. the ratio increased to eight per cent in the 1991 Gulf War and rose to 35 per cent in Kosovo. In the afghan and Iraq wars of 2003, 56 per cent of munitions were pGMs.
Advanced Guidance Concepts responding to after-action reports from pilots who employed laser and/or satellite guided weapons; Boeing has developed a Laser JdaM (LJdaM) to provide both types of guidance in a single kit. Based on the existing JdaM configurations, a laser guidance package is added to a Gps/Ins-guided weapon to increase the overall accuracy of the weapons. raytheon has developed the enhanced paveway family, which adds Gps/Ins guidance to their paveway family of laser-guidance packages. these “hybrid” laser and Gps guided weapons permit the carriage of fewer weapons types, while retaining mission flexibility, because these weapons can be employed equally against moving and fixed targets, or targets of opportunity.
Cannon Launched Guided Projectiles (CLGPs) the Us army’s MGM-51 shillelagh missile can be considered a type of CLGp. Intended for use on the M551 sheridan light tank, the shillelagh missile was fired out of the sheridan’s cannon to provide robust anti-tank capability. the army’s M712 Copperhead laser guided artillery round was used in desert storm. army CLGps include the M982 excalibur 155mm artillery shell, the XM395 precision-guided mortar munition, and the XM1156 precision guidance kit to refit existing 155mm shells with precision guidance, as the air Force’s JdaM programme converts dumb bombs into precision munitions.
Guided Small Arms a rifle capable of firing explosive bullets that can detonate within a metre of a target could let soldiers fire on snipers hiding in trenches, behind walls or inside buildings. the Us army has developed the XM25 rifle to give its troops an alternative to calling in artillery fire or air strikes when an enemy has taken cover and can’t be targeted by direct fire. the rifle’s gun sight uses a laser rangefinder to calculate the exact distance to the obstruction. the soldier can then add or subtract up to three metres from that distance to enable the bullets to clear the barrier and explode above or beside the target.
Requirements of the Indian Army India will face three types of threats in the future. the traditional variety of threat from pakistan and China which is likely to be in the form of limited mid/high intensity border wars, while the internal threat and the contemporary challenges are likely to take the form of terrorism and insurgencies emanating from traditional adversaries, international terrorist networks, non-state actors, and dissident groups of home grown variety. these threats and challenges will have to be confronted on a wide variety of terrain existing on India’s borders, ranging from high altitude glacial regions to high mountains, low hills, plains, semidesert and desert terrain, and riverine terrain. thus the operational requirement of the army will induce capability-cum-threat based structures and equip the army with a wide variety of weapon systems including a relatively larger percentage of pGMs.
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>> I N T E R N A L S E C U R I T Y
India’s Internal Security Woes Integrated challenges to homeland security have to be handled at the national level with a centralised framework for adequate response. The government would do well in coming out with a white paper on internal security challenges and get on with an effective response post ensuring a speedy consensus. PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Army
n LT GENERAL (RETD) P.C. KATOCH
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t a reCent seMInar on homeland security Challenges held in new delhi, a panelist took umbrage to a remark that Maoist insurgency could persist for another 20 years. though he could not lie the finger on the exact date when normalcy would return in the affected areas, his response was that it would be over much earlier. assessments sure are difficult when we have been contending with terrorism and insurgencies for decades but have yet to come up with a composite and comprehensive response mechanism notwithstanding some steps initiated post the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist strike. how long the Maoist insurgency will last is maybe a matter of conjecture but the fact remains that India’s kneejerk reactions to such movements that pose grave threats to our security, allow them to continue indefinitely. If that was not the case, the Maoist insurgency should have been over within a few years if not months of having given them a crushing blow at naxalbari by employing an Infantry division decades back.
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Current State the official list of terrorist organisations operating in India released by the Ministry of home affairs (Mha) talks of 29 organisations but makes no mention of organisations like the students Islamic Movement of India (sIMI), Indian Mujahideen (IM) and popular Front of India (pFI) despite proof of their radical acts and intentions. Browse the web and you have some 178 outfits (both terrorist and insurgents) listed operating in India though this list also omits organisations like sIMI, IM and pFI. Media reports of the Maoists establishments in urban centres (including delhi/nCr) and similar reports of the pFI need to be taken seriously. as per a book titled From a Head, Through a Head, to a Head authored by a pakistani and published in Karachi in the year 2000, states, “Zhouen-Lai suggested to ayub Khan that pakistan should prepare for prolonged conflict with India instead of short-term wars. he advised pakistan to raise a militia force to act behind enemy lines.” apparently, ayub Khan took the advice of Zhou-en-Lai very seriously and pakistan nurtured the militia force in the form of jihadi radicals to act behind enemy (India) lines. Unfortunately, India has permitted the establishment of an intricate international terror network on its own soil (inducted deliberately by pakistan since early 1980s) that can now easily be operated with a ‘remote’, and which now is exceedingly difficult to identify. no wonder, the global terrorism map shows the afghanistan-pakistan-India region as the most volatile and dangerous. recent apprehension of three Lashkar-etoiba (Let) operatives in connection with planned terrorist strikes in Chandni Chowk area in new delhi confirms Let-Maoist links as also Let connection with pakistani stooge Geelani, heading the hurriyat. Government’s acknowledgement of the strategic United Front of the Maoists highlights the grave danger to homeland security and must be viewed coupled with the expanding panIndia grouping of Islamic terrorism with its international links and growing interdependence and linkages between insurgent and terrorist organisations within India.
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Sniper in action
Intelligence sources had been reporting for last two years that Let operatives had been attending Maoist meetings and were making persistent efforts to integrate terrorist organisations and insurgents within India. Let has all along been the covert arm of the IsIpakistani Military and will leave no stone unturned in making efforts to balkanise India. the architecture of this phenomenon has been emerging over the past decade plus when pakistan started inserting armed terrorist modules into all states of India covertly, knowing well that if these modules remained inactive sleepers for some time, it would facilitate their merging into the Indian population and acquiring Indian identities given the vote bank politics here. China has been giving tacit support to pakistan’s jihadi activities in India and has even provided training and support to United Liberation Front of asom (ULFa), besides being behind the Maoisits of nepal whose links with Indian Maoists were confirmed more than two years back through interrogation of apprehended Maoists—something which our government is afraid of stating fearing that it would annoy the dragon. the fact is that through gross inadequacy in handling social change, we have presented an expanding asymmetric battlefield in India that our adversaries are already exploiting and will continue to do so. International terrorist organisations (like al-Qaeda and Let) have linkages with other terrorist organisations including India in the name of global jihad and for targeting nationals of countries like the Us, Israel and India. this is what hafiz saeed, the mullah, was advocating in Multan to a 50,000 strong radical congregation recently. Let us not get carried away by illusions of pakistan’s military becoming answerable to the civilian government. perhaps we should think of some semblance of civilian authority in pakistan only when the Inter-service Intelligence (IsI) is de-linked from the military and brought directly under civilian control. despite the euphoria over the killing of Kishenji, the Maoist insurgency appears to be getting more formidable by the day. the fact is that the response is largely left to the states with Mha merely dishing out companies of Central armed police Forces (CapF) in addition to periodic intelligence inputs— an approach that is not workable. the situa-
tion on ground is that CapF inducted into the area have not been suitably reorganised, equipped and in some cases have not had any pre-induction training. Besides they are too thin on ground. their venturing into the some 400-square-kilometre area that was declared ‘liberated zone’ by Maoists few years back is questionable and unlikely to have happened.
Bombing of Israeli Embassy Car the recent terror attack on an Israeli official’s car outside the Israeli embassy in new delhi and in close proximity to the maximum security zone of the prime Minister’s residence in February this year and our inability to prevent the action, identify and apprehend the perpetuators after the incident, indicates our weaknesses. there was media blitz of a new magnetic device and new tactics, which are misnomers. there is nothing new about motorcycle-borne terrorists undertaking terror missions. In fact, it is routine. there is nothing new either about areas outside foreign missions being very prone to terror threat. India should have known better with our mission in Kabul subjected to terror attack twice already. the requirement of 24 x 7 continued surveillance (both manual and electronic) outside foreign missions in India, particularly of a country like Israel, needed no emphasis. the magnetic bomb should have been no surprise either. Limpet mines with clockwork mechanism (that can be attached to any metallic object) have been available for the past several decades (not years). Most likely a timing device was used by the bomber that permitted him to escape and gave time for defusing a similar device in Georgia.
National Counter-terrorism Centre the recent furore over the national Counterterrorism Centre (nCtC) has caused considerable turbulence. Many Chief Ministers and political parties have raised strong objections against its establishment. the main objections are the fear that the government will use the nCtC to target non-Congress politicians and non-Congress supporters, nCtC will be an infringement on the rights of the states and that the issue was not discussed with the opposition and the states. the first part of the objection by the concerned Chief
Ministers is very genuine considering what M.K. dhar, former Joint director Intelligence Bureau, wrote in his book, Top Secret–India’s Intelligence Unveiled. he says that irrespective of which party is in power in India, the entire intelligence effort of the country is focused on how to do down the opposition. the second objection of ‘infringement on states’ too is genuine since we have failed to delink terror and insurgent acts from routine ‘law and order’ under responsibility of the states. the third objection of the issue not having been discussed too is genuine considering that it has taken 22 excruciating months to accord approval for the nCtC during which the issue should have been discussed and consensus arrived at. India has failed to look at how our Constitution should strengthen our hands in fighting the twin malaise of terrorism and insurgency. there was considerable merit in the home Minister’s original proposal that the entire counter-terrorism architecture including the proposed nCtC function under the Mha till the creation of a MIs. the mere fact that the home Minister himself proposed a MIs implied that the current set up is inadequate. however, what eventually has been sanctioned implies that while Multi agency Centre (MaC) hitherto run by the Intelligence Bureau is subsumed into nCtC, but organisations like the national Investigation agency (nIa) and the national Intelligence Grid (natGrId) will continue functioning independently albeit all intelligence agencies are to provide inputs to nCtC. even in the proposed shape, the nCtC will take many months/years to attain optimum level of realtime operational efficiency. to start with, it must have data links and standardised protocols with and amongst all intelligence agencies for real time passage of information. More significantly, state Counter-terrorism Centres (sCtCs) must be established to ensure regular flow of ground level intelligence upwards and dissemination of collated and analysed intelligence flowing downwards. sCtCs should be established in all states and not like UhQ (Unified hQ) in selected few as is the current practice, for the simple reason that the threat of terrorism is omnipresent that can occur at any place without warning.
Conclusion India needs to do much more to gear up on homeland security. the current response to the Maoist insurgency is not cohesive to say the least. taking 22 months to sanction a nCtC indicates the lackadaisical approach we have in countering terrorism as well. We need to speed up the pace and cater today to the type of threats including new technology and tactics that the terrorists may use tomorrow. In future, we could well witness cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, financial and kinetic attacks, dirty bombs, maritime, chemical and biological terrorism, and even radiological/nuclear blackmail to spread panic and create hysteria. Integrated challenges to homeland security have to be handled at the national level with a centralised framework for adequate response. a diluted nCtC can hardly be effective. the government would do well in coming out with a white paper on internal security challenges and get on with an effective response post ensuring a speedy consensus. Continued grouping of terrorist and insurgent acts under ‘law and order’ would only endanger national security further.
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BAE Systems at Defexpo The company will debut its future-proof CV90 and the go-anywhere BvS10 vehicles along with the ultra-light M777 howitzer
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OBILItY WILL Be the dominant theme among Bae systems’ displays at the seventh defexpo India being held in new delhi from March 29 to april 1 this year. the company will debut its family of CV90 light tanks and Bvs10 goanywhere all-terrain vehicle family in India at the exhibition, along with the ultra-light M777 howitzer. In recognition of the company’s commitment to offer the full span of its capabilities across the defence, aerospace and security domains in India; Bae systems’ pavilion at this signature event spans products and solutions in air and defence information, maritime, intelligence and security, and electronics systems. Initially created for the swedish army and sold to six nations, the CV90 light tank provides high tactical and strategic mobility, and survivability in any terrain or tactical environment. designed to provide maximum availability and cost-efficiency throughout its operational lifespan, the CV90’s systems require only straightforward, low-cost maintenance. the platform’s future-proof design, the result of continuous improvement from operational feedback, allows for new upgrades and variants. a proven workhorse in battle situations, the Bvs10 armoured allterrain vehicle provides an unbeatable combination of mobility, payload and protection.
CV90
the world’s first 155mm howitzer weighing under 10,000 lbs (4,218 kg), the highly mobile M777, on display at defexpo this year is the subject of ongoing discussions between the Indian and Us Governments in relation to a possible sale, in support of the Indian army’s modernisation programme. reinforcing its commitment to supporting indigenous capability through investment, technology sharing and co-development, Bae systems is located in hall 9 alongside defence Land systems India, its joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra. In the electronic systems sector, the company will have a variety of future soldier technologies on display, including handheld thermal monoculars. these technologies will be displayed in conjunction with other com-
M777 Ultra-light howitzer
ponents of Bae systems equipment developed to maximise the capabilities of dismounted personnel in military and security operations. among the Bae systems products on display is a lightweight thermal weapon sight featuring a 28-micron focal plane array which requires less power and reduces weight. two other innovative Bae systems’ products for dismounted personnel on display include the skeetIr and red-I. the size of a credit card, the weapon-mountable skeetIr is not only one of smallest thermal monoculars available today; it is also one of the most versatile thermal imagers in the world. With its hotkey functionality, a modular weapon, helmet, and accessory interface, skeetIr adapts in seconds to virtually any weapon. the remote eyepiece display imager (red-I), is a
head mounted display compatible with military night sensors such as thermal weapon sights and the skeetIr. Further, Geospatial eXploitation products (GXp) software specialists will show how to use GXp Xplorer data management software to connect to and crawl various disparate data repositories to find information in GIs feature databases, product and national libraries, map and chart libraries, tactical data stores, and other intelligence data sources. dean McCumiskey, Managing director & CeO India, Bae systems said, “defexpo is an extremely important platform for us in the continuing development of our business and the last two years have marked very good progress. partnering with the industry in achieving self-reliance in the design, development, and production of equipment, systems and platforms, is the cornerstone of our business in India. We take pride in the milestones: our joint ventures with Mahindra & Mahindra and the hindustan aeronautics Limited have marked in their journeys since the last defexpo. as we build our footprint, we are committed to creating key intellectual property indigenously working closely with partners and customers to deliver best of breed solutions.” Bae systems is located in hall 9 of the pragati Maidan exhibition Centre, new delhi.
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NIGHT VISION
The Importance of Night Vision
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he nature of warfare has changed dramatically after the september 11 attacks on the World trade Center. In afghanistan and Iraq mass deployment of armor and air strikes alone are not enough to conduct effective counter insurgency operations. during the news coverage of a senior natO officer’s visit to afghanistan, when he asked if there was anything specific in fact the soldiers needed; the reply was instantaneous “more nVG’s (night Vision Goggles) sir”. this response cements the necessity of nVG’s in the present and future conflict zones. nVG is a post World War II development. It is no longer a luxury item for the modern soldiers but vital equipment, which may determine their survival in war zones. nVG’s have the unprecedented features of being easy to deploy and to maintain, of providing a unique identification performance by night and to be relatively cheap but very rugged, unlike any other opto-electronic devices. thus the Us army is leading the way of all natO countries by massively equipping all of their troops with at least one nV device per soldier. also for the 2008 Mumbai attacks which began on 26 november 2008 and lasted until 29 november, night Vision was of importance. night actions have taken place, by the early morning of 28 november, all sites except for the taj hotel had been secured by Mumbai police and security forces. night Vision is of crucial importance for India, as recent terror events have shown again among others the vulnerability at night of armed and security forces.
Chronological development of Image Intensification
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the first night vision devices were introduced during World War II. these active devices required a large infrared light source to illuminate targets, and consequently were easily detectable to opposing forces using similar equipment. the first true passive image intensifier (I2) devices, known as Generation I?, were introduced in the 1960s. these devices eliminated the need for external infrared illumination, as they intensified ambient light. these “starlight scopes” were extremely bulky since they required several vacuum tubes coupled together to intensify an image. By the 1970s, night vision experienced a technological breakthrough when Generation II? introduced the integrated Microchannel plate (MCp). this new MCp eliminated the need for multiple stages of amplification and allowed the tube to reach very high gains with very good low light level performance, increased tube life, lower power consumption and almost no distortions. all of these achievements could now be contained within a compact housing, allowing for the development of the first truly man-portable devices. In the 1980s, some tubes had the photocathode made from gallium arsenide (Gaas) instead of tri-alkali (na2Ksb). While the Gaas photocathode did provide a better response to near-infrared light, these Generation III? tubes lost the ability to reliably “see” the blue light that is most common in desert, sandy or rocky environments. the Generation III tube also had a significantly shorter useful life, and required a protective ion barrier film to return to the Generation II tubes lifespan. Unfortunately this film also reduces the electro-optical performance of the tube since many of the electrons emitted by the photocathode are absorbed in the film and take no part in the amplification process, reducing the quality of the reproduced image. phOtOnIs technologies started the long process of improving I2 tubes performance. Improvements have taken three parallel routes: 1- reduce size & Weight. 2- Improve resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (both parameters combined into what is now recognized as the FOM – Figure-of-Merit) 3- Minimize and overcome the major enemy of I2 tubes which is excessive light. In the late 1990s, advances in technology allowed new tubes such as the phOtOnIs Xd-4™ to surpass the performance of Generation III tubes. this made the term “Generation” irrelevant in determining the performance of an I2 tube. By 2001, the United states government concluded that performance was not dependant on generation, and eliminated it as a basis for export regulations.
XD-4™ overview with Auto-Gating Xd-4™ technology enables the user to detect information easily during all types of operations. Its wide spectral sensi-
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16MM Tube Image without Auto-Gating
the 16mm Image Intensifier tube by phOtOnIs has been designed to meet the sWap requirements of the modern armies: reduced size, Weight and minimum power consumption, still with state-of-the-art performance. the weight of the 16mm Image Intensifier tube has been reduced by 35 grams compared to standard anVIs 18mm tube while its volume size has been reduced by 40%. the 16mm Image Intensifier tube of phOtOnIs is available with an integrated auto-Gated power supply.
About PHOTONIS Night Vision
would drop to less than 20 lp/mm at high light levels. the image provided by an autogated tube keeps therefore in all conditions of light the best contrast. dynamic lighting conditions define many of today’s missions. having a device fitted with auto-gating might be a true life saver in emergency situations, such as field explosions, sudden flashes of light or in a twilight environment where a standard image intensifier would usually switch off lens focus.
Image with Auto-Gating
ONYX
tivity enables the soldier to operate in all staror moonlight conditions, in urban, desert, arctic, wooded or jungle operational environments. the prominent feature on the Xd-4™ is the integrated auto-gated power supply. auto-Gating is the electronic solution that
reduces the duty cycle of the photocathode voltage by rapidly switching the voltage on and off. the autogating provides the unique feature of keeping the nominal MtF and resolution of the tube at high light levels (urban environment, above cities for pilots, …) unlike standard tubes whose resolution
In addition to the advances made with Xd4™ auto-Gating, OnYX natural black and white night Vision Image Intensifiers are proving to be a plus in terms of image contrast and detection. OnYX is the optional black & white (B&W) vision of phOtOnIs. studies show that nighttime scenes appear remarkably more natural in B&W versus the usual green. phOtOnIs offers B&W night Vision for them who want to have a natural vision at night. B&W provides clearer information about the contrast, shapes and shadows. OnYX is available as option on Xd-4™.
phOtOnIs night Vision is the largest european image intensifier tubes supplier and one of the world leaders in the design and manufacturing of state-of-the-art image intensifier tubes for space and military applications. night vision has become a key opto-electronic technology in modern warfare as more and more combats take place by night. phOtOnIs night Vision products are in use in all natO countries and are largely deployed worldwide. the phOtOnIs Group is a global business serving the photo-sensor technology needs of world-leading customers in the areas of night Vision, Industry & science and Medical Imaging. the Group develops and manufactures Image Intensifier tubes for civilian and military use, Micro-Channel plates for mass spectrometry and space science and Gas nuclear detectors for the safety of nuclear power plants. phOtOnIs Group has over 1.000 employees with revenues exceeding eUr 166M (Usd 220M). phOtOnIs directly export more than 80 percent of their products. Major customers include; FrenCh arMY, UK Mod, GerMan BWB, Us arMY CeCOM, Us naVY, areVa, edF, Cea, Cnrs, Us natIOnaL LaBs, esa.
Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2012 T
he Indo-Us land forces engagement has progressed substantively. starting at the first Yudh abhyas exercise seven years ago at the basic platoon level, the exercise held this year has evolved into an advanced command post and field training exercise. spread across two locations under the army’s south Western Command since early March, this year’s Yudh abhyas involves a Us army contingent from the Us army pacific (UsarpaC), part of their pacific Command (paCOM) and troops from the 2nd squadron 14th Us Cavalry regiment from 25th Infantry division, hawaii, along with a platoon of strykers. the Indian army fielded a similarly-sized mechanised infantry unit. according to the army, “the event is all the more interesting as a number of key surveillance, communications and improvised explosive devices (Ied) detection and neutralisation technologies, available with both sides have been fielded in the exercise.” the exercise involved several key elements of close joint engagement for offensive objectives. For instance, as part of the field training element codenamed desert Lark, troops from both sides performed a joint cordon and search drill to neutralise suspected insurgents in a specially constructed training area at the ranges in an abandoned village in the Mahajan Field Firing range in rajasthan. the dramatic drill had the Indian and Us troops establishing a physical cordon by deploying their respective combat vehicles at night, followed by a ground push by troops to zero in on and flush out insurgents. helicopter support was part of the drill for injection and evacuation of the crew, and to provide air support. several elements of the drill were reminiscent of the final manoeuvres employed during Operation neptune spear, the mission that eliminated al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in abbottabad, pakistan. It may be noted that a similar manoeuvre was also performed by Indian army troops at exercise Vijayee Bhava last year in rajasthan. the command post exercise, codenamed sarvada saviours, which took
place at Bathinda, focused on a major area of interest for both armies—explosive ordnance and Ied disposal in a hostile environment. the exercise involved sappers from both sides and dealt with the innumerable challenges they face in countering the asymmetric threat posed by Ieds and street-side bomb attacks. the non-operational element of the exercise involved infrastructure development in strife torn regions and inaccessible areas and crucial to other sides, and the execution of rescue and relief operations during natural calamities. according to the army, the command post exercise in particular provided an excellent opportunity to both sides to understand the functioning of engineer Brigades with special emphasis on operations under United nations mandate in troubled areas. desert Lark and sarvada saviours was witnessed by an Indian and Us army delegation, headed by Lt General Gyan Bhushan, GOC-in-C south Western Command, and Lt General Francis “Frank” Wiercinski, Commander of the Us army pacific, as also the co-chair of the executive steering Group (esG) for Indo-Us army training events and exchanges. the weapons and systems PHOTOGRAPHS: Indian Army involved at Yudh abhyas included stryker special vehicles, anti-armour and infantry weapons from the Us side. the Indian army fielded BMp armoured personnel carriers, IaF Mi17 helicopters and support systems. as with the earlier iterations, the current Yudh abhyas combat drill has been designed to promote cooperation, interoperability and operational understanding between the Indian and Us land forces at the tactical level, with a strong and evolving focus on sharing training procedures and building joint operating skills, within the framework of United nations peacekeeping operations. –SP’s Special Correspondent
(From top left and clockwise) Close cordon of insurgent hideout; Armoured Assault during the exercise; Indo-US troops interacting with each other and Infantry in action.
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S T R AT E G Y
Managing Strategic Military Transformation There is a need to study the issues pertaining to management of transformation and towards realising the need for joint capabilities in the Indian armed forces. In the first part of this article, we have examined some of the organisational theories that primarily came up in the face of international business competition and are relevant to the military, as also the catalysts and theories for military transformation. n LT GENERAL (RETD) P.C. KATOCH
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here has Been MUCh talk of transformation of the military in India especially after the Kargil conflict. a dispassionate analysis, however, would indicate that ground level translation of the many recommendations for transformation has largely been cosmetic or at best marginal despite so many years having elapsed. We do not appear to be making a holistic effort to learn from the transformation of militaries in countries like the Us, UK, Germany and even China. the same ambivalence relates to revamping the national security architecture notwithstanding the current study under way and headed by the Chairman national security advisory Board, recommendations of which may also be only partially implemented and that too over a prolonged period going by earlier experiences. the profound changes in the last two decades of the 20th century should have radically altered our perceptions towards the nature of future conflict and mechanics of its resolution including the ensuing sea change in the way nations perceive themselves and each other in the overall international system. Whatever the future, with comprehensive security getting more and more complex coupled with technological advances, the military will continue to be an important and critical element of national power. to that end, India must acknowledge that the Indian military establishment requires creative adaptation, fundamental changes and determinism to be able to respond effectively to the nation. there is a need to study the issues pertaining to management of transformation and towards realising joint capabilities in the Indian armed forces. In this context, there is a need to draw upon both the organisational theories and military theories being refined and practised by others. this then should lead us to the change management required for transformation of the Indian armed forces and thereon to a roadmap to affect the same.
Theories
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l Organisational and Business Ori-
ented: advances in information technology and accelerating foreign competition had started emerging as challenges as early as the late 1970s and the 1980s. the most affected being the business world, they started looking for ways and means to meet these challenges in order to regain and retain competitive advantage in respective businesses. as a result, a multitude of theories, strategies and techniques of management emerged throughout this period. all these theories sought to describe the appropriate steps necessary to renew and re-energise the basic business organisation. take the example of John p. Kotter, a professor of Leadership at the harvard Business school, who authored a book titled Leading Change. In this book, he propounded eight steps required to transform an organisation (termed as Kotter’s theory). these steps have been elucidated as: one, to establish a sense of urgency, contending the failure to instil a sense of urgency is the biggest mistake leaders make when trying to transform an organisation and that establishing a sense of urgency and eliminating complacency are crucial to gaining the cooperation needed to drive the transformation
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process; two, to form a powerful guiding coalition of the right people who enjoy a great deal of trust and share a common objective since transformation requires a powerful force to sustain the process and no individual regardless of formal or informal power or weak committees can lead or manage transformation by himself; three, to create a vision, since a vision performs the triple tasks of providing general direction of transformation simplifying the number of decisions a business needs to make, provides motivation to the people and coordinates all actions; four, to communicate the vision since communications are essential in ensuring that people within the organisation have a common understanding and shared a sense of commitment to the future; five, to empower others to act on the vision since effectively empowering subordinates results in the four-fold advantage of removing structural barriers, provision of required training, aligning the organisational system to the vision and in dealing with troublesome supervisors; six, to plan and create short-term successes since short-term success provides credibility to the transformation and helps sustain it over the duration of the process; seven, to consolidate and produce further changes/transformation optimising on credibility afforded by short-term victories to tackle bigger problems within the plan; eight, to institutionalise new approaches where leaders need to anchor change within the organisation’s culture to ensure long-term success of the transformation effort. a second example can be taken from robert Miles, an academician and professional consultant on change and transformation, who authored the book, Leading Corporate Transformation. he defines in his book, referred to as Miles theory, four fundamental attributes associated with successful transformation are as follows: first, the ability to thrive on energy with direction; second, a total system perspective; third, a comprehensive implementation plan; fourth, a demanding transformational leader. thereon, he continues by describing three vital leadership tasks that support these attributes. they are generating energy for transformation; developing a vision of the future, the vision identifying a purpose and mission for the organisation, creating an emotional view for the future organisational state and providing direction to get to the vision state; aligning the organisation with culture. Overall, the leadership task is creating transformation process architecture. the transformation architecture enables the transformation leader to orchestrate the transformation process. the leadership must deliberately orchestrate all the elements of the organisation’s total system in order to maintain dynamic alignment and facilitate human development and organisational learning that allow forward movement without excessive risk. Failure in any one of these tasks will result in failure to transform. More importantly, these organisational theories are relevant to military institutions because they are based upon the human and institutional dynamics associated with resistance, control and power, present during periods of change or transformation as well as other types of institutions. l Catalysts and Theories of Military Transformation: the catalyst for strategic
military transformations has invariably been visionaries at the national apex that have provided the necessary impetus. In the Us, the catalyst for the transformation process commenced with former secretary of defense, donald h. rumsfeld. the Us department of defense (dod) created Us Joint Forces Command (JFC) as the transformation laboratory of the Us Military to force the Us armed Forces into jointness. the Goldwater nichols act brought about revolutionary changes in the Us armed forces, accelerating synergy and boosting transformation. In China, change was ushered in by Jiang Zemin and its implementation overseen by the Central Military Commission (CMC) and Chief of General staff (CGs) of the people’s Liberation army (pLa). In Germany, the transformation process was initiated by the Berlin decree which aimed to integrate the armed forces, ensuring and reaping full benefits of ongoing technological advancements. the German Chief of the defence Forces is overseeing the transformation of the armed forces. as for theories, we may examine what General donn a., a former commander of Us training and doctrine Command (tradOC) identified when faced with the challenge of developing a doctrine to enable the Us army to defeat a much larger soviet land force. he identified following seven general requirements for efficient military change: the military leader or coalition must identify an institution or mechanism to manage change and the newly appointed institution or mechanism then must define the need for change, describing what must be done and how it differs from the present; ensure the principal staff and command personalities responsible for change possess an educational background sufficiently rigorous, demanding and relevant to bring a common cultural bias to problem solving; appoint a spokesman or institution to be the champion for change; build consensus for change that will give the new ideas and the need to adopt them a wider audience of converts and believers; maintenance of continuity of leadership since continuity is needed among the architects of change and so that consistency of effort is brought in the process; gain support from the top or near the top of the organisation on the premise that the supporter must be willing to hear out arguments for change, agree to the need, embrace the new concepts and become at least a supporter or champion for change; conduct field trials and experiments. the relevance of the proposed change must be convincingly demonstrated to a wide audience through the use of open, challenging and realistic experiments. then there is another good book titled Hope is Not a Method authored by General Gordon r. sullivan, former Chief of staff Us army and Colonel Michael V. harper, former director of the army Chief of staff ’s staff Group, dealing with military transformation. this book lists 11 rules for guiding change, which are: leading change requires leaders to do two jobs at once, and in that they must conduct today’s operations and lead the organisation into tomorrow; the leader uses values to signal what will not change within an organisation, and in doing so, provides stability and direction during the uncertain times associated with change; the leader and his team must expend a great deal of mental effort to build a solid intellectual framework for the future; the leader must change the critical process within the organisation if he
wishes to effect true change as simply working on the margins and making incremental changes will not affect substantive and enduring transformation; effective leaders build teams and forge alliances, as teamwork is critical to transformation and teamwork empowers people with a sense of responsibility for the organisation thereby creating momentum for transformation; resiliency and flexibility are critical for the organisation to deal with the unexpected and maintain the course throughout transformation; the transformation leader must strike a balance between resources (people, funds, time and energy) to meet today’s requirement and those of tomorrow; ‘better’ cannot be defined using current qualitative values (better quality, reduced cycle times, shared information, etc) but should include all these characteristics and more; the leader must inculcate the organisation with a positive, optimistic and creative vision of the future; accent should be on a learning organisation that learns from doing and sharing information and whose actions will spark a spirit of innovation and growth within the organisation; creative people are what enables organisations in successfully transforming. hence, leaders must understand this and grow and reward creativity among all the people within the organisation.
Analysis By and large, similarities exist between most theories for change. human and institutional dynamics are generally associated with resistance, control and power. this is applicable to both military and non-military organisations and institutions. First and foremost is the need to establish a sense of urgency for transformation of the organisation. second is the importance of leadership in successful transformation, more specifically a coalition of leaders. third is the criticality of a vision and a strategy to achieve it. Fourth is the need for open communications to build consensus and support for change. Fifth is the need to empower all people throughout the organisation to achieve the vision. and lastly, is the need to institutionalise the transformation within the organisation’s culture.
Working Towards Transformation Manifestations of change are generally resisted at all levels particularly in a country like India. the military is as rigid if not more especially considering that transformation requires much more than mere change, the latter being slow moving and incremental. take the example of the fact that creative people are who enable organisations to successfully transform, which leaders must understand, encourage its growth and reward creativity among all members of the organisation. however, what is perplexing to the military is that this rule is hard to support given the tension between adherence to discipline and the questioning attitude required for innovative and creative thought within the military. For transformation to occur, senior leaders must fight, through strength of logic and will, to gain a consensus for the future. —To be continued (The second part of this article will examine various models of military transformation and will have recommendations on how India can manage strategic military transformation of the Indian armed forces.)
M A R K E T I N G F E AT U R E
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M A R K E T I N G F E AT U R E
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INDUSTRY
‘Humvees capabilities speak for themselves’ In an interview with SP’s Land Forces Rick Alpaugh, Vice President International Military Sales, AM General, said that the company estimates potential market size in South Asia, South East Asia, Australia and Africa for the right-hand drive light tactical vehicle to be several thousand vehicles in the next five years SP’s Land Forces (SP’s): The right-hand drive countries are mostly in South Asia, some in South East Asia, Australia and the southern part of Africa. From HMMWV perspective what is the estimated market size for right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles and which countries do you plan to enter first? Rick Alpaugh (Alpaugh): We estimate potential market size in south asia, south east asia, australia and africa for the right-hand drive light tactical vehicle to be several thousand vehicles in the next five years. We are currently working with several potential markets. SP’s: Are any of the right-hand drive countries using HMMWV currently, if yes, what are the plans for ‘upgrade’ or ‘replacement’? Alpaugh: there are a number of right-hand drive countries which use hMMWVs today. In response to their expressed needs for an OeM designed and produced right-hand drive hMMWV, we have launched this latest version of the humvee. the right-hand drive is not a conversion but rather is a factoryinstalled on the humvee platform. the righthand drive humvee variant gives our international customers the opportunity to experience the reliable, versatile and rugged vehicle that is humvee. SP’s: If there are capacities in the RHD market, will you have a manufacturing base in any of the regions, outside the US?
right-hand drive humvee. In addition, the humvee’s reliability, mobility and durability in and of itself provide safety for today’s warfighter. tailored options for protection, performance and payload have been designed and qualified for all humvee mission applications, including special operations. SP’s: Will there be any change in the troop seating configuration? Alpaugh: Other than repositioning the driver, there will be no change in the troop seating configuration.
Alpaugh: this will be considered on a case by case basis. SP’s: Other than right-hand drive, will the HMMWV vehicles have any other additional features/modifications to suit local terrain/conditions? Alpaugh: all features and modifications available for other humvee platforms will also be available for the right-hand drive humvee.
these effective, battle-proven options can be tailored to meet the challenges of any terrain or condition worldwide. SP’s: The need for special operations vehicles having mine and ballistic protection is increasing. Could you give the safety features of RHD HMMWV? Alpaugh: all safety features available on the humvee platform are also available for the
SP’s: Can you give the life-cycle costs of the RHD HMMWV and what kind of savings could be expected? Alpaugh: the right-hand drive humvee is built to the same rigid performance requirements of the Us military and has the same reliability, mobility and durability. an exceptionally durable and versatile light tactical vehicle, many vehicles still in service today were built in the 1980s. humvee’s capabilities speak for themselves. SP’s: What kind of maintenance, service, and training will follow in the RHD market? Alpaugh: aM General’s service parts and Logistics Operations division provides a full range of services including hands-on equipment training, all levels of driver training instruction, field service support, and awardwinning supply chain management.
Feet Firmly on the Ground at CAE
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OMetIMes We need tO challenge our assumptions. For those who study and follow the military training and simulation community, it is occasionally too easy to pigeonhole a company, assuming that we know exactly what it does. that can lead to a dangerous lack of appreciation of precisely where that company might startle or surprise us. such a company is Cae, widely known as the pre-eminent global developer of flight simulators. But this is a perception that though accurate, belies a wealth of capability and experience in other modelling and simulation domains that are an integral part of Cae in the 21st century. Cae is not just about flight simulation and training. In fact, the company is fully engaged in applying its modelling and simulation technology to markets ranging from healthcare to mining. and perhaps surprisingly to some, Cae boasts a wealth of experience and capability delivering simulation-based solutions for ground forces, ranging from direct fire gunnery trainers and tank driver trainers to constructive simulations for command teams. In part, the company’s expertise in the land systems domain stems from strategic acquisitions, one of which took place in India when Cae acquired Macmet technologies in 2007 and another of which was made as recently as 2011 when Cae acquired the technology assisted Learning unit of rtI International. now part of Cae Usa’s Ground training systems division, the business has a 27-year legacy of design and development of high fidelity maintenance trainers for armoured vehicles such as the M1 abrams main battle tank and the M2/M3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFV). some 340 virtual desktop trainers and full-scale, hands-
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CAE has developed both desktop virtual maintenance trainers and high-fidelity hands-on trainers for the US Army’s Abrams main battle tank, and will be demonstrating this solution during Defexpo 2012; CAE has delivered a comprehensive suite of training devices for the Indian Army’s Arjun tank, including the driver simulators shown here.
on trainers have been produced for the Us army for these two vehicles alone and work continues on providing state-of-the-art maintenance training solutions for these and other platforms, including the high mobility artillery rocket system (hIMars). Cae’s land simulation expertise, however, does not only come from recent acquisitions. at the heart of the company, the extensive investment in research and development—an area that some 10 per cent of Cae’s revenues are dedicated to each year— has resulted in a number of capabilities that are enhancing ground training systems solutions. For example, using the proven Cae Medallion 6000 image generator, the Cae InFrOnt 3d system provides initial and continuation training for forward artillery observers and forward air controllers. Over the past decade, the system has been supplied to the armies of Great Britain, turkey, the netherlands, thailand, Kenya, new Zealand, Belgium and Oman as both a deployable, mobile training system as well as a classroom-based solution. direct-fire and artillery systems training
is a major feature of Cae’s strong and abiding relationship with the British army. the company has been actively involved with the British army as the principal contractor for Warrior IFV Gunnery turret trainers over the past several years. Most notably, the company delivered networked warrior observation post vehicle (OpV) trainers to the royal school of artillery that now extend training from individual crew members to collective battle group level fire support training. In addition, Cae has provided major upgrades as part of the British army’s artillery Fire Control trainer programme. Cae has also been a strong player in the air defence domain, producing simulators for the rapier, starstreak and sky Guard systems. Interestingly, it is a little known fact that Cae produced and has sustained the Canadian army’s air defence anti-tank system (adats) simulators since 1990. a few years ago, Cae furnished two new networked Centralised appended trainers for the adats that are used to build aerospace and radar operator awareness skills and execute tactical missile engagements in
dynamic 3d aerospace environments. More recently, Cae has provided the Indian army with a comprehensive training solution for its indigenously-developed arjun main battle tank. the arjun training systems designed and developed by Cae include motion-based driver trainers, desktop trainers and turret simulators for gunnery training, and the ability to network the suite of arjun simulators for individual, crew and troop level training. ananth ramaswami, Managing director of Cae India, believes the combination of Cae’s extensive experience in modelling and simulation, coupled with the legacy of its experience and recent acquisitions, places the company in a strong position to be able to move deeper, further and faster into land domain training solutions. “We have the capability to bring multiple skill sets and technical solutions to bear on land and joint training—whether it is in replicating the ‘fog and friction’ of ground combat, simulating the situational awareness challenges faced by vehicle crews operating in a ‘closed down’ environment or improving the cognitive capacity of commanders and staffs to operate on the contemporary battlefield,” said ramaswami. “We can do this in highly realistic synthetic environments that are safe, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective, all of which are becoming increasingly important as armies around the world, including the Indian army, address budget challenges, yet need to maintain proficiency and readiness.” Cae will be demonstrating a range of simulation-based solutions at defexpo 2012, including its virtual maintenance training system for tanks and armoured fighting vehicles. Cae will be located at hall 10, Booth #2.
NEWS
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News in Brief GOVT PUMPS `376.55 CRORE FOR LOCAL ARTILLERY GUN LINE
ongoing in relation to a possible sale of Bae systems’ ultra-light M777 howitzer, in support of the Indian army’s modernisation programme.”
the ordnance factories will build capacity for the manufacture of Bofors (now Bae Bofors) artillery guns within the country and will receive funding to the tune of `376.55 crore to create the manufacturing infrastructure. While the government fights to procure autonomous wheeled, autonomous tracked, towed and ultra-light howitzers from the global market, it has decided to explore the possibility of building 100 guns in-house with licensed technology procured from aB Bofors as part of the 1980s deal, technology that was never used as a result of the ensuing scandal. While Bae systems is yet to clarify the nature of this licence production and whether it will be the original Fh77B gun supplied by Bofors in the 1980s or an upgunned version of the original. In parliament, the defence Minister said, “the government had secured the right of transfer of technology (tot) during the purchase of Bofors guns. though all the technological documents as per the tot contract were received by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) from aB Bofors, the tot was not carried forward as the dealings with the technology provider (aB Bofors) were suspended. Further, no indent was placed by army on OFB for manufacture and supply of complete gun system. Capital expenditure of `376.55 crore has been sanctioned by the Government in March 2012, for creation/augmentation of large calibre weapon manufacturing capacity in ordnance factories.”
after scouting the Indian and foreign markets for the last few years, the army has announced afresh its interest in procuring an undisclosed number of a common light specialist vehicle (LsV) for all arms in a 3,500 kg unladen weight class category with a payload capacity of 900-1,200 kg. the army had originally expressed its interest in such vehicles back in august 2010. the army has stipulated in its information request that the LsV needs to be capable of performing reconnaissance and patrol roles for all arms, provide space and cross mobility in all terrains (including high altitude and deserts) to small parties/teams (approximately six) and operate independently in the battlefield. the army has so far been given an opportunity to try out a series of LsVs, both Indian and foreign-made. Indian contenders are likely to include the Mahindra axe and tata LsV, while the foreign offerings include the defender series from Land rover. trials will be conducted across terrain in three different theatres since the selected vehicles are likely to be purchased in large numbers for use across arms. Variants of the LsVs with weapons fitment capabilities will also be incorporated once the tender is finalised this year.
M777 ULH PROCUREMENT IN PROGRESS
DRDO BEGINS TESTING GUN-MOUNTED ROBOT
the government has made indications that it is moving forward with the procurement of 145 Bae M777 ultra-light howitzers, but that it is still to complete a thorough evaluation of the guns. In February 2011, a month after army Chief General V.K. singh had stated that the army would conclude a contract for new artillery guns before the year was out, the Mod ordered a probe into allegations of malfeasance, enshrined in an anonymous complaint that contained attached photocopies from the classified field evaluation trials (Fet) report. While the Mod has not revealed what the probe’s findings are, the defence Minister’s answer in parliament suggests that the government is moving ahead with the procurement. the government has stated that the field evaluation of the ultra-light howitzer comprises three parts—user trials, dGQa trials and maintainability trials. Of these, it is now apparent that only the first was conducted and the remaining remained on hold as a result of the departmental inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing. “the performance of the gun can be ascertained only after evaluation of all three trial reports,” the Minister said in the parliament. Bae systems, the company that makes the M777 primarily for the Us army, recently named dean McCumiskey as Managing director and Chief executive of Bae systems’ India operations with effect from this month. the company also confirmed that “discussions between the Indian and Us Governments are
after the success of the daksh ordnance disposal and surveillance robotic vehicle that was recently inducted into the army, and good reviews from the user, the defence research and development Organisation (drdO) laboratory r&d(e) has finished prototyping a combat robot codenamed gun-mounted robot (GMr) that it intends to offer to the army, paramilitary forces and police forces in the next two years. First displayed at defexpo 2010, the GMr has now matured enough for development trials in simulated scenarios. the robot’s primary weapon will be an indigenous remotely operated 7.62mm gun along with a grenade launcher. drdO scientists, in cooperation with academic institutions and private incubation firms, are confident that the GMr will be comparable with similar systems already deployed by the Us forces, especially in Iraq. Fitted with sensors for around-thecorner targeting and damage assessment, the GMr will be offered in both tracked and wheeled variants. the GMr and daksh are only two of a substantial list of robotic vehicles being developed in-house. the most ambitious of these is a full-sized remote-controlled armoured vehicle. Last year, the drdO even held a nationwide competition to pick the best unmanned ground vehicle developed by academic institutes across the country. technologies from these will be infused into future programmes. –SP’s Special Correspondent
INDIAN ARMY TEST FIRES BRAHMOS CRUISE MISSILE
cruise and features a very low radar signature. equipped with advanced seeker software, the missile is capable of intercepting surface targets by flying as low as 10 m above the ground even in mountainous terrain and hillocks.
INDIAN ARMY TO CONDUCT SHOORVEER JOINT TRAINING EXERCISE
the Indian army has conducted the test firing of its BrahMos supersonic cruise missile at pokharan range, near the thar desert region of rajasthan, in a bid to formally induct the second regiment of the weapon system in service. during the test firing, the missile destroyed the pre-selected target in the field firing ranges in rajasthan. derived from the russian-built p-800 Oniks/Yakhont supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, the 290km range BrahMos missile has a speed of Mach 2.8 and can be launched from land, ship, submarines and air platforms. the missile is powered by a solid propellant rocket, a liquid-fuelled ramjet to sustain supersonic
the Indian army will conduct a joint training exercise dubbed ‘shoorveer’ with the Indian air Force (IaF) in Bikaner, rajasthan, from March 2012 in a bid to test the existing protocols for conducting joint operations. the army’s Jaipur-based south Western Command’s elite 1 strike Corps and 10 Corps will participate in the two-month-long exercise alongside the Western and south Western Commands of the IaF. Indian army spokesperson Colonel Jagdeep dahiya said that all formations and units under the south Western Command will participate to validate doctrines in a joint service environment. More than 200 tanks and over 20,000 troops will be deployed for the war games, while the air force will deploy its frontline aircraft including the su-30MKI, Mirage 2000, Jaguars aWaCs aircraft to test the level of training. Based on the integrated theatre battle concept, the exercise will enable the army to validate its war-fighting concepts while working towards a ‘capability-based approach’ relying on a series of transformational initiatives, concepts, organisational structures and absorption of new age technology. the troop and equipment mobilisation for the exercise has already commenced
ARMY WANTS LIGHT SPECIALIST VEHICLE
and will be followed by training at unit and formation level and will finally culminate into large scale manoeuvres. the drill follows the army’s exercise sudarshan shakti that was held in november 2011 to validate its new battle-fighting concepts developed after the transformation studies.
IWI TO UNVEIL NEW NEGEV NG7 LIGHT MACHINE GUN
featuring a semi-automatic mode and is capable of pinpoint, single bullet shooting for firing accuracy. the combat-proven gun shares almost 80 per cent of its components with the neGeV 5.56mm calibre LMG, currently deployed by several countries worldwide including Israel. Weighing less than eight kg, the gun can be fired from a variety of mounts, including special mounts on land vehicles, helicopters and naval vessels. the gun has been manufactured by IWI in cooperation with the Israel defence Forces (IdF).
RAYTHEON FIELD TESTS NEW TOW MISSILE PROPULSION SYSTEM
Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) will unveil its newly developed light machine gun (LMG), the neGeV nG7, at the upcoming defexpo India 2012 and FIdae International air & space Fair 2012 to be held in santiago, Chile. IWI CeO Uri amit said the neGeV nG7 provides improved ergonomics as well as component reliability, which together with its characteristics makes it an effective lightweight 7.62 LMG available for infantries. “the nG7 is already generating interest among our customers, and we have received many requests to test it,” amit added. Based on the neGeV 5.56mm calibre gun, the new 7.62mm neGeV nG7 is the newest member of the neGeV LMG family
raytheon has conducted field testing of a new launch boost sustain (LBs) propulsion system, developed by alliant tech systems (atK), for its tube-launched, opticallytracked, wireless (tOW) missile at an undisclosed location. the developmental propulsion system doubled the missile’s range and decreased its flight time by onethird during the testing, thereby helping the missile to travel more than seven km and reaching four km in less time. the LBs propulsion system features a rocket motor designed with insensitive munitions (IM) features to deliver additional safety when exposed to bullet and fragment impacts, external fire or other hazardous events. raytheon Missile systems tOW programme director scott speet said the LBs technology enhances the missile gunner’s survivability by allowing them to engage targets outside the threat range of direct engagement systems and by reducing the time required for target tracking. the tOW is a long-range,
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News in Brief precision anti-armour, anti-fortification and anti-amphibious landing missile designed to defeat explosive reactive armour, bunkers, fortifications and amphibious landing craft, particularly in complex urban environment. With the multi-mission tOW 2a, tOW 2B, tOW 2B aero and tOW Bunker Buster missiles, the weapon system is a command lineof-sight system that requires the gunner to track the target until the missile impacts.
US ARMY RECEIVES 200TH UH-72A LAKOTA FROM EUROCOPTER the Us army has taken delivery of the 200th Uh-72a Lakota light utility helicopter (LUh) from eurocopter at its production facility in Columbus, Mississippi, Us as part of its Uh-72a LUh programme. the helicopter is also the first security and support (s&s) battalion mission equipment package (Mep)
>> SHOW CALENDAR 29 March–1 april Defexpo India 2012 pragati Maidan new delhi, India www.defexpoindia.in 16-18 april Defence Logistics UAE 2012 armed Forces Officers Club, abu dhabi, Uae www.defencelogisticsuae.com/Event.aspx?i d=626748 23-25 april Tactical Communications 2012 Mayfair Conference Centre, London www.tacticalcommunicationsevent.com 30 april – 2 May Annual Maritime Homeland Security Summit 2012 sheraton norfolk Waterside hotel, norfolk, Virginia, Usa www.maritimehssummit.com 3-6 May International Exhibition of Weapons System and Military Equipment “KadeX-2012” air Forces Base, astana, republic of Kazakhstan www.kadex.kz 7-10 May SOFEX 2012 King abdullah I airbase, amman, hashemite Kingdom of Jordan www.sofexjordan.com 9-11 May Integrated Air and Missile Defence 2012 hilton Zurich airport, Zurich, switzerland www.airmissiledefenceevent.com 13-16 May Geospatial Intelligence Middle East 2012 the Westin abu dhabi Golf resort & spa, abu dhabi, Uae www.geospatialdefence.com
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21-23 May Social Media for Defense Venue to be confirmed, Washington, dC, Usa www.idgasocialmedia.com 28-30 May Armoured Vehicles UAE 2012 armed Forces Officers Club, abu dhabi, Uae www.armouredvehiclesuae.com 29-30 May Air and Missile Defence India Le Meridien, new delhi, India www.airmissiledefenceindia.com
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SP’s LAND FORCES
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Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jayant Baranwal Editor Lt General (Retd) V.K. Kapoor
ing our warfighters with increased situational awareness and standoff distance as they conduct operations in active combat theatres.”
RUSSIA TO SUPPLY T-90 TANKS TO ALGERIA, TURKMENISTAN
equipped Lakota to be delivered by the LUh programme’s prime contractor eads north america. the s&s Battalion Mep-equipped helicopters will be used by the army national Guard units to continuously support state and local law enforcement and federal homeland security agencies in responding to natural disasters and border security operations across the Us. the twinengine helicopters will be used to perform medical evacuations, search and rescue operations, homeland security, VIp transport, disaster response and relief, combat flight training and pilot sustainment training. the aircraft will replace the Us army’s ageing Oh-58 and Uh-1 rotary-wing aircraft, while allowing Uh-60 Black hawks to participate in combat missions.
BAE TO SUPPLY ADDITIONAL LASER LOCATOR MODULES FOR US ARMY Bae systems has received a contract modification from the Us army for the supply of additional lightweight handheld laser target locator modules (LtLM) to help soldiers determine target coordinates quickly and accurately in the battlefield. the $23 million contract extension awarded by the Us army program executive Office soldier (peO-s) follows the original $72 million contract secured by the company for initial production of the LtLM systems in 2009. the LtLM program Manager Bill ashe said the system provides mission-critical capability in a single, lightweight package, combining the functions of several pieces of equipment that are carried by the soldiers.
GEORGIA INTRODUCES LAZIKA INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLE the Georgian Ministry of defence has unveiled its second domestically developed Lazika tracked infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) at the Vasiani military firing-range near tbilisi, Georgia. Georgian defence Minister Bacho akhalaia said that the Lazika is an advanced heavily armoured offensive weapon, production of which many states do not have in principle, further adding that the nation will continue the development in the near future. the armoured combat vehicle has been in development for two years by the Military scientific-technical Centre (delta) through funding from the Georgian defence Ministry. details on the number of vehicles that have been produced by the centre or how many are planned to be manufactured have not been disclosed.
US ARMY TO RECEIVE ADDITIONAL RECON SCOUT XT ROBOTS reconrobotics has been awarded a $13.9 million contract for the supply of 1,100 recon scout Xt throwable micro-robot kits to assist the Us army’s dismounted troops in conducting reconnaissance during high-risk tactical missions. the recon scout Xt is a throwable, easy to carry reconnaissance robot developed to withstand being dropped from up to 30 feet and thrown over distances up to 120 feet. reconrobotics Military programmes director, ernest Langdon, said: “although these 1.2 lb robots are exceptionally small, they will play a big role in provid-
russian state arms exporter rosoboronexport has signed contracts with algeria and turkmenistan for the supply of 150 t-90C main battle tanks (MBts) following the defence Ministry’s refusal to buy for the russian army, Vedomosti business daily has reported. the contracts, worth a combined $500 million, were signed in 2011 under which algeria has agreed to purchase 120 of the combat vehicles, while turkmenistan will receive 30 tanks. the contract with algeria is part of a package of contracts worth $1 billion signed in 2009 and 2010, during the arab spring protests in algeria’s neighbouring countries including egypt, tunisia and Libya. russia previously supplied algeria with 185 t-90C tanks in 2009 and turkmenistan with 10 tanks in 2010 to honour a $30 million contract.
US ARMY RECEIVES FIRST NEXT GENERATION AUTOMATIC TEST SYSTEM the Us army has received the first next generation automatic test system (nGats) delivered by northrop Grumman in partnership with drs technologies. the delivery follows a low rate initial production (LrIp) contract awarded by the Us army’s program executive Office for Combat support and Combat service support to northrop-led team in 2010 for a total of eight LrIp configuration nGats including spares. northrop Grumman’s Land and self protection systems division Vice president of Communications, Intelligence and networking solutions, Kay Burch, said: “nGats will provide the latest technology and improved weapons maintenance support to our nation’s warfighters.”
RUSSIAN AND INDIAN ARMIES TRAIN FOR INDRA 2012 EXERCISE the russian and Indian armies have commenced preparation for the joint counterterrorism combat exercise, Indra 2012, scheduled to be held this summer at the Cheetah training range in east russia. the battalion-level exercises are aimed at enhancing defence cooperation and interoperability as well as to strengthen military-tomilitary relations between the two armies. during the biennial exercise, the infantry troops from both armies will practise counter-insurgency (COIn), mock anti-terrorist and drug smuggling operations in the mountains at altitudes up to 3,000 metres above sea level. around five Indra joint exercises have been conducted since 2003, comprising naval exercises as well as biannual peacekeeping drills. the last exercise was conducted between the two army units from October 15-24, 2010, in Chaubattia in Uttarakhand, involving 257 russian personnel and an Indian infantry battalion.
GD PARTNERS WITH BAE TO DEVELOP SMART 81MM MORTAR ROUND General dynamics (Gd) Ordnance and tactical systems has signed a teaming agreement with Bae systems to develop and demonstrate the 81mm roll controlled guided mortar (rCGM) with global positioning system (Gps) guidance to boost the soldier’s combat effectiveness. equipped with the existing UK L41 bomb and Us M734a1 fuse from a conventional mortar round and Gd roll-controlled fixed canard (rCFC) technology, the mortar will provide the infantry soldier with a portable, one-shot, one-kill precision weapon at an affordable price.
Assistant Group Editor R. Chandrakanth Senior Technical Group Editor Lt General (Retd) Naresh Chand Contributing Editor Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia Sr. Copy Editor & Correspondent Sucheta Das Mohapatra Contributors India General (Retd) V.P. Malik, Lt General (Retd) Vijay Oberoi, Lt General (Retd) R.S. Nagra, Lt General (Retd) S.R.R. Aiyengar, Air Marshal (Retd) Vinod Patney, Major General (Retd) Ashok Mehta, Major General (Retd) G.K. Nischol, Brigadier (Retd) Gurmeet Kanwal, Brigadier (Retd) S. Mishra, Rohit Sharma Chairman & Managing Director Jayant Baranwal Executive Vice President (Planning & Business Development) Rohit Goel Administration & Coordination Bharti Sharma, Survi Massey Senior Art Director Anoop Kamath Design Vimlesh Kumar Yadav, Sonu Singh Bisht Sales & Marketing Director Sales & Marketing: Neetu Dhulia Head Vertical Sales: Rajeev Chugh SP’s Website Sr. Web Developer: Shailendra P. Ashish Web Developer: Ugrashen Vishwakarma Published bimonthly by Jayant Baranwal on behalf of SP Guide Publications Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, photocopying, recording, electronic, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers. Printed in India by Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd © SP Guide Publications, 2012 Annual Subscription Inland: `600 • Overseas: US$180 Email: subscribe@spguidepublications.com Letters to Editor editor@spslandforces.net For Advertising Details, Contact: guidepub@vsnl.com neetu@spguidepublications.com rajeev.chugh@spguidepublications.com SP GUIDE PUBLICATIONS PVT LTD Corporate Office A 133 Arjun Nagar, Opp Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 003, India Tel: +91(11) 24644693, 24644763, 24620130 Fax: +91 (11) 24647093 Regd Office Fax: +91 (11) 23622942 Email: guidepub@vsnl.com Representative Offices BENGALURU, INDIA Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey 534, Jal Vayu Vihar, Kammanhalli Main Rd, Bangalore 560043, India. Tel: +91 (80) 23682534 MOSCOW, RUSSIA LAGUK Co., Ltd, Yuri Laskin Krasnokholmskaya, Nab., 11/15, app. 132, Moscow 115172, Russia. Tel: +7 (495) 911 2762, Fax: +7 (495) 912 1260 www.spguidepublications.com www.spslandforces.net RNI Number: DELENG/2008/25818
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