DSI June July 2014

AIRBORNE SURVEILLANCE AWACS

Current network centricity based on radars and sensors has witnessed a technological leap I M MATHESWARAN

NIGHT VISION DEVICES NVD

India’s successive chiefs of army staffs have highlighted the absence of adequate NVDs in large numbers I ARUN SAHGAL JUNE 2014

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA

DSI

www.defencesecurityindia.com

VOLUME 6

ISSUE 4

` 250

FLEET MAINTENANCE

NAVY’S FLEET MAINTENANCE STANDARDS DO NOT MATCH THE OPERATIONAL READINESS MEASURES, WHICH ARE CONSIDERED MORE CAREER ENHANCING THAN HOLDING UP SAFETY STANDARDS I PRADEEP CHAUHAN

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To learn more, visit www.wescam.com.

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I

LETTER FROM THE

JUNE 2014

DSI

editor

t’s been a month since Narendra Modi government has taken over office, after a stunning victory in the hustings. Modi, the prime minister has not chosen a full-time defence minister, possibly for a purpose. In Arun Jaitley, also the finance minister, Modi finds a man who would have the necessary savvy to navigate through the hidden mine fields of the defence ministry. The mine fields are mostly in defence procurement where the government’s funding is huge, especially with all the three services undergoing modernisation. But, while there are ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ in that scenario, one thing is clear, this government will go down in Indian history as the first post-Nehruvian government of the country. This statement requires a rationale. That rationale is provided by two decisions of the Modi-Jaitley combine. First is the decision to put onus on arms export. For long, the country was not putting particular emphasis on exporting military equipments and weaponry – despite occasional DRDO nudge – because of a reticence born out of a Nehruvian tradition of India not to be bracketed with the arms merchant nations, who by the same token, fuel violence. The other decision also tends to bolster the first. This was removal of some items from the negative list of industrial licensing procedure, by which these items will no longer require industrial licences for production of these equipments. These are sub-systems of larger weapon systems and various less dangerous dual-use materials. The government is clearly keen that a domestic militaryindustrial complex (MIC) come into being, by which India not just remain a net importer but indeed becomes an exporting country. Of course, the country becoming a muscle-bound MIC is a demand of sections of Indian society, who feel that has not been able to make a mark in the comity of nations for being too squeamish. The notion of Hindutva have somewhat got entangled with these thoughts. Though the armed forces are a multi-religious institution, the DRDO shows a general knack for choosing only Hindu names for their new weapon systems, ignoring the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural nature of the Indian society. May be if Nehru would have been alive he too would have had to break a coconut to consecrate a new sea going vessel. Of course, the breaking of a champagne bottle is certainly not a particularly welcome tradition either, for the sheer wastage of good wine!

Pinaki Bhattacharya

3

The mine fields are mostly in defence procurement where the government’s funding is huge, especially with all the three services undergoing modernisation.

CONTENTS

“FLEET MAINTENANCE AND SAFETY STANDARDS” INDIAN NAVY

24

Navy’s fleet maintenance standards do not match the operational readiness measures, which are considered more career enhancing than holding up safety standards

4

JUNE 2014

NIGHT VISION DEVICES NVD

8

Indian Army’s night blindness is legendary, while successive chiefs of army staffs highlighting the absence of adequate night vision devices (NVDs) in large numbers. But situation has only changed a little.

AIRBORNE SURVEILLANCE AWACS

16

Though ISR assets are as old as the WW II, the current network centricity is based upon radars and sensors for intelligence and surveillance and real time communication that have witnessed a technological leap.

CYBER SECURITY CHALLENGES COMMUNICATION

32

Cyber warfare being considered as a legitimate mode of attrition between nations, a new spectrum of operations have opened up with the full panoply of instruments

THE HEART OF NET-CENTRICITY BMS AND NCW

38

Indian BMS is different from the wholly networked militaries – from the lowest to the highest – to a system that provides situational awareness at the operational level to the soldier on the ground to the battalion or the regimental commander

5

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STRUGGLING ROTARY AND FIXED WING ON LIFE SUPPORT? NAVAL AIR

46

Considering that the Indian Navy has a low inventory of both rotary and fixed wing aircrafts, the service has shown greater adaptability in using such aerial assets.

DARK CLOUDS, SILVER LININGS INDIA AND EUROPE

56

Though Europe continues to remain stuck in an economic and political crisis, the huge funding for Indian military modernisation can actually be its deliverance

CONTRIBUTORS

BRIG (RETD) ARUN SAHGAL

AIR MARSHAL(RETD) M MATHESWARAN

VICEADMIRAL (RETD) PRADEEP CHAUHAN

KD NAYAK

Arun Sahgal, was Joint Director of Net Assessment, Technology, and Simulation at the Institute of National Security Studies in New Delhi and Founding Director of the Indian Net Assessment Directorate, created to assess long-term strategy.

Following a distinguished 36 year career in the Indian Army, he served as head of the Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation, and Deputy Director of Research at the United Services Institution of India. Brigadier Sahgal was a member of the NationalTask Force on Net Assessment and Simulation, under India’s National Security Council, and continues to support Council through consultancy assignments.

Air Marshal M Matheswaran was the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff at Head Quarters IDS until his retirement 0n 31 Mar 2014. He was responsible for Policy, Plans and Force Structure development of theThree Services, including budget analysis, Acquisition, procurement and technology management. He was responsible for formulating the long-term and short-term integrated defence plans. Air Marshal M Matheswaran was commissioned in 1975. He is an alumni of National Defence Academy. His academic achievements include Master’s, M Phil, Ph.D in “Defence and Strategic Studies” (University of Madras) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Management.

An alumnus of India’s premier National Defence Academy at Khadawasla, the Defence Services Staff College atWellington, the NavalWar College at Karanja in Mumbai and, the prestigious National Defence College at New Delhi,Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan retired on 30 Nov 13 after garnering over 38 years of rich and varied experience in the Indian Navy. In his sea-going career, he was singularly privileged to have held command of the Indian Navy’s frontline surfacecombatants on as many as four occasions.

Dr Keshav Dattatreya Nayak, Distinguished Scientist, has been appointed as Chief Controller R&D (MED & MIST) DRDO HQ w.e.f 02 December 2009.

He has been appointed Director General - Micro Electronic Devices, Computational Systems & Cyber Security (MED CoS& CS)w.e.f. September, 2013.

Dr Nayak completed his BE (Electronics) in 1974 from the Vishveswaraiah College of Engineering, Bangalore University with Distinction and PhD in 1981 in Microelectronics from IIT, Mumbai.

COMMANDER (RETD) DEEPAKADHAR Graduated from the National Defence Academy. He was commissioning midshipman of INS Ganga, earning watchkeeping on INS Ranjit and was Flag Lieutenant to the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet. Volunteered for the flying branch and earned pilot wings with the 144 pilots course of the Indian Air Force and opted for the Maritime Reconnaissance stream. Converted on the Islander in INAS 550 at Kochi and did a staff pilot tenure at INAS 318 in Port Blair.

Participated in Operation Pawan flying patrol missions in the Palk Bay.

JUNE 2014

DSI

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA JUNE 2014 LT GEN (RETD) BS PAWAR

Amit Sharma is currently serving as Joint Director in the Office of the Scientific Advisor of Defence Minister, Defence Research and Development Organization (D.R.D.O), Ministry of Defence, Government of India. He has worked in the field of Information Security, Information warfare, Strategic Information Dissemination Systems, Net CentricWarfare, C4I2SR systems and Secure and survivable networks. He is a Chevening Scholar and has gained his Masters in ‘Global Security’ from Defence College of Management and Technology, UK Defence Academy, United Kingdom.

An alumni of Rashtriya Indian Military College and National Defence Academy, Lt Gen BS Pawar was commissioned into Artillery in June 1968. He was Maj Gen Artillery,Western Command during Operation Parakram and was awarded the AtiVashist Seva Medal.

He also headed the Army Aviation Corps and was instrumental in the operationalisation of the Advanced Light Helicopter during his tenure. A defence analyst, he writes for a number of defence journals/ publications and is also on the Editorial Board of some of them.

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NIGHTVISION KEY POINTS

The major breakthroughs in terms of the quality of the devices have come in as fourth generation NVDs become available BEL is the lead agency in manufacturing NVDs, the private sector Tata SED also has a foreign technology partner ready to share with it the tech.

BEL is tasked with providing the Indian armoured regiments with NVDs that would cure their night blindness.

N

ight vision devices occupy an important space in providing all weather, day and night fighting capabilities. Night vision devices work on two different principles of thermal imaging and image enhancement. Thermal imaging functions in the upper region of the infra red spectrum, it captures the emissions by the target in this region; whereas image enhancement works by accumulating and amplifying miniscule amounts of light including the lower end of the infra red spectrum so that it is possible to view the target. Normally it is the image enhancement products, which are commonly called Night Vision Devices or NVDs. At the core of a NVD is an image intensifier tube, which collects and amplifies the visible and infrared light. A photo cathode converts the photons received by the image intensifier tube in to electrons; these are in turn multiplied manifold by use of a microchannel plate leading to cascaded secondary emission process. The electrons thereafter hit a phosphors screen and provide a clear image; this is possible as electrons remain in the same alignment in which the original photons were received.

The image obtained is green in color and is viewed through an ocular lens or connected to an electronic display.

The World War II NVDs utilized an IR illuminator, which reflected the IR beam off the targets, that is to say they used an active infrared device. The devices used by Germans were manufactured by AEG. The Germans used Solution A - Sperber FG 1250 with Panther tanks and the Vampir man portable system for the soldiers. The Americans used M1 and M3 infrared night sighting devices. However, the generation 1 NVDs started using passive IR with light enhancement from ambient light. These devices were at a disadvantage on moonless and cloudy nights. Examples of these

ARUN SAHGAL

NIGHT VI Indian Army’s night blindness is legendary, while successive chiefs of army staffs highlighting the absence of adequate night vision devices (NVDs) in large numbers.

But situation has only changed a little.

8

JUNE 2014

DSI

Special operations soldier prepares to search a simulated combatant during exercise

Photonis Night Vision Demonstrator

Tube SuperGen

Tube XD-4

SION DEVICES Tube XR-5

9

�

NIGHT VISION

In the 4th generation, the ion barrier has been removed and an automated gated power supply has been added which enables the NVD to respond to rapidly changing light conditions. TheNVD systems can move from low light to high light and vice versa environments without difficulty.

devices are the PNV-57E Tanker goggles and the AN/PVS-2 Starlight scope.

The next generation devices had considerable improvements in the image intensifier tubes (II Tubes) with the addition of the microchannel plate and thus were able to display images in extreme low light conditions. The images were brighter and the distortion was much less in these devices. An example is the AN/PVS-4 made by Optic electronic corporation of Dallas. It utilized a screw type 25 mm variable-gain Image Intensifier tube. These devices are still in use with batteries upgraded from a single 2.7 V mercury battery to AA batteries. AN/PVS-5 and SUPERGEN are other examples.

In generation 3 devices, currently in use by the US Army, the photo cathode has been manufactured with gallium arsenide and the MCP has been coated with an ion barrier for increasing the life of the image intensifier tube. Otherwise, there is not much change from the NVDs of 2nd generation. The AN/PVS-7 night vision goggle is a single tube device with third generation image intensifiers. The PVS-7 is protected from damage to the image intensifier by exposure to sudden intense light through auto gating.

Thousands of these devices are in service and are manufactured by companies like Northrop Grumman, ITT Industries, L3 Communications, and Litton Industries.

The US Army has now begun fielding AN/PSQ-20 Enhanced Night Vision Goggle which optically combines an image intensification image with a next-generation infrared image.

ITT Exelis sole supplier of the PSQ-20 to supply the follow on SENVG devices Š ITT Exelis

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JUNE 2014

Soldier modernisation programmes are a significant driver for night vision acqusition © AJB

DSI

These have been extensively used in Gulf war II, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. They are being replaced with AN/PVS-14 Monocular Night Vision Device (MNVD) it is being manufactured by ITT Exelis and L-3 Warrior Systems. These can also be used in hands free mode by using a head harness or by attaching it to combat helmets.

In the 4th generation, the ion barrier has been removed and an automated gated power supply has been added which enables the NVD to respond to rapidly changing light conditions. The NVD systems can move from low light to high light and vice versa environments without difficulty. AN/PVS22 Universal Night Sight can be added to any weapon system that has a Picatinny rail and has a scope. It is mounted in front of the scope to enable night vision capability. It is being manufactured by FLIR Systems.

Other Developments

In a slight variation, the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group was equipped with panoramic night vision goggles (PNVGs) in Operation Neptune Spear (of Osama Bin Laden fame). PNVGs used four 16mm image intensifiers instead of two 18 mm ones. This doubled the user’s field of view. They are in service with the US Air force. Northrop Grumman Fused Multispectral Weapon Sight and ITT’s AN/PSQ-20, the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle, ENVG have combined image intensification with thermal imaging. Night vision contact lenses developed by University of Michigan, contains a strip of Graphene between glass layers. NV by Armasight for general consumers, utilises Ceramic Optical Ruggedized Engine, which provides much better performance than generation 1 tubes.

Five important performance parameters in respect of Image Intensification Tubes (II Tubes) are defined. They are, radiant sensitivity, luminous sensitivity, luminance gain, resolution, and signal to noise ratio (SNR). The typical and best values of resolution and SNR available are 50-57 lp/mm & 81lp/mm and 18-22 & 30 respectively. The US Government applies Figure of Merit (FOM) as a method for specifying II Tubes. FOM is calculated on line pair per mm X signal to noise. It may be noted that FOM >1250 is not allowed for export (exception being Pakistan, since it is fighting Taliban). It also implies that third generation Image Intensifiers with FOM

Advanced Wide FoV Architectures for Image Reconstruction and Exploitation (AWARE) programme’s purpose is to drive technology for new sensors that will enable soldiers to see clearly in all weathers and light conditions

11

NIGHT VISION Basic image intensified pocket scopes like this Envis M703E can provide any warfighter with an edge in challenging situations, such as survival, evasion, resistance and escape training

~1700 is not available to other countries.

NVDs come in three major categories namely; Goggles: with binocular vision; Scopes: handheld, monocular and weapon mountable; and Cameras: capable of sending image to monitor/recorder. Apart from the military uses, NVDs are used by law enforcement agencies, wild life observers, hunters, navigators, security, and surveillance personal etc.

The manufacture of NVDs is a complex process involving over 400 different steps just for making the image intensifier tubes.

Thus, manufacturers in different areas of the plant carry out several steps simultaneously. One of the most essential parts of the process is stringent quality control at each step of the process, this ensures correct functioning of the II Tubes.

The quality control is so exercised that one cannot move to the next step if the previous step has not been quality cleared. The

parameters of input materials as well as in process products are thoroughly tested.

Leading manufacturers in the world include:

ITT Night Vision-, which is the largest NVD suppliers to the US Armed forces.

FLIR Systems -which is the world's largest commercial company specializing in the design and production of thermal imaging cameras, components and imaging sensors.

Northrop Grumman, Armasight, and L3 Warrior Systems are some of the others.

CONTROP Precision Technologies of Israel, specialises in production of thermal imagers, Image intensifiers, panoramic scanning devices gyro stabilized EO/IR payloads etc.

The Russian and Chinese companies listed below manufacture only 1st gen or 2nd gen NVDs.

12

Leningradskoye Optiko Mechanichesckoye Obyedinenie (Lenigrad Optical & Mechanical Enterprise, LOMO) designs and manufactures optical devices for various applications. LOMO works not only for Russian military and space programs but also for science and industry and for the consumer products market.

Lytcarino Optical Glass Factory - is acknowledged as a leader in optical material manufacture for different regions of science and technology of the Russian Federation.

Belorussian optical-mechanical Enterprice (BELOMO) - is a major optomechanical assembly plant of Belarus. It is a designer and manufacturer of lasers, optoelectronics, and opto-mechanical instruments.

Kunming Kelongda Optical Instrument Co. Ltd. Biji Town, Xishan District, Kunming, Yunnan, China Shenzhen Siyuan Digital Technology Co.,

Ltd. Hi-tech Park Nanshan, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China It is a fact that in the 21st century military operations, battlefield transparency under all types of conditions would hold the key to success of an operation. The NVDs have proved to be force multipliers during the Iraq and Afghanistan operations. NVDs greatly aid the infantry in carrying out tasks such as identification friend and foe, target acquisition and target neutralization by accurate fire. One important fact that was highlighted during a seminar by Centre for Land Warfare Studies on Night Vision, on 21st and 22 Jan 2014, was that the conventional and sub-conventional operations require operations by agile, responsive, and networked infantry units in small teams that are night enabled. The device needs to be seamlessly integrated with the weapon and provide increased accuracy, lethality and standoff capability of weapon delivery system. Night devices for Surveillance and target acquisition should match the effective ranges of the weapons.

Defense_and_Security_India_185x130_2.indd 1

�

NVDs come in three major categories namely; Goggles: with binocular vision; Scopes: handheld, monocular and weapon mountable; and Cameras: capable of sending image to monitor/recorder. Apart from the military uses, NVDs are used by law enforcement agencies, wild life observers, hunters, navigators, security, and surveillance personal etc.

JUNE 2014

DSI

Further Night vision devices are vital for operations against terrorists and insurgents who tend to move and operate by night and constantly resort to using the terrain for camouflage and concealment.

Indian Armed forces are in fact ill equipped as far as night vision devices are concerned. The NVDs held by them are lagging behind in technology and are too few in number. The Indian Army does not have third generation NVDs in sufficient quantities for equipping its soldiers, their rifles, armoured or mechanized formations. China and Pakistan both have the numbers and technological advantage in this field. It is understood that China has upgraded its entire mechanized and tank fleet to night fighting capability.

Theoretically, each soldier should be equipped with a NVD however even if fifty percent of them are provided NVDs it would be a substantial enhancement of capability.

In India, two major collaborations worth mentioning are that of BEL with Photonis of France and that of Tata Power SED with

06/06/2014 18:00

NIGHT VISION

AN/PVS14 Monocular Night Vision Device

Harder digital Gmbh of Germany. Photonis Night Vision is a world leader in design and manufacture of image intensifiers. It has provided Supergen (FOM 1250+) technology to BEL a couple of years back.

Tata Power SED’s partner, Harder Digital Gmbh had acquired Serbian image intensifier manufacturing company Ei Sova and is now known as Harder digital Sova This company manufactures the complete range of image intensifier tubes from gen 1 to gen 3 and exports to 30 countries worldwide. The German government is said to have given clearance to Tata Power SED to import Gen 3 technology in to India as long as Indian Army does not pass it to others.

BEL has been given an order by Indian Army to supply 30,634 NVDs in March 2013. However, it is understood that the requirement of Indian Army itself is in thousands of NVDs, leaving aside other paramilitary and Police forces. BEL claims that it can easily supply second Gen and Supergen devices and is in process of upgrading to superior image intensifiers.

BEL claims that it can supply 3rd Gen, II Tubes, this however is doubtful as BEL does not have any tie up with a manufacturer or a developer who can supply 3rd Gen II Tubes with FOM in the region of >1700 which permits soldiers to see in pitch dark conditions. BEL’s expertise can at best produce FOM 1400 devices, which implies that soldiers can see clearly under dusk and dawn conditions but not in starlight or pitch dark nights.

BEL has supplied over 30,000 NVDs to Army and others and is capable of producing up to 4000 NVDs per month. It is also understood that BEL is likely to supply 5000 night vision sights, 1780 of the thermal imaging systems would be for

BMP-1 infantry fighting fleet, 1200 for T90 Main Battle Tanks and 2000 for T-72 Main battle tanks.

As far as border surveillance is concerned, the Government has already approved installation of night vision surveillance along the international border.

The devices include thermal sensors, night vision devices, and night binoculars apart from BFSRs and other types of sensors.

Some of the BEL India Night Vision Devices are:

Image Intensifier Tube Based Systems Night Vision Monocular (BENM 0508) is a lightweight, water-proof, and compact Hand Held viewing system for observation and surveillance during night. Has Automatic Brightness Control (ABC).

Advanced Night vision Binocular BENG 0804 is a lightweight, durable, water-proof, and compact Night Vision Device. It has bright light cut off circuit.

Thermal Imager Based Systems

Thermal Imager (BETI 0109)- Hand Held Thermal Imager is a lightweight, battery powered cooled Thermal Imaging Camera.

An ideal solution for surveillance during harsh battlefield conditions like smoke, fog, rain, dust etc.

Integrated Observation Equipment (IOE), is a Thermal Image Based System for observation and fire monitoring by Artillery.

IOE comprises of, Thermal Imager (TI) provides observation capability Goniometer to get target coordinates, Laser Range Finder (LRF) to get the range, Global Positioning System (GPS) for obtaining self location, Astronomical North Finding Module (ANFM) to find North through celestial objects.

14

”

BEL has been given an order by Indian Army to supply 30,634 NVDs in March 2013. However, it is understood that the requirement of Indian Army itself is in thousands of NVDs, leaving aside other paramilitary and Police forces. BEL claims that it can easily supply second Gen and Supergen devices and is in process of upgrading to superior image intensifiers.

Un-cooled TI based on 388x284 Vox Micro bolometer, has Dual FOV Optics with motorized Focus, and is Designed as Front and Rear Modules. Front Module is mounted on the barrel for achieving parallelism between mechanical and Optical axes. Rear Module is mounted near stock close to the eye of the operator and thus obviating the need for design of long eye relief optics.

Advanced Un-cooled Thermal Imager BEAUTI 0910A is state of the art hand held and lightweight IR camera. It has Special Algorithms for Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC),Bad Pixel Replacement (BPR), and Histogram etc. Contains OLED Display.

Advanced Night Weapon Sight (BEANS0804) is a high performance, waterproof and compact night vision system designed for small arms like INSAS Rifle, AK-47, Sniper Rifle etc.

Passive Night Sight BEPNS-0808 is a high performance and compact night vision system designed for CQB Carbine. It can be mounted on picatinny rail of CQB Carbine. It is provided with invisible laser designator for easy engagement / designation of targets in standalone mode.

Apart from BEL the Ordnance Factory

JUNE 2014

F6044 Series Tactical Mobility Night Vision Goggle

board also produces a large number of night vision devices using the 2nd generation / Supergen Image Intensifier Tubes, some of them are: Passive Night Vision Goggles (PNVG) 102A with second gen/Super gen Image intensifier tube, it can be mounted on a facemask. It can detect and recognize at ranges of 275 m & 200 m respectively.

Bino Night vision Passive Cased provides high-resolution image intensified night vision and can recognize personnel at 300 m.

Passive Night Vision Binocular (Light Weight) used for commando operations is available with second gen/Supergen Image intensifiers. It can recognize personnel at 350 m.

Passive night sight for Rifle/LMG is a lightweight passive system, which can be fitted by use of special mounting bracket.

Passive Night Sight for 84 mm Carl Gustaf Gun is meant for anti tank gun.

DSI

Drivers Passive Night Periscope for use with T-55 Tank.

Passive Night Sight for AK-47 & Passive Night Vision Monocular devices.

The NVD technology is rapidly moving from the military to the commercial space in that many of the high-end cameras have extreme low light capability. The applicability of NVDs for general public use, say in cars, spectacles, visors etc is but a matter of time. Unfortunately, for India, the indigenous development of this technology has lagged far behind and therefore, the manufacturing capability for such devices is not indigenous. This deficiency has led to inability to build upon on transfer of technology of second Generation II Tubes and develop the 3rd/4th generation variants in house. A conservative estimate places the market for such products at $ 1bn in the next 5 years, this is not surprising taking in to account the large requirements of the Indian armed forces, the paramilitary forces, the central and state police, and other security forces.

AWACS AND

AIRBORNE AWACS

SURVEILLANCE Though ISR assets are as old as the WW II, the current network centricity is based upon radars and sensors for intelligence and surveillance and real time communication that have witnessed a technological leap.

M MATHESWARAN

KEY POINTS

Born in the late 1970s and early ’80s

the concept of AWACS became the pivot of strategic air assaults.

Globally the US, Russia and Israel are leaders in terms of technology of airborne surveillance and control systmes.

In the South Asian region, Pakistan’s quest for ISR assets have been fulfilled by the Chinese technology.

V

ictory or defeat in warfare has always revolved around the centrality of information. Information has always been, and will always be central to the conduct of warfare, or rather the conduct of all kinds operations during peace and war. The secret of

the successes of great leaders in history has been their mastery over the efficient collection, processing and exploitation of information. Chengiz khan’s astonishing success in establishing the largest empire in history through rapid conquests was largely due to his exceptional information system that collected, processed, and used information in near real-time. It was his huge force multiplier. He is the perfect example of John Boyd’s OODA (Observe-Orient-DecideAct) loop in practice. In today’s scenario of aerospace power intensive operations, success depends on ensuring accurate situational awareness at all levels – Strategic, Operational, and Tactical. The role of information collectors, processors, and analysers is of critical importance in segments of operations. The variety of sensors and processing systems that aid decision making

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has grown enormously ever since the first radar made its entry during the Second World War. Today sensors are dominant in all dimensions – Land, Sea, Air and Space.

Airborne sensors and Space based sensors are of crucial importance for any major force as it provides the necessary lead in tackling any situation. AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) and Airborne Surveillance sensors are at the heart of the efficacy of any C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) system.

Concept of AWACS and ISR

The AWACS was developed as consequence of increased air defence requirements that could not be met by ground based sensors.

Besides, radar that functions on a dynamic airborne platform provides far more

JUNE 2014

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Vice Admiral Bimal Kumar Verma with crew members of Boeing P-8I, which made a maiden arrival at Naval Air Station, Rajali, Arakkonam near Chennai on May 15, 2013

effectiveness in look-ahead capability as well as detailed coverage of a large volume of airspace, down to the ground level as it looks down. It offers better resolution, and provides ideal inputs for effective control and direction.

More importantly, it multiplies the effectiveness of the Command and Control function. The concept of AWACS became a reality in the 1970s/1980s following the successful development and employment of the pulse Doppler radars. As radar and sensor technologies have evolved even more dramatically in the post 1990s in the form of passive and active electronically scanned array radars, satellite-based radars, a variety of day and night sensors, and the networking of all sensors and communications to create a network-centric environment, the AWACS is undergoing significant technological and conceptual changes.

From an early need of tracking low flying intruders against ground clutter, the airborne radar surveillance began as AEW&C and evolved as AWACS. Its operational usage soon resulted in the expansion of its roles and capabilities – from early warning and control to providing complete real-time air situation picture to the commanders, and thus realise the important function of command and control as well as an airborne command post. This development further led to the need for increased surveillance requirements at the peak of the Cold War – for example the need to monitor movement of armour and massed forces.

The result was the development of the E-8 Joint STARS airborne system that was developed to track armour vehicle targets on ground.

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Surveillance and reconnaissance requirements led to development of various sensors for use by both day and night from various platforms – manned and unmanned. Manned platforms use various kinds of recce pods while UAVs used integrated payloads for achieving both surveillance and reconnaissance. The advent networking and better UAV designs has expanded the role of UAVs. These now operate in all three levels of strategic, operational and tactical domains. Advanced payloads operating in visual, infrared, and laser spectrums are integrated in varying capacities depending on the size and range of the UAV. These airborne surveillance capabilities have to be augmented by Comint (communications intelligence) and Sigint (signal intelligence) platforms in order to achieve a comprehensive data for

AWACS analysis. Comint and Sigint capabilities are integrated in a variety of airborne platforms as well as satellites. While the 1991 Gulf War showed the vast potential of airborne surveillance, it also highlighted the need for advanced information processing and data fusion algorithms for handling massive information overload. The war of late 1990s in former Yugoslavia exemplified the first effective demonstration of viable integration of airborne surveillance, networked command and control, and offensive operations by the NATO forces. These operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have advanced to a significantly higher level.

Leaders in AWACS and ISR

Quite obviously the USA has been the pioneer and is the leader in AWACS and ISR capability, both in terms of technology and force levels. As the only super power, its force levels and capabilities are maintained in line with its global responsibilities and more so, to ensure its global supremacy. The US Air Force operates a little over six dozen manned aircraft for its Intelligence, Surveillance, and reconnaissance tasks.

These consist of the ‘E-3 Sentry’ AWACS platforms, E-8 JSTARS platforms, RC-135 Rivet Joint Signals Intelligence aircraft, and a host of smaller Comint and Sigint aircraft.

While these aircraft, which are based on the ageing Boeing-707 airframes, are being afflicted by obsolescence, increasing deployments of next generation surveillance satellites and UAVs such as the Predator and the Gobal Hawk is rapidly augmenting the ISR capability.

Of the larger birds, 31 E-3 AWACS police airspace, 16 E-8 JSTARS radar plane track moving ground targets, and 17 RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft monitor and analyse diverse radio-frequency transmission. Similar resources of the Navy and the Army augment these.

The 31 AWACS planes in fleet today fly an average of 19,000 hours annually providing essential air surveillance to the joint force and managing aerial engagements by US fighters and other defensive assets when necessary. The easily deployed E-3 is the key reason why no U.S. soldier has been killed by hostile aircraft since the Korean War, and no U.S. pilot has been downed by hostile aircraft since the Vietnam War. A total of 68 AWACS planes were built between 1977

South Korea is the second Asia-Pacific country to acquire a MESA radar-equipped Boeing 737 AEW & C aircraft © Boeing

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Japan Air Self Defense Force E-2C Hawkeye in annual Bilateral exercise between US & Japan

The war of late 1990s in formerYugoslavia exemplified the first effective demonstration of viable integration of airborne surveillance, networked command and control, and offensive operations by the NATO forces.These operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have advanced to a significantly higher level.

and 1992, half of which were delivered to overseas allies such as the United Kingdom, France, and Saudi Arabia. The E-3 has participated in every major U.S. military campaign since its debut.

U.S. help with AWACS and satellite surveillance information helped the Israelis reverse the trend after the huge initial shocks of the Arab-Israeli War of 1973.

Following this the Israelis demonstrated the effectiveness of integrated and networked operations with AEW&C as the centrepiece in the 1982 Bekaa valley operations. The result was there for the world to see – 85 aircraft of the Syrian Air Force were destroyed as opposed to zero losses for the Israeli Air Force. Today, the U.S. forces operate in a networked environment in which the AWACS and the ISR play the central role in the Link 16 network.

The Russian AWACS revolves around the Beriev A-50 “Mainstay” aircraft. The newly upgraded A-50U is equipped with digital avionics suite supplied by Russia’s Vega Radio Engineering Corporation, JSC.

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Notable improvements include faster data processing, enhanced signal tracking and improved target detection. The A-50 can detect targets up to 400km away. It can handle up to 300 tracks simultaneously.

The aircraft is fitted with aerial refuelling system and Electronic Warfare equipment.

Russia plans to upgrade up to 26 aircraft.

Work is underway on the next generation AWACS, which is based on the A-100 premier aircraft. This aircraft is the new version IL – 476 platform. The radar will be an AESA developed by VEGA. Japan’s AWACS is developed on the Boeing 767 airframe. Australia, Turkey, and South Korea use the Boeing 737 based AEW&C aircraft that uses the radar housed in the large dorsal fin instead of a rotodome.

Sweden uses the S100B Argus as its main AEW platform. It is based on the Saab 340 with Ericsson Erieye PS-890 radar, which uses an active array with 200 solid-state modules. It is a 900 kg dorsal antenna, housed in a 9m long box radome, and is mounted atop the fuselage. Utilising

AWACS adaptive side lobe suppression, the look angle on each side is about 160 degrees.

Against a fighter sized target the effective range is about 330 km. Sea borne targets can be detected at 320 km, though this is a function of the aircraft’s cruising height.

The electronically scanned antenna can scan sectors of interest frequently while others are monitored, and a single sector of interest can be scanned in different modes at the same time. However, there are significant limitations of this antenna configuration. The first limitation of the two-sided array is that it can only cover two 120-degree sectors abeam of the aircraft, and reduced antenna performance from 45 degrees off the beam aspect. The second limitation stems from the use of an airframe too small to accommodate a comprehensive self-contained command, control and communications system, and other sensors such as capable ESM and track association system. The advantage is that it is a costeffective model that could augment fewer numbers of the larger AWACS to create a complete airborne surveillance system.

The pioneer in the development of linear phased-array antennas for AEW&C applications was Saab Microwave Systems with the Erieye. This prototype is flown on a Royal Thai Air Force Saab 340B

Airborne Surveillance Systems of China and Pakistan

China has given utmost priority for the development of “an integrated C4ISR system”. This is reflected in the strategic outline issued by PLA in 2000, detailing the construction of “Command automation systems”, or “military information systems” that possess command and control, intelligence and reconnaissance, early warning and surveillance, communications, electronic countermeasures, and other operational and information support capabilities with computers as the core.

Over the next decade, the PLA began to develop and field airborne and space-based ISR technologies in a big way. Today in analyst Larry Wortzel’s assessment, “China’s military reconnaissance capability is probably similar to the capabilities of Western sensor systems of the 1990s, a location to about 10 metres in accuracy, clock geosynchronous signals to within 50 nanoseconds, and velocity to within 0.2 metres per second.”

China’s fixed and rotary wing aircraft and UAVs contribute to peacetime signals intelligence (SIGINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT); in wartime they would support air defence and anti submarine warfare (ASW). Breakthroughs in

India has acquired three Il-76 based AEW&C platforms that are equipped with the Israeli Phalcon mission suite © Beriev

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”

The RussianAWACS revolves around the Beriev A-50 “Mainstay” aircraft.

The newly upgraded A-50U is equipped with digital avionics suite supplied by Russia’sVega Radio Engineering Corporation, JSC. Notable improvements include faster data processing, enhanced signal tracking and improved target detection.

the Beidou/Compass satellite system and high-speed data links, as demonstrated by China’s airborne early warning aircraft systems, are enabling rapid progress of Chinese UAV development. China employs a growing variety of aircraft as dedicated ISR platforms leading to important battlemanagement capability.

Following cancellation of Israel’s Phalcon sale amid mounting American pressure in 2000, China purchased A-50 AWACS aircraft from Russia. Subsequently, utilising the A50 model and radar development experience gained from joint work with Israel, China developed its own AWACS KJ2000, based on the IL-76 platform. The KJ2000 has phased array radar, data processing, IFF, C3I, and data-link capability – all Chinese developed.

According to the Australian radar analyst Carlo Kopp - “this system employs radar technology two generations ahead of that used by the US Air Force’s E-3C AWACS”.

Four KJ-2000s are reportedly operational with the PLAAF’s 26th Air Division, while two more are in service with the PLANAF (PLA Naval Air Force).

KJ-200 is the AEW&C developed and produced by China’s Sha’anxi Aircraft

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Industry Corporation. The system is based on the Y-8 transport airframe that is derived from Russia’s Antonov AN-12 aircraft. The aircraft with its electronically steered, active phased array radar (similar in appearance to, but larger than, Sweden’s Ericsson Erieye active phased array radar), complements the KJ-2000 by performing tactical AEW and ELINT more economically. The various versions (group) are called Gaoxin ISR and a total of eight aircraft are operational. They perform such missions as ELINT (variant one; and possibly an eighth variant), SIGINT (variant two), SIGINT and/or Communications relay (variant three), electronic warfare/electronic counter measures/C3I (variants four and seven), airborne early warning (variant five), and ASW (variant six), Tu-154 variants perform similar roles.

In addition to the dedicated AWACS and AEW surveillance platforms mentioned above, the PLAAF and PLAN have reconnaissance regiments with a wide range of other aircraft equipped with specialised surveillance equipment such as advanced SAR (synthetic aperture radar).

Pakistan Air Force inducted the Swedish Erieye AEW&C to create its long cherished AWACS capability. It has inducted four Saab Erieye AEW&C platforms. One is reportedly destroyed in the Taliban attack on the Kamra air base, although unofficial reports claim severe damage to two more. In order to enhance its capability, Pakistan Air Force ordered four ZDK-03 AEW aircraft in September 2008; with one delivery per year envisioned for 2011-14; two have been confirmed in Pakistan to date.

India’s AWACS and Airborne Surveillance

The IAF’s quest for AWACS capability goes back to the early 1980s. Initial search was limited to the source of erstwhile USSR. As it did not materialise, the government approved the joint proposal of DRDO and IAF in 1985 for technology demonstration programme. Named as ASWAC (Airborne Surveillance Warning and Control), the plan was to develop the related technologies. The programme was a disc based (rotodome) radar, mounted on the fuselage of an Avro (HAL manufactured) light transport aircraft. The rotodome technology was developed well. Various radar related technologies were in preliminary stages of development even after 14 years of the

AWACS Brazilian company Embraer has delivered two EMB-145I aircraft for use in India’s indigenous AEW & C programme © Embraer

project. The programme came to an abrupt halt when the lone Avro aircraft crashed in a test flight, killing all eight crew on board on 11 Jan 1999. The cause was structural failure of the rotodome.

The failure of the ASWAC programme forced the IAF to urgently look for AWACS procurement. The result was a tripartite contract with Israel and Russia for developing the Israeli Phalcon radar based AWACS mounted on the Russian IL-78 platform. The first AWACS was delivered in 2009, with the third in 2011. The fleet of three AWACS uses significantly advanced technologies such as electronically steered phased array radar, IFF, C3I, ESM, datalink, and elements of SIGINT, COMINT, and ELINT. Procurement of two more AWACS under option clause from IAI was cleared by the DAC in February 2014.

These should materialise by 2016.

Considering the vast operational requirements of the country, from all three services perspective, five is a grossly inadequate number.

The minimum operational requirement would be around an availability of eight aircraft for which the total holdings should be around twelve. It

China has given utmost priority for the development of “an integrated C4ISR system”.

This is reflected in the strategic outline issued by PLA in 2000, detailing the construction of “Command automation systems”, or “military information systems” that possess command and control, intelligence and reconnaissance, early warning and surveillance, communications.

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must also be remembered that unlike the Chinese, we have no control over the technologies developed in these AWACS. The indigenous programme was restarted in 2004 as AEW&C project based on the Embraer 145 platform. This would use the same format as the Brazilian R-99 and the Swedish Saab 2000 model. While the airframe is modified by Embraer, including the antenna mounting, the radar is being developed by DRDO labs (LRDE, CABS, DLRL). The programme is already three years behind time, and is likely to be delayed further, given the complexities and challenges of the radar development.

Extensive flight testing, which is yet to start, would consume at least two years.

In the meantime, DRDO and the IAF have pushed for the next project, the IndiaAWACS programme. The government has cleared the US $ 1.12 billion proposal for developing six AWACS platforms. The RFP for the aircraft procurement has already been issued to various OEMs. The proposals are due by July 15th. Interesting aspects are the trend towards a larger platform like the Airbus A-330 or Boeing – 767, indicating the focus on long

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endurance. The choice of the platform will need to be governed by cost, ease of maintenance, commonality with large civil aviation resources etc. One also keep in mind the technological advances that are taking place in areas of nanotechnology, AESA radar technology, Satellite radar technologies, miniaturisation, NCW etc and correlate this with the continued relevance of traditional AWACS concepts.

The RFP lays down responsibility on the OEM for design and manufacture of 10metre diameter antenna dome attachment (pylon) structure and installation, provision for installing external and internal elements of mission system, power source and distribution circuits, structures for mounting the mission system, and installation of customer-furnished equipment, amounting to an additional 20 tons of weight. Some of these requirements have high potential of slowing down the project. Project management is an important area of concern. Now that the

IAF has had considerable operational experience in the operation of the AWACS, it can contribute significantly with its operational database. It then becomes logical that the user manages the project if timelines are to be adhered to. Projected timelines are ambitious, and borders on impossibility. It is to be noted that not a single DRDO project has ever been completed on time or within stipulated costs.

IAF’s other airborne surveillance programmes have been hampered by repeated slowdowns. The nine aircraft SIGINT/COMINT requirement was to have replaced the current dependency on obsolete systems operated from Avro and earlier, from Canberra aircraft. In spite of having gone through the process of final selection over the last decade, the procurement process had to be scrapped due to offset compliance problems. The RFP has been floated again.

One of the weaknesses of the IAF is the absence of the JSTARS capability. Given the

Can you please share any of the detail about the customisation you may have done on the P8s you have delivered to the Indian Navy?

India’s P-8Is are no different than any other aircraft Boeing sells to international customers, whether it’s C-17’s F-18s or F-15s. Each aircraft is designed to meet the needs of the

security environment around us, the JSTARS would become an important operational requirement. On the maritime surveillance front, significant capability is coming in place in the form of eight state-of-the-art Boeing P-8I platforms. Plans are on to augment these with medium sized MR platforms.

The fighter based surveillance capabilities cover operational and tactical requirements.

These include Sukhoi-30 based day/night reconnaissance pods (inclusive of advanced SAR capability), Jaguar fleet based Reccelite pods for tactical usage. These would be augmented by capabilities that would come with MMRCA and Mirage upgrade. These are augmented by various sensor payloads operated from the UAVs, addressing the operational and tactical requirements of all three services. The IAF is well ahead by integrating its surveillance resources through various GES (Ground Exploitation Systems), its AFNET communication grid, and its networked IACCS (Integrated Air Command Control System) air defence network.

timing of the schedule just didn’t work in Boeing’s favor.

Boeing International Corp India Pvt Ltd., Dennis D. Swanson, Vice President - India (Defence, Space & Security), details the Indian experience: What is the status of the negotiations for the 4 follow-on P8Is that are ongoing?

The four follow-on P-8Is were part of the original contract for eight P-8Is for the Indian Navy. We have now delivered half of the original order with additional deliveries planned for later this year and in 2015. The initial discussions for the four follow-on aircraft have started, but it’s very early on in the process.

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customer, so the configuration of a P-8I is different than the configuration of the P-8 that the U.S. Navy flies.

What were reasons for Boeing’s backing out of the MRTT competition?

It was really a matter of timing. The requested delivery date for India, 2015, was ahead of the first delivery for the U.S. Air Force, 2016, so the

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I am aware of your partnership with HAL. I assume that is under the offsets necessities of the P8I sale.

Are there any other offset plans in the offing?

Each contract has an offset obligation of 30 percent, which is the case for P-8Is and the C-17s and will be the case for future contracts such as the AH-64E Apaches and CH-47 Chinooks. Offsets are seen by many as just an obligation, but we also see them as opportunities. As India continues to modernize its military and further develops its aviation sector, Boeing believes it can play a significant role and be part of the modernization and growth effort.

Where do the negotiations for the Apaches and Chinook choppers stand?

They are ongoing and I am very bullish on finalizing each contract by the end of 2014.

“FLEET MAINTENANCE A FLEET MAINTENANCE

Navy’s fleet maintenance standards do not match the operational readiness measures, which are considered more career enhancing than holding up safety standards

PRADEEP CHAUHAN

KEY POINTS

In the recent past the Indian Navy

was flying high as the only mode of force projection of the country.

For the situation to have come to such a pass in terms of safety standards, every section of the MoD and the service are responsible.

One of the biggest element of proper maintenance and safety is logistics management which is too tardy.

I

n the recent past, the Indian Navy seems to have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. On the one hand, the Navy has seldom been found to be so starkly inept in its relationship with the media and, as a consequence, there has been much speculative and even alarmist reporting on what appeared to be a spate of accidents affecting surface and subsurface combatants of the Service. From any perspective, for the Navy to have been subjected to the type of reportage it was — particularly in the highly competitive ‘dogeat-dog’ world of India’s electronic media — was quite amazing, because the Indian Navy has a comprehensive and wellarticulated media-policy that is formally enshrined in a ‘Navy Order’ which, albeit internal to the Navy, is nevertheless an institutionally binding document.

Be that as it may, it is certainly true that no Navy can afford to have its ships run aground or collide or suffer major fire or explosions without swift remedial action

being taken, together with deep introspection into the why and wherefore of such occurrences. Nor can it expect that such incidents will not arouse the genuine curiosity and concern of those to whom the Indian Navy ultimately belongs, namely, the people of India. Much strong reaction, too, has taken place, not all of it foreseeable.

Indeed, the ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’ appears to have found its most strikingly visible applications in the resignation of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi, as also in the ‘cleaning of the Aegean Stables’ by a new ‘Herculean Team’ headedby the recentlypromoted CNS, Admiral RK Dhowan, wherein the Commanders-in-Chief of the three Naval Commands have all been changed. New brooms, it is to be hoped, will sweep cleaner. Yet, amidst all the hype and hoopla that has been raging since INS Sindhuratna suffered a fire at sea in which two sailors lost their lives — while the submarine was engaged in her ‘Task-II” work-up following a major refit — there are several lingeringquestions concerning not merely issues of professional training and the professional skill-development of the Navy’s human-resource, but also on substantive issues relating to the state and practice of the maintenance and safety philosophies of the Navy. Once again, the Navy’s spokespersons have proven to be inept at convincingly putting forward the Navy’s established strengths in these areas thereby fuelling further speculation that, as Marcellus puts it, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet,“something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.

In considering Fleet Maintenance and Safety Standards, it is important to understand, at the very outset, that in common with all forms of shipping involving the placement of metal (for the most part this is ‘iron’ and its alloy, ‘steel’), corrosion is the greatest and most invidious

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as well as insidious foe. As a result, much of the maintenance philosophies of ships (of all kinds) area ‘preventive’ and ‘curative’ combination designed to prevent or at least arrest the deleterious effects of corrosion.

For navies, which operate a variety of surface-combatants (warships) in multiple roles and in waters of differing salinity and mineral-content, preventive and curative precautions, processes and procedures are so important that the US Navy conducts an annual global conference known as ‘Mega Rust’. The US Navy calls in national and

ND SAFETY STANDARDS” JUNE 2014

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international experts and maritime practitioners from across the world (including India) gladly underwrites the cost of this conference, which is designed “to provide a consolidated focus on Navy corrosion issues…..and to provide updated information on programs, policies, standards and Fleet-experience related to corrosion and to promote discussion and sharing of information on technologies and strategies for controlling corrosion…. The conference provides an impartial forum for dialogue between researchers in

government and commercial organizations and providers of coatings and corrosion control products, processes, technologies and solutions and users.”Corrosion is an overarching feature of ‘Fleet Maintenance and Safety’ because it affects every part of every ship’s hull, decks, bulkheads (walls other than the ship-side), and superstructure (the entire built-up area upon the weather-deck). It is no less commonly encountered in propulsion and machinery-spaces, or, for that matter, in such portions of the weapon-sensor suite as

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are exposed to weather. Indeed, anyone who has ever had to deal with high vibration levels caused by rusted decks or corroded securing-bolts, antenna-pedestals, or shockabsorbing plates,is invariably afforded a sharp and often painful reminder that corrosion forgives no one.

A second overarching feature that must be understood before any meaningful analysis of Fleet Maintenance practices is possible (as a factor impinging upon safety and safety-standards) is that maintenance (and hence safety) are features of a time-

AFP

A general view inside the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on August 14, 2013.

A diesel-powered Indian submarine exploded and sank early August 14 in a dock in Mumbai, leaving rescuers scrambling to find 18 sailors who were on board

FLEET MAINTENANCE continuum. In other words, Fleetmaintenance is a continuous and ongoing process, involving diligent inspection, logging, analysis, and, preventive actions.

The key word is ‘diligent’.

That stated, it is opportune at this point for the lay-reader to understand that ubiquitous term encountered in any discussion on Fleet-maintenance, namely, ‘refit’, A ‘refit’ implies the ‘servicing-cumrepair’ and, occasionally, the replacement and retrofitting — of the surface or subsurface combatant’s engineering and piping systems; electrical, communication and electronic systems;its hull-based systems; as also that of the individual equipment that constitutes every such ‘system’. It is essential to continuously remind oneself that a ‘refit’ is part of a continuum in the maintenance of a warship or submarine. It is not a stand-alone activity that can magically compensate for the neglect of earlier requirements of maintenance and/or safety. Towards this end, the Indian Navy has carefully drawnup the operational-cum-refit cycle of each ‘Class’ and ‘Type’ of warship in its operational inventory. Insofar as defining what exactly is to be done on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, six-monthly and annual basis, this is exhaustively laid-down in a series of documents (such as ‘E-MAPS’) conforming to one or another of the maintenance methodologies applicable to the Type and/or Class of ship/submarine.

Likewise, in terms of providing coherent time to devote to maintenance routines, there are specified intervals at which every warship must be given a break from its operational commitments for a week-long ‘Self-maintenance Period’. After two or three such periods comes an ‘Assisted Maintenance Period’ (AMP) of a couple of weeks or more duration, during which the warship will be provided with dockyard and shore-based specialised assistance. After two or more (this number being specified) AMPs is a ship planned to be taken-in for a ‘refit’ of one or another complexity and consequently, of appropriate duration — known as ‘Short Refit’, ‘Medium Refit’, ‘Long Refit’, etc. Thus, there is a carefully planned periodicity of maintenance that applies to all warships and submarines — from the largest aircraft carrier and amphibious ships down to the smallest patrol craft and even boats, barges and pontoons. To a very large extent, the

Then embattled CNS Admiral DK Joshi showing then defence minister AK Antony showing the location where INS Sindhurakshak caught fire and sunk

”

That stated, it is opportune at this point for the lay-reader to understand that ubiquitous term encountered in any discussion on Fleet-maintenance, namely, ‘refit’,A ‘refit’ implies the ‘servicingcum-repair’ and, occasionally, the replacement and retrofitting

periodicity and duration of each such refit is a function of the periodic requirements for overhaul and maintenance of the ship’s main engines, that is, its propulsion machinery.

With the main engine overhaul/maintenance affording the defining time-frame, the preventive or curative maintenance of all other equipment is planned within this period. Halfway down the assessed life of major surface and subsurface combatants, a mid-life upgrade is planned and equipment planned to be

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replaced or retro-fitted is identified so as to manage the logistic chain.

So if all this is in place, then why do we find the kinds of frustration that we do and why are there so many naval sources indicating or hinting darkly one or another variant of the earlier quote from Hamlet?

The answer lies in the realisation that while organisational structures, processes and procedures are essential preludes to organised and efficient human activity or endeavour, they are by no means enough for the organisational structure to actually deliver the desired output with the required consistency, and the intended efficiency.

This requires human agency exercising human will to make it happen. In analysing Fleet Maintenance and safety Standards, therefore, howsoever easy and therefore tempting it might be to stay with the dissecting of equipment-specific and even procedural issues, one is forced, by the sheer sincerity of one’s analysis, to deal with many genuinely uncomfortable questions. One must face-up to far more intangible (even nebulous) — and hence more difficult — subjects in respect of the sheer quality of the available and potential human-resource and the manner in which knowledge and training are imparted and imbibed. The serious analyst wishing to do more than popular breast-beating or wailing cannot escape an honest examination of human ‘attitude’ and the manner in which ‘attitude’ supports or detracts from the application of this knowledge and training. This inevitably brings one to the standard steps of any

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FLEET MAINTENANCE management process (planning, execution, monitoring and feedback-loops) and the leadership needed to make the process work.

One of the most debilitating features of the current system of Fleet-maintenance is to be found at the policy-level itself. The Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) — in all it several iterations — like almost all central government policy-documents is characterised two fundamental underpinnings that immediately reduce its ability to deliver efficiency: The first is the attitudinal belief that everyone is a ‘crook’ and out to ‘rook’ the government. This fundamental mistrust of the actual practitioners of Fleetmaintenance leads to the creation of so many procedural checks (both in level and complexity) that more often than not, we end-up throwing away the baby with the bathwater! More insidious is the fact that these excessively bureaucratic processes create in their wake, a bureaucratic mindset at all levels, including, regrettably, the uniformed one. The desire to avoid being blamed for a procedural lapse takes strong precedence over actually getting the job done. As a consequence, accountability is lost. All too often, the result is that infamous quip, “Operation successful.

Patient dead”. ‘Accountability’ requires domain-knowledge of the processes involved, which, in the case of Fleetmaintenance is often ‘technical’ in nature.

Both these features, namely, ‘functionalaccountability’ and ‘technical domainknowledge’ are inversely proportional to the bureaucratic level at which issues are being managed (whether by way of approvals, monitoring/supervision-ofexecution, or the ability to understand the import of the feedback being sought or received). Thus, once one enters the civilian levels of the bureaucracy of the MoD, the limitations of ‘generalists’ become glaring. Where the MoD (Finance) is concerned, there is certainly domainexpertise, but of the wrong domain. This systemic infirmity is unlikely to fade away until a proper integration between civilian and uniformed components of the MoD occurs. The longer that government puts this critical reform off, the more acute and well-embedded will the bureaucratisation of the uniformed component become and when this reaches the ‘tipping-point’ (if it has not already done so), even integration will not help.

The second underpinning is what may be called the ‘arrogance of Delhi-centricity’.

This translates to feeling that “Delhi knows best” and the consequent requirement for all but the most trivial issues requiring the approval of one or another Delhi-based bureaucratic level. Even where delegated financial powers are concerned, the independence that was intended to be provided — to the Commanders-in-Chief in the ‘field’, their Fleet Commanders, Dockyard Superintendents, and the Commanding Officers of the establishments, ships and submarines where the maintenance must finally occur — has been completely nullified by the fact that Financial Advisers (FAs) have been allowed ‘creeping jurisdiction’ to the point where they are ‘Financial Controllers’ (FCs), largely conforming to financial policies and decisions emanating from Delhi. The number of instances where delegated powers — which were designed to ensure timely or optimal maintenance — could not be effectively exercised because the case-onfile was stuck in an endless back-and-forth bouncing of the file between the initiating authority and the FA, are legion.

Maintenance suffers grievously — and yet, the levels at which the delay occurs are in no way accountable for the problems of tragedies that they have caused.

The ‘L1’ tender-process is another systemic infirmity that hobbles the availability of ‘quality’ in maintenance and hence impacts safety. Regular vendors of equipment, systems and services have all become adept at subverting the system so as to conform to the specified minima without any commitment to quality. Even given the frailty of the ‘L1’ process, it is impossible to absolve the uniformed segments of the maintenance-process of blame, either. In far too many cases, linguistic infirmities and the consequent inability to draw-up and adequately justify technical-specifications provide fertile ground for bureaucratic delay-mechanisms.

Yet, the Navy’s uniformed community refuses to accept that linguistic poverty is indeed, a problem. It cites the fact that the IFAs are themselves so poor in writing (as witness the nearlyincoherent notes recorded on file) that inadequacies of language on the part of the uniformed Navy are most unlikely to contribute towards resolving the issue. This argument misses the point that most people can comprehend and appreciate good

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writing and the logical development of an argument even while being unable to demonstrate equal skills in writing, themselves. (If this were not the case, we would all be authors of some repute, instead of mere readers!). The Navy clearly needs to formally train its personnel to higher standards in the articulation of the logical development of its cases.

Although most uniformed maintainers have been formally taught materialsmanagement processes such as ‘6-Sigma’, ‘Lean’, etc., and have scored excellent marks or grades in examinations conducted on these processes, these good scores are largely a result of the Indian proclivity towards ‘rote’ learning. This is obvious from

the fact that despite such good marks having been scored, the actual application of these processes and their associated tools such as the ‘5-S methodology’ is close to zero. This lack of practical application of theory, too, makes a significant contribution to suboptimal maintenance and hence safety.

Perhaps the largest contribution to tardy and sub-optimal maintenance is made by the glaring inadequacies in logistic-chain-management. This is a specialisation in its own right and there are many companies in the private sector that have developed global renown thanks to their experience and expertise in this field.

Leave alone being able and willing to outsource its logistic chain management,

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the Navy displays a siege-mentality in refusing to interact, interface and engage with such companies, relying instead on its in-house expertise — despite this expertise having been shown to be inadequate time and again. Once again, the two infirmities mentioned already, which underpin the DPM, repeat themselves in logisticprocurement and, indeed, in the entire logistic-chain-management process, with even more devastating effects.

Where safety-standards are concerned, the relationship between Fleet-based maintenance and safety has been repeatedly highlighted in the foregoing paragraphs. In this regard, the Navy has what are known as ‘Class Authorities’ for aircraft (Flag Officer

Commander, and the COMCOS in the case of submarines, personally and formally visits each ship and satisfies himself that all SOPs are in place and are being followed. And yet, despite all this, the Navy has suffered grievously from incidents that are exactly what these SOPs are designed to prevent.

For all that we may decry the shrillness of the media, there is no gainsaying the fact that with the combat-platforms of the Navy having become far more sophisticated and far more expensive to induct and maintain, the Navy has to ensure that a higher level of safety-consciousness permeates the Service — without creating a risk-averse atmosphere. Of course, this is easier said than done. Ships and submarines routinely

”

India’s new Navy Chief Robin K. Dhowan takes the guard of honour during his visit to the Western Naval Command in Mumbai

Naval Aviation [FONA]), submarines (Flag OfficerSubmarines [FOSM]), and surfacecombatants (Flag Officer Sea Training [FOST]). Likewise, the Navy has adequate exhaustive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place. Adherence to these SOPs is ensured through a series of oversightmechanisms. Ships and submarines are formally ‘worked-up’ to high standards by dedicated teams of experienced domainexperts before they are permitted to join the Fleet. Fleet Commanders, Flotilla Commanders, and Commodores Commanding Submarines (COMCOS) are provided with additional staff that checks ships and submarines for their continued adherence to the SOPs. The Fleet (or Flotilla)

AFP

The Navy has adequate exhaustive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place.

Adherence to these SOPs is ensured through a series of oversightmechanisms. Ships and submarines are formally ‘worked-up’ to high standards

prepare and submit to their operational control authorities, a preformatted ‘Operational Readiness Return’ (ORR), with appropriate weightages being given to each element of the ship’s weapon-sensor suite.

These, when taken in aggregate, enable the Fleet Staff to optimally deploy the platform within an appropriate combat-formation.

Throughout the Indian Navy, the preparation of a truthful and correctly weighted ORR is perceived as a ‘careerenhancing’ activity. Efforts to design a similar approach in respect of ‘safety have been characterised by much ‘activity’ but little ‘accomplishment’. The ‘cloning’ of procedures and organisational ‘oversight’ structures that are applicable to aircraft has

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often been considered as an option with great possibilities. However, since ships have several degrees of redundancy and a very high degree of resilience compared to aircraft, the attempt to introduce a similarly preformatted ‘Safety Readiness Return’ is far less readily embraced by the sea-going community. This unwillingness has much to do with the intense competition that prevails amongst the captains of sea-going combatants. The fact is that no one wants to be perceived as being less than totally willing to put his ship to sea with the Fleet or Flotilla (as the case might be). In other words, the preparation of a truthful ‘Safety Return’ is perceived as a ‘career-limiting’ (if not ‘career-terminating’) matter. In-house efforts notwithstanding, it would be instructive for the Navy to closely examine the Royal Australian Navy’s model in this regard, as that navy has claimed that it has overcome this perceptual problem. If this is indeed true, a tried-and-tested solution may be at hand sooner rather than later and may require only local contextualisation. On the other hand, if this is merely a gloss-andvarnish projection by the Australians, rather than a genuine solution, or if it is inapplicable to the Indian environment, then the naval leadership will need to go back to the drawing board. Whatever it takes, the determination of a comprehensive answer (rather than a knee-jerk response to media-generated pressure) that is workable and acceptable to the ‘field’ is certainly a pressing internal challenge pertaining to safety-standards.

In sum, then the procedures and processes by which Fleet Maintenance may be comprehensively conducted are well in place. However, above the level of processes and procedures, that is, at the policy-level, there are serious problems with the DPM and L1 criteria. Similarly, at the level below, that is, at the level of the human agency that will implement these processes and procedures, there are huge attitudinal infirmities that the Navy must address.

The Navy’s ‘logistic-chain management’ is in need of very urgent and comprehensive attention. Finally, safetystandards need to be strengthened without reducing the risk-taking feature that must necessarily remain an abiding feature of every surface or subsurface combatant platform. Only then will the Navy be able to restore the confidence of the body-politic and the media.

RUSSIAN Mi-17V-5 HELICOPTERS APPEAL TO THE PENTAGON

A

n authorized American edition Aviation Week and Space Technology (issue June 16, 2014) has published the comprehensive article about the U.S. purchased Mi-17 for Afghanistan.

Particularly it says, that the next batch of three Mil Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters built in Russia under a contract with the US Department of Defense (DoD) will be delivered to Afghanistan in June.

As a source in the Russian military industrial complex (MIC) reported to the JDW, “at the moment, under a contract with the Pentagon, remaining for delivery by Rosoboronexport (Russia’s main weapons exporter) are five batches of Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters, three machines each, with the first batch of these 15 aircraft due to be handed over in June.”

The prime contract to deliver 21 helicopters was signed by Rosobornexport and the US government on 26 May 2011 and fulfilled by mid 2012. In 2013 Russia completed the delivery of twelve Mi-17V-5 military helicopters pursuant to a supplementary agreement concluded with the US government in 2012 as an option of the prime contract.

In 2013, Rosoboronexport and the US government reached and signed an agreement for delivery in 2014 of an extra batch of 30 helicopters. According to bilateral arrangements, a total of 63 Mi-17V-5 helicopters are to be delivered as part of a joint effort to fight international terrorism.

All the helicopters are manufactured in the

Mi-17V-5 landing in Afghanistan / US Army “night operation” version and fitted with night vision goggles.

The total contract value to deliver 63 helicopters and associated equipment is around US$ 1.150 billion.

The work for acquiring the Russian rotorcraft is part of the US and International Security Assistance Force’s major operation aimed at increasing the capability and potential of the Afghan national security forces.

According to the Western sources, at present in service with the Aviation Corps of the Afghan National Army are ten Mi-24/Mi-35 strike helicopters, eight Mi-8 military transport helicopters and forty-eight Mi-17-V-5 helicopters whose total will grow to 63 machines by year end.

Under the contract with Rosoboronexport the Mi-17V-5 helicopters are built by the Kazan Helicopters Plant of the Russian Helicopters Holding Company. Mounted on the helicopters for Afghanistan are 17 USmanufactured components integrated into the Russian onboard equipment.

As noted by an expert, the Mi-17V-5 helicopters supplied under a contract with the US Defense Department are adapted to integration with airborne weapons. “In compliance with the concept approved by the US party, the helicopter performs transportation functions and carries onboard weapons like packages of unguided missiles,” said the defense industry representative.

The previous US experience prior to the direct contract with Rosoboronexport related

to mounting additional equipment on new helicopters at the aircraft repair facility in the UAE (Sharjah). However, under the Mi-17V-5 delivery contract all the work is done at the Kazan Helicopters which has proved its efficiency both in terms of production time and outstanding product quality controlled by the helicopter designer, Moscow Helicopter Plant, and representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry.

“Thanks to this, for the first time the Americans have acquired Mi-17V-5 helicopters that need no optimization and meet specific requirements of the region where they will be used,” said the defense ministry official.

Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation, said the American delegation had visited the Kazan Helicopters Plant where the helicopters for Afghanistan are built. “The US representatives watched the facility and its products, including the manufactured helicopter fuselages. They were agreeably surprised by excellent production organization and the facility’s outstanding engineering capability,” noted Dzirkaln.

“We are in a permanent contact with the US DoD representatives and have established a working group for monitoring the contract fulfillment by the Russian and American parties. The Russians have no contradictions whatsoever with their American partners. The contract is being implemented and we face no problems at all,” Dzarkaln pointed out.

According to Anatoly Isaikin,

Rosoboronexport director-general, the contract with the US Defense Department to supply helicopters for Afghanistan was one of the most complex deals because of the existing conflicts with the US law. “We had never worked under such conditions,” he noted. “Now prospects arise for us to supply other types of military hardware to the Afghan army based on the same scheme.”

All the helicopters assembled at the Kazan Helicopters are delivered to Kabul by An-124 Ruslan transport aircraft of the Volga-Dnepr airline. In a single flight the An-124 delivers to Afghanistan 3 helicopters placed in the cargo bay with detached screw blades.

By now delivered and operating in Afghanistan are forty-eight Mi-17V-5 helicopters. “All through the period of using the Russian equipment since 2011, the Americans have not lodged us any serious claims over the quality of our rotorcraft,” added a MIC representative.

“The US DoD expresses strong approval for Mi-17V-5 helicopters received from Rosoboronexport for Afghanistan,” said Dzirkaln. According to him, the certificate of appreciation awarded by the Americans on 9

the US party has not had a single claim over the aircraft quality. “All the helicopters arrived in Kabul on time, where they were assembled, test-flown and, following the signing of a relevant acceptance statement, the customer started to use them in their roles,” the source added.

“The operability of the delivered Russian helicopters exceeds the required level of 8090%. This figure meets all of the applied requirements,” said the MIC representative.

The source noted that the average yearly flight time of one Mi-17V-5 helicopter in Afghanistan is more than 200 hours. “This figure is higher than the average flight time of normal operators,” he informed.

The Mi-17V-5 helicopter overhaul period is 2,000 hours or 8 years. The Russians are seeking to increase the helicopter’s designed service life (a period between the machine deployment and scrapping.) Today, the Mi17V-5 military transport helicopter’s service life is 35 years, informed the MIC representative.

According to him, along with the newly delivered helicopters and those being withdrawn from service, the total of the Russian-built machines exceeds 200.

Mi-17V-5 production line in Kazan November 2011 was recognition of the excellent flight worthiness support system operating in the Russian Federation. “The US representatives repeatedly declared that they had opted for the Russian helicopters because of their unprecedented reliability, including in desert conditions where sand storms are a frequent occurrence,” he said.

As David A.Pinckley, head of NSRWA (Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aircraft) division of the department of the army noted in his letter, the Russian party did a fine job of adapting the foreign flight navigation instruments for use with night vision goggles.

Following a series of trials, the US Army Aviation Command acknowledged the cockpit lighting equipment as being compatible with NVG and accepted the helicopter as suitable for night flying.

Also, the MIC representative noted that since the very start of the deliveries in 2011,

Rosoboronexport drew the US DoD’s attention to the need for adequate and legitimate after-sale servicing of the Mi-17V-5 helicopters supplied to Afghanistan under a contract with the Pentagon. Based on information available to Russia, at present the need for a major overhaul and refurbishment of all types of helicopters used in Afghanistan and other countries exceeds 170 machines.

“The Russian party has all the required conditions for repair and refurbishment as well as for satisfying such a high demand for maintaining the flying capability of the previously supplied helicopters,” emphasized the Rosoboronexport representative.

The Pentagon considers implementation of the contract to supply Afghanistan with Russian helicopters essential to fighting international terrorism and building up the capability of the Afghan national security forces. A statement to this effect was made

by George Little, an official representative of the US Department of Defense.

When requested to comment on the Republican opposition’s continuing efforts in Congress to block further acquisitions of the Russian military hardware for the Afghan armed forces, Mr. Little replied that the Russian helicopters are an important support for the Afghan Air Force.” “They (Afghans) need exactly such a helicopter, which complements their fleet of operative rotary wing craft,” he emphasized.

Previously, in the US Congress an amendment was made to the bill on the aid to Ukraine which concerned the severance of business relations between the US government agencies and Rosoboronexport.

The submitted document contains a proposal to ban any American or foreign organizations cooperating with Rosoboronexport in development, production and sale of military hardware, from participating in US Government funded contracts. Before that, some members of the US House of Representatives had called on Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense, to suspend cooperation with the Russian defense products exporter.

However, despite the permanent pressurization on behalf of the congressmen, calls for sanctions against Rosoboronexport and a refusal to purchase the Russian company’s Mi-17V-5 helicopters for the Afghan armed forces, the Pentagon took a diametrically opposite position.

“The problem is that the Pentagon representatives request them (the congressmen), without making a show of this, to adjourn these actions since Rosoboronexport is supplying helicopters used by the Afghan air force which is now having a difficult time,” the Christian Science Monitor cites a source in the US Senate. “Talking to us, they refer to “the flexibility” by which word they imply that they would like us to make a serious concession for Rosoboronexport,” said a Congress official to the newspaper.

The sanctions introduced against Russia do not affect the contract to purchase from Rosoboronexport Mi-17V-5 helicopters for the Afghan armed forces, confirmed Pentagon spokesman rear-admiral John Kirby in a talk to the journalists. “As I understand it, the declared sanctions don’t affect the defense department and the Mi-17 deliveries in particular,” he said.

From what he said it followed that the Afghans acutely need the Russian helicopters. “They’ve gotten used to this model which well meets their security needs,” said Kirby. “Therefore we continue to support them with this contract.”

—By Special Correspondent, DSI

CYBER SECURITY CHALLENGES: THE DREAM FOR INDIA COMMUNICATION

TO BECOME A “

” REPUBLIC

Cyber warfare being considered as a legitimate mode of attrition between nations, a new spectrum of operations have opened up with the full panoply of instruments

K D NAYAK & AMIT SHARMA

KEY POINTS

It is imperative to protect our sovereign cyberspace especially the Critical information infrastructure.

India was ranked among the top five countries to be affected by cybercrime, according to a 22 October report by online security firm ”Symantec Corp.”

Our strategic dependence on information infrastructure for force-multiplier effect increased our vulnerability

P

resident Barack Obama, in his presidential address spoke that “Our digital infrastructure will be treated as a strategic national asset”. The underlined essence of president Obama’s statement clearly points to the fact that

world leaders are considering the importance and consequently the threats to information infrastructure to a level where they are termed as a country’s strategic asset. Over last 20 years, there has been a colossal change in the way in which threats have evolved in cyberspace, to an extent that strategists around the world are recognising cyberspace as the fifth domain of warfare. This rapid evolution of threats, from non-state actors and at the behest or in some cases directly by state actors, has resulted in a global cyber pandemonium and chaos. The scenario is further aggravated by the global incoherence of domestic and international cyber laws in relation to law enforcement model; attribution issues; international disharmony on cyber issues; and most importantly non-availability of a global

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Several of the world’s leading defence companies are deepening their involvement in the cyber security domain

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COMMUNICATION treaty, especially for issues relating to law of war model.

With nations around the world, preparing to defend against the threats and, to capitalize the opportunities provided by this relatively new realm of warfare; it is imperative to protect our sovereign cyberspace especially the critical information infrastructure. The situation is exacerbated with the active inclusion of state actor in cyberspace and the development of advanced cyber weapons which have graduated from non-disruptive cyber espionage weapons i.e. utilizing zero day exploits, to highly lethal disruptive weapons targeting SCADA and DCS systems like the STUXNET. The erudition of these cyber weapons especially in relation to stealth parameters clearly delineate them from the classical malwares, viruses etc. This scenario was further exacerbated by Snowden’s revelation of strategic US cyber espionage programme call the PRISM. PRISM clearly drew the line and marked the herald of a new era of threats in cyberspace focused primarily on the state use of cyber space as a weapon of war.

If we look at Indian cyber security scenario, India ranks 3rd in terms of the highest number of Internet users in the world after USA and China, the number is projected to grow 6-fold between 20122017 with a compound annual growth rate of 44%; but at the same time India secures a spot amongst the top 10 spam-sending countries in the world alongside USA. India was ranked among the top five countries to be affected by cybercrime, according to a 22 October report by online security firm ”Symantec Corp”. Our strategic dependence on information infrastructure for force-multiplier effect has resulted in a strategic vulnerability and this vulnerability when coupled with the portents of cyber weapons result in the herald of an era of cyber chaos and bedlam.

Under these circumstances, it becomes imperative for us to embark for cyber deterrence capabilities and to achieve such a capability, Information security is the key factor. Protection of information and information infrastructure is now a key factor to our national security and the four binding pillars of information security i.e.

Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability and Non-repudiation are the prerequisite to achieve it. Confidentiality is among the key factors especially in relation to defence

systems and the emphasis is always on strong crypto-logical i.e. encryption systems. These encryption technologies follow a strongly scientific approach, and designs cryptographic algorithms around computational hardness assumptions, thus making such algorithms hard to break by an adversary i.e. cryptanalysis. It is theoretically possible to break such a system but it is unfeasible to do so by any

”

United States Military cyber cadets undergo training. The US armed forces see cyber warfareas a key ‘domain’ alongside the air, land, sea and electromagnetic spectrum © US DoD

If we look at Indian cyber security scenario, India ranks 3rd in term of the highest number of internet users in the world after USA and China, the number is projected to grow 6-fold between 20122017 with a compound annual growth rate of 44%; but at the same time India secures a spot in top ten spam sending countries alongside USA.

practical means. These schemes are therefore computationally secure. Albeit, there exist information - theoretically secure schemes that probably cannot be broken. An example is the one-time pad— but these schemes are more difficult to implement than the theoretically breakable but computationally secure mechanisms.

The implementation of cryptology ranges from public/asymmetric key encryptions ranging from elliptical and hyper-elliptical systems to private/symmetric key encryptions systems like AES, 3DES, Serpent etc. However, confidentiality is the key ingredient to a secure system, nevertheless it is imperative that the age old dictum of ‘Defence in Depth’ should be followed in hitherto to conceive, design and implement such a systems.

This military strategy application in

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information security is based on the ideais based on the paradigm of defending a system against any particular attack using several, varying methods.

Conceived by the National Security Agency (NSA) this layering tactic, provides a comprehensive approach to information and electronic security and seeks to delay, rather than prevent, the advance of an attacker by yielding space in order to buy time. The placement of protection mechanisms, procedures and policies is intended to increase the dependability of an IT system where multiple layers of defence prevent espionage and direct attacks against critical systems. Defense in depth measures should not only prevent security breaches, but also buy an organization time to detect and respond to

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an attack, thereby reducing and mitigating the consequences of a breach.

Some of the measures classically used in Defence in Depth methodology include strong Authentication systems based on biometrics, digital signatures etc.; Hashing passwords; Firewalls and Demilitarised zones; Intrusion Prevention Systems; Network behavior analyzers; Advanced malware detector and Anti virus systems; Virtual Private Networks; integrity managers Security logs and Access control systems; vulnerability assessment and auditing etc. Although Defence in Depth is a critical to information security, but these will be inherently flawed if secure designing methodology is not followed.

The concept of Secure Design framework revolves around the paradigms of Secure by Design, Secure by Default, and Secure in

Deployment with a primary aim to achieve trustworthiness. These concepts have shaped the development process to help deliver secure systems. Secure by Design means that you have taken the appropriate steps to ensure that the overall design of the product is secure from the outset especially including threat modeling at the design phase and using secure design, coding, and testing guidelines. Secure by Default means that the system when released is configured secure by default i.e. if a feature is optional, then it can be turned off by default. If a feature is not activated, then an attacker cannot use it to compromise your product.

Secure in Deployment means that the system is maintainable after installation. If a product is difficult to administer, it makes it more difficult to maintain protection against security threats as new ones evolve.

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The key goal is to achieve Mission Assurance in Cyberspace, which subsequently revolves around achieving trustworthy components, trustworthy supply chain, trustworthy architecting, trustworthy assessment, trustworthy penetration testing and most importantly trustworthy administration.

DRDO’s approach to achieve mission assurance is by achieving system assurance by design thus ensuring assurance by providing safeguard against leakage. This objective is meticulously met via a strategic approach involving System architecture and Trusted Platform development involving Custom Designed Hardware to Guard Against Embedded “black box” Attacks, Side Channel Attacks based on Timing, Fault Injection and Power Analysis; Custom Firmware/Software on Operating Systems less platforms to Prevent Intentional/Unintentional Leakage; Custom Interface development to Control, unauthorized Transactions, unauthorized access; Development robust cryptographic algorithms specifically custom designed algorithm which are Resistant to all known modern day attacks; development of Conservative Design methodology and most importantly independent white box evaluation.

DRDO’s approach also includes developing capabilities to produce robust high grade cryptographic devices based on Indigenously developed cryptographic algorithms and Indigenously architected high assurance platforms; and capabilities to develop advanced architectures for LAN and WAN security to Safeguard information systems to counter external and internal threats has been developed.

For the near term risk mitigation DRDO works on the approach of development Software based security systems running on COTS computing platforms. For the long term risk mitigation DRDO has initiated the development of Trustworthy and Secure networking devices that can maintain their performance integrity in the face of attacks; Trustworthy computing platforms for application specific information processing; and Trustworthy storage solutions to prevent data leakage.

Having said so much about the technological means of securing cyberspace, we would reiterate that technology does not provide for a silver bullet to this problem, but is part of a complex solution, which will involve

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Apart from targeting all the three components i.e. the technology, people and processes to develop a secure cyber ecosystems, a strategic aspect that India needs to put its emphasis on, is development of indigenous fabrication and production capability

people and processes along with technology. Unless and until our processes are securely implemented and exercised rather than retrofitting; and our people are appropriately sensitised and made aware about the critical aspects of security, we would not achieve the larger perspective of secure cyberspace. Hence we should aim at targeting all the three components i.e. the technology, people and processes to develope a secure cyber ecosystems which will ensure the safeguard of our sovereign interests in this new realm, the cyberspace.

Apart from targeting all the three components i.e. the technology, people and processes to develop a secure cyber ecosystems, a strategic aspect that India needs to put its emphasis on, is development of indigenous fabrication and production capability. The threats in cyberspace have manifested now to a level where they are considered as a threat to our national security. The growth of cyber crime and its ugly mutation, the cyber warfare i.e. state sponsored manifestation, has resulted in the herald of need for new era of need for security in the information technology field in India. Although there is a gamete of factors associated with this phenomenon, however lack of indigenous development/production and consequently supply chain infection emerges out to be the most notable. This is the Achilles heel of Indian ICT ecosystem.

Unfortunately, India missed the race of

Elbit Systems is another major defence company which is increasingly active in the provision of cyber security solutions

silicon revolution involving the development of technologies, systems, fabrication and production of microelectronics and allied systems; which in-hitherto resulted in its extensive dependence on imported systems and technologies. This was further exacerbated by the psychological remnants of the British Raj involving the preference to imported products (unfortunately at a higher cost) over Indian counterpart, which in reality has been deeply ingrained in the Indian mental setup. This aspect of “import driven” approach for addressing majority of the need both in the Defence and the Civilian sector has resulted in

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inducing a strategic vulnerability; not only the lack of support for development of indigenous capability, but due to the imminent threat of supply chain infection especially involving advanced embedded and software based malwares. There have been multiple instances around the world where counterfeit hardware had entered into the crucial military industrial complexes via supply chain infection.

Hence it is highly pertinent at this stage to the Indian need to give a strategic impetus to the indigenous capability development and become a “ ”(Hindi for making) republic rather than an import driven “ ” republic.

BATTLEFIELD BMS AND NCW

MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM: THE HEART OF NET-CENTRICITY Indian BMS is different from the wholly networked militaries – from the lowest to the highest – to a system that provides situational awareness at the operational level to the soldier on the ground to the battalion or the regimental commander

BS PAWAR

KEY POINTS

In July 2013, the ministry of defence took a decision to put components of a BMS system in the ‘Make Indian’ category, BMS for the Indian Army will comprise highly mobile tactical command and control information system.

That would mean integration of Battlefield Surveillance System (BSS), Command Information Decision Support System (CIDSS) etc.

T

he ever evolving battlefield of the modern era is extremely chaotic and fast paced. The ‘fog of war’ befuddles the observers and the participants alike.

But technology now has made it possible for battlefield leadership to see their areas of responsibility in depth and in real time,

develop an accurate common picture of the battle space, share it both horizontally and vertically and operate in a joint environment.This has been made possible by technology enabling rapid acquisition, processing and transfer of information, enhancing situational awareness and acquiring capability to react to information.

The recognition of information dominance in future wars is based on the success of information dominated military command and control in influencing the outcome of the battle. We are at the threshold of a new era - information must no longer be an enabler but a core war fighting capability. The command and control capabilities needed to address the complexities of third generation warfare have spearheaded the digitisation of the battlefield. The sensors and weapons

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BMS solutions now deployed are hardware agnostic Š General Dynamics Itronix

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BMS AND NCW This newly tested WIN-T Increment 2 company-level point of presence will provide on-the-move connectivity

FALCON being put on trial by UK Armed Forces

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interfaces and the communication infrastructure has migrated to digital technology. The units enabling the above are collectively called Battle Management Systems (BMS).The BMS provides an integrated ‘Common Operating Picture’ using collaborative planning tools for tactical commanders to make responsive and knowledge based decisions and exercise highly effective control over operations in a dynamic and fluid battlefield.The central tenet of modern BMS is the OODA loop (observe-orientdecide-act). While this was conceptualised in the context of military operations, its relevance to modern management techniques has been well established. An entity that can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby get inside the opponent's decision cycle and gain advantage.

BMS for the Indian Army

The BMS programme for the army has been under consideration by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for more than four years without making any headway. The policy makers have been weighing the options of import or giving the responsibility to the state-owned Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), which has some expertise in this field, but there was no progress. However, in a major development in July last year the defence ministry finally took a decision that the BMS for the army will be a ‘Make Indian’ project under the Defence Procurement Policy of 2013 (DPP 2013), with only domestic companies, both private and public allowed to participate.

Subsequent to this decision the Indian defence companies ( private and stateowned), have been invited to participate in the ‘Make Indian’ programme through an Expression of Interest (EoI) issued towards the end of last year. As per the EoI the Indian companies can forge ties with overseas defence majors to acquire advanced technologies in order to produce a modern, state of art system.

The BMS Architecture

The BMS for the army is required to address the requirement of an automated operational information system at the level of unit headquarters and below, which cuts through the ‘fog of war.’ Most western militaries have situation awareness

A US Army combat net radio on display

packages, with the essential integration tools of various types. Their understanding of the BMS is that it covers the entire military structure from apex to the foot soldier.

However unlike in case of most of the foreign armies, the BMS sought by the Indian Army is required to perform a variety of operational situational awareness and decision support functions at a battalion and combat group level. The lowest level to which the system will be connected will be the individual soldier and combat platform, whilst the highest level will be the battalion and regimental commander. It will enable the Commanding Officer to enhance his situational awareness and command his unit through a secure communication

The BMS provides an integrated ‘Common Operating Picture’ using collaborative planning tools for tactical commanders to make responsive and knowledge based decisions and exercise highly effective control over operations in a dynamic and fluid battlefield. The central tenet of modern BMS is the OODA loop (observeorient-decide-act).

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network with built-in redundancy.

The BMS for the Indian Army will be a highly mobile tactical command and control information system, integrated with sensors, weapon platforms and decision making tools.The system will provide Common Operating Picture /Situational Awareness, to all entities in the Tactical Battle Area (TBA) networked with secure, robust and reliable communication system, supporting voice, data and real time video services. The system will comprise of wearable/handheld information systems with individual soldiers, as well man portable and vehicle mounted information systems, integrated through data enabled communication networks. It will generate Common Operating Picture by integrating all entities within the TBA on a common Geographic Information System (GIS) reference frame network and provide Blue Force Tracking (BFT) using satellite based navigation systems. BFT is a component of BMS that shows the location of friendly troops and identifies enemy forces on a digital map and allows exchange of messaging and data – this forms part of the US Army BMS. The BMS will integrate with various other systems already under different stages of development, like the Battlefield Surveillance System (BSS), Command Information Decision Support System (CIDSS), Artillery Command Control Communication System (ACCCS), Air Defence Control and Reporting System (AD C&R), Electronic Warfare and others.

It will also facilitate feeding in intelligence, terrain and logistics information to give a common operating picture to commanders at various levels.

The BMS will comprise of the following sub-systems - infrastructure less communication and networking systems, application server, database server, relational database management system, compute platforms embedded with GPS and integrated GPS. In addition the other important feature of BMS is the Battle Command. This is the art and science of visualising, describing, directing and leading forces in operations against a hostile, thinking and adoptive enemy.

Battle Command applies leadership to translate decisions into actions by synchronising forces and war fighting functions in time, space and purpose, to accomplish the missions.

BMS AND NCW Current Status

While the Make India project for BMS was cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) last year in July, the Expression of Interest was issued on 11 November 2013.

The EoI was given to 14 Indian defence companies, asking them to participate in the project for developing a BMS to digitally integrate the Indian Army’s fighting components into a fighting unit. These defence companies include, Larsen &Toubro, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Rolta Ltd, Tata Power SED (strategic electronics division), Hindustan Computers Ltd, Wipro, Electronics Corporation of Indian Ltd, Bharat Forge, Punj Lloyd Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies, Tech Mahindra and Computer Maintenance Corporation. Some of the above companies are also competing for the Tactical Communication System (TCS) Project.

The defence companies were given four months to form consortiums, (engage technology partners including foreign companies with suitable technologies and right experience), frame their proposals, and submit detailed proposals to the MoD by mid March 2014.The overseas defence companies likely to be in fray include Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael and Elbit of Israel, Thales and Nexter of France, Rhode and Schwartz of Germany, BAE Systems of UK, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics of US and Selex of Italy.The proposals once submitted will be evaluated by an Integrated Project Management Team (IPMT), which will then select two Development Agencies (DAs) - as per reports the proposals have been submitted in April this year and are presently under evaluation. Each of these DAs will be asked to develop four BMS prototypes for mountain, jungle, plains and desert operations. The development of the prototypes is estimated to cost about 67 million dollars with MoD covering 80 percent of the expense and the short listed domestic company 20 percent. This is a positive step taken by the MoD and will encourage participation of private sector in the defence industry.

The prototypes will be put through extensive field trials and the selected DA will be asked to produce more than 500 systems in India for an estimated 5 billion dollars.

This includes the software architecture and the hardware that will link together every component of some 500 combat units, each

Nexter is anticipating a contract to supply its FINDERS BMS to Indonesia’s land forces for tactical level vehicle and HQ usage later this year © Nexter

having between 500 and 900 soldiers. This entire process is likely to take approximately three years before the final bidder is selected and the production commences. The communications backbone of the new digital architecture will be the TCS which is being pursued separately as India’s first ‘Make India’ project. The BMS project will be overseen by the Army’s Director General Information Systems.

Communications

For a BMS to be successful there is a need for a reliable, robust, resilient and efficient

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communication system that assures that the network is always functional.

Communications should not interfere with the legacy communication equipment and should easily be retrofitted into the combat platform.

Communications should optimally utilise the bandwidth utilised for military communications involving voice, data, imageries and video streaming. For future requirements the legacy communication devices are physically incompatible, follow different link protocols, having issues of addressing ,

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looking at long ranges, high bandwidth data transmission, facilitating messaging including voice mail, quick deployability, self- configuring/healing networks and interoperability. The focus will be on change in network topology, non- line of sight communications, spectrum management, network management systems, communications security, storage capacity, authentication and robustness.

Deployment of new technologies like software defined radios (SDRs) that can also communicate with combat net radios needs to be looked at. While legacy radios havetheir limitations, the change management towards fielding of latest technology like SDRs and communication infrastructure will need to be fine-tuned.

Bandwidth requirements for the BMS need

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In a major development in July last year the defence ministry finally took a decision that the BMS for the army will be a ‘Make Indian’ project under the Defence Procurement Policy of 2013 (DPP 2013), with only domestic companies, both private and public allowed to participate.

reachability and quality of service. The existing combat net radios have limited communications and data rates, are not secure and have no data encryption facility.

In fact the present set of radios does not meet the requirements of a Network Centric Warfare (NCW) force that would transmit voice, video and data simultaneously.

Net-centricity warrants a paradigm shift from voice centric to data centric systems and networks, eventually enabling Net Centric Warfare capabilities. For BMS communications the Indian Army is

to be viewed keeping in mind the incremental requirements of the future.

Net-Centricity

Net-centricity is redefining the future battlespace. In the information age, power is increasingly derived from information sharing, information access and speed. The Indian army is also moving rapidly in this direction. The usage of information technology as a force multiplier in warfare stems from the belief that information advantage leads to information superiority,

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eventually enhancing combat effectiveness of platforms.This is achieved by networking of sensors, decision-makers, and shooting platforms, thereby creating shared awareness, speed of command, high-tempo manoeuvre, close coordination and synchronisation during operations resulting in greater lethality and enhanced combat capabilities. The primary objective of applying modern information technology is to enhance battle-space awareness between operational and command elements. Within the above concept, the BMS acts as a forceenabler and gives a distinct combat edge to a force by closing the loop between sensors that pick up information, decision makers and shooting platforms, with the aim to reduce the ‘sensor to shooter’ time – in other words much speedier engagements and enhancement in tempo of operations.

The fulcrum of net-centricity being developed by the Indian Army is actually what is generally referred to as the Tac C3I System (Tactical Command, Control, Communications and Information System). Under the overall rubric of Tac C3I, sub-systems like the CIDSS (Command Information Decision Support System), ACCCS (Artillery Command, Control & Communication System), BSS (Battlefield Surveillance System), ADC&RS (Air Defence Control & Reporting System), are in various stages of development, trials and fielding. Tactical C3I Systems do not proliferate below the unit HQs – hence the requirement to provide an automated battle management system for the sub- units to have sensors, platforms and weapon systems integrated with individual soldiers to enable them to optimally exploit assets below unit level and translate the plans made at higher level into well synchronised operations at the cutting edge.

Moreover, due to the dynamic and mobile nature of operations and the unique requirement of automation for execution of operational tasks at the lower levels of military field hierarchy, there is a need to have a separate system below unit levels.

An effective communication provides the back-end of sensor connectivity to generate synergistic effect. Within this construct, army is also pursuing a project for development of a TCS, to provide both the bandwidth for data sharing and seamless connectivity.The need for a stateof-the-art TCS has been long felt. The TCS

BMS AND NCW

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Another important component of the Indian Army’s transformational perspective is developing capacities for ‘Cyber Warfare’. It is a potent instrument of war with means to weaken enemy capabilities even before battle is joined. Security of information and assets is vital to a military

manufacturing stage can be disastrous in military networks. Hence there is a requirement of fool-proof mechanisms to check our system for malware, particularly so as all computer parts and some software are imported -In this context the ‘Make India’ approach for both the BMS and TCS with the participation of Indian defence companies is a step in the right direction.

Indian army soldiers use a field radio in Sonamarg, 03 April 2004

being conceived for the force will bridge the gap between existing and contemporary technologies in the sphere of military communication.

The Army is also closely looking at various software components of the system which are vital to its functional efficacy which include, policy on data handling and data storage, policy and responsibly for cyber security and enunciation of bandwidth requirements in synch with increasing net-centricity.

Another important component of the

Indian Army’s transformational perspective is developing capacities for ‘Cyber Warfare’.

It is a potent instrument of war with means to weaken enemy capabilities even before battle is joined. Security of information and assets is vital to a military where networked infra-structure involves country-wide WANs and numerous smaller networks in a network of networks concept. The endeavour to prevent an attack or contain it and affect swift recovery is an important aspect of cyber warfare. Malware penetrating the systems or embedded at

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Conclusion

Future military operations in a net-centric environment will require units and sub units to operate subordinated or in cooperation with each other. Also successful execution of fast moving operations will require an accelerated decision-action cycle. The key to success will lie in effective command and control, with commanders at all levels, especially at the cutting edge being provided relevant information to enhance their decision making and command capability.

With the process of developing a BMS for the army set into motion, the Indian Army has moved a step closer to the battlefield of the future, where command networks know the precise location of every soldier and weapon and with whom commanders at all levels can exchange reports, photos, data and verbal/ written communications. BMS is a force multiplier that gives a combat edge to a military force, enabling a state-of-theart networked theatre in a spit-fire battlefield environment.

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NAVAL AVIATION: STRUGGLING ROTARY AND FIXED WING ON LIFE SUPPORT? NAVAL AIR

Considering that the Indian Navy has a low inventory of both rotary and fixed wing aircrafts, the service has shown greater adaptability in using such aerial assets.

DEEPAK ADHAR

KEY POINTS

British maritime strike aircrafts, like Sea Hawks and Sea Harriers had given the cutting edge to early India’s ambitious aircraft carrier based navy Considering that the indigenous advanced light helicopters (ALH) proved too heavy the navy had to do with the Kamovs of the Russians Acquisition of P8Is LRMRs announced the arrival of the Indian Navy in the world

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ince the invention of the aircraft, aviation has become an intrinsic part of naval might, be it as a carrier borne fleet air arm, shore based maritime patrol / strike aircraft or integral ship borne rotary wing aircraft. These aerial platforms epitomise force multiplication as they

increase the speed and reach of surface combatants manifolds.

It is therefore only logical that the aviation assets be on the wish list of naval planners. However, their capital intensive nature consequent to their specialised technology makes it prohibitive for all and sundry to “Fly Navy”. It is indeed praiseworthy that at the dawn of our independence, Indian planner dared to dream of an Air Arm for the Indian Navy, eventually putting India into an elite maritime league. Quite possibly our departing British masters created that aspiration to sell us their surplus WW-II inventory, astute businessmen as they were. Be that as it may, it eventually served us well to have a matured air arm that has since come of age.

Naval Aviation is quite the proverbial white elephant that a nation may tighten

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the belt once to acquire but may not be able to sustain its high maintenance. After the initial euphoria including photo opportunities with Presidents and Prime Ministers adorning our calendars, sustaining the force was another story.

Finances required for servicing, upgrading and replacing these assets competed fiercely for the sparse naval budget that was equally needed elsewhere. This caused a bipartisan thinking amongst Naval planners specifically with respect to aviation. Aviation assets were thus neglected whenever an “anti-aviation” dispensation was at the helm.

Fighters

The Sea Hawks and then the Sea Harriers remained British Aerospace hand me downs that quite served their purpose providing fleet air defence with limited

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© COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter conducts a surface search as part of Operation Southern Indian Ocean in search of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

S-70B is offered to Indian Navy for its requirement of naval helicopters

credible strike capability – what with the prized Sea Eagle proving to be the biggest dud in our inventory. While the Admiral Gorshkov deal is a saga in itself as per CAG and CVC observations, a de-facto outcome was the Mig 29K that finally resulted in an Air Superiority Fighter joining Indian Naval ranks. In the absence of catapult technology, the choice of the naval fighter had to be limited to aircraft with STOBAR (short take off but arrested recovery) capability and the Mig 29K certainly passes muster. Those involved in the acquisition however needed to struggle no end to marry indigenous and western technology with the Russian platform. This was especially true with respect to the high end spectrum such as data linking.

Even on the human interface front, the planners had a huge challenge at hand.

Despite the Russians manufacturing the

aircraft, they had minimal experience of arrester wire recovery and hence weren’t best suited to train our pilots on that skill.

With our own pre-jump jet era pilots since retired, there was a need to create a new breed of “hookers”, a skill that is rather rare in the world even today. Further, the Indian Air Force too was short staffed and hungering for its own Advance Jet Trainer, thereby necessitating the naval pilots to seek alternative avenues for basic flying training. The United States Navy offered basic training wherein arrester wire recovery and deck landing exposure were part of the curriculum. Thus the Indian Navy managed to build a pool of pilots with carrier flying experience to follow on the Russian-trained Mig 29K pilots who did not have arrester wire landing experience.

Despite the fact that the aircraft and the carrier were part of the same umbrella

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contract, we were unable to time their arrival in India. The aircraft arrived nearly a year earlier and pilots practiced arrester deck landings on a shore based structure but couldn’t “wet their wings” as Vikramaditya came in much later and not in the best of shape too as reported in various sections of the press.

The HAL developed LCA (Navy) and the Cochin (Kochi) Shipyard Limited under construction Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) are still too nascent to be spoken of, though the fact that we have embarked on these self-reliance R&D projects is a matter of immense pride for our navy, the indigenous defence industry and the nation at large. However, without being branded a sceptic, these ambitious projects could only be celebrated once we have “walked the talk”. A rugged undercarriage to take deck landings, a tail hook for arrester

NAVAL AIR An Indian Navy Dronier 228 patrolling aircraft

wires and foldable wings for storage in the confined space of an aircraft carrier are technological differentiators for non-naval aircraft that is not easy to master. The IAC configuration is quite similar to INS Vikramaditya thereby permitting the same combination of Mig 29K and LCA (Navy).

However future carriers may need to explore catapult technology as well as nuclear propulsion.

Notwithstanding all that has been said above, naval planners across decades need to be applauded for their vision, perseverance and detailing to have created and operated a formidable carrier borne fighter fleet for over half a century, a feat matched only by a couple of nations in the history of mankind. It needs to be understood that the complications, variations and contingencies of a contract of an aircraft carrier and its integral aircraft is perhaps the most complex of projects.

With hindsight being 6/6 it may be easy to find faults, yet it has been no mean achievement and the blunders committed were seldom a result of lack of foresight.

Helicopters

Carrier borne and integrated ship borne helicopters are the main stay of any fleet. The helicopter’s versatility makes it a work horse for naval operations with the spectrum ranging from routine VERTREP (vertical replenishment) to AEW (Airborne Early Warning) and includes SAR (Search and Rescue), CASEVAC (Casualty Evacuation), ASW (Anti Submarine Warfare), Commando Operations, Anti shipping role and what have you. The Indian Navy too has relied on the Chetak, Seaking and Kamov helicopters for over three decades.

The French Alouette was manufactured under licence by HAL and rechristened Chetak. The single engine work horse underwent indigenous modifications and came up with the ASW variant called MATCH (Modified Antisubmarine Torpedo Carrying Helicopter). Subsequently, the helicopter was used as a platform for trial of other DRDO equipment like the Kite ESM system and finally a rotary UAV for ship borne operations! The Chetak was also one of the rare machines that had interoperability

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across the Russian, Western and indigenous ships. One wonders whether there shall ever be another aircraft that will match the glory of the Chetak.

The Westland Seaking provided the Indian Navy the able complement to the fighter arm. The carrier borne squadron as well as ship borne flights provided formidable ASW, ASV (Medium-wave airborne search set) and even AEW capability. Induction of the 42B was the definitive game changer catapulting the Indian Navy into a different league. Over the years, with Mid Life Updates (MLUs) struggling to happen and access to technology being limited post-Pokhran II, these aircraft continued to hold fort albeit with minimal serviceability and grossly reduced combat potential.

The Kamov remained integral to the Russian origin frigates and single pilot operation placed further constraint on their optimal exploitation. The Kamov 31 brought the Indian Navy into the elite club of operating Deck launched Air Early Warning, though interoperability from

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A MiG-29K of the Indian Navy in flight

Indian Navy received its fourth Boeing P8-I in May 2014

It is indeed praiseworthy that at the dawn of our independence, Indian planner dared to dream of anAirArm for the Indian Navy, eventually putting India into an elite maritime league. These naval planners across decades need to be applauded for their vision, perseverance and detailing.

indigenous or western origin decks remained a major constraint.

The naval variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) was bogged down right from the outset, be it for the blade folding mechanism or for the retractable undercarriage. The non-naval variants did not have these specific needs and were hence inducted by other operators quite early, earning the Naval Aviation a reputation for being snobbish with respect to Indian technology. Equipment started adding up on the aircraft be it a radar, electronic support measure (ESM) equipment like the indigenous Bharat Electronics Ltd manufactured Eagle, SONAR, sonobuoy system, weapons, FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) etc. as also the pounds of vibration dampers that got added to the aircraft along development.

This increased the All Up Weight (AUW) of the aircraft and correspondingly reduced the endurance of the aircraft

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immensely. It ended with a radius of action (ROA) so miniscule that it ceased to be operationally viable.

The need for a multi role helicopter (MRH) remained unfulfilled and resulted in a request for proposals (RFP) being initiated by the Indian Navy. The availability of the desired machine was extremely limited in the market. Options were either systems that had been in use for short period or the proven systems in service with the United States Navy, which called for the 'foreign military sales' (FMS) route! In the given scenario, the fact that the multi-vendor global RFP found its way out was indeed a paradigm shift in defence procurement.

Incidentally, the Navy War Room leak hit the headlines just around that time and probably this made the environment less conducive for defence procurement schemes to progress.Since then much has progressed and this procurement is at an advanced stage with field trials for the MRH having been completed more than a year and half ago. US Sikorsky MH-60 and the NH Industries NH-90 are the prime contenders. The MH 60 is Sikorsky's version for the US Navy. For India, they have renamed it S 70 as its weapon sensor suite has to follow the naval staff qualitative requirement (NSQR). For some reason the case appears to be in dormant status thereafter and final selection of vendor and commercial negotiation has not started yet.

Perhaps the Agusta Westland kickback scam with respect to the Indian Air force VIP aircraft fleet got the ministry a cold feet, especially with the erstwhile Defence Minister being overzealous to protect his ‘clean’ image. With the new government in place hopefully these helicopters should be finding their way into the Indian Navy’s inventory shortly. Further, to meet its perspective plan requirement, the Navy is looking for 120 Naval Multirole Helicopter (NMRH) of 10-12 ton category. Considering the large numbers, this scheme could find the HAL route as buy and make category.

Maritime Patrol Aircraft

The short range maritime patrol aircraft that served the Indian Navy through three decades was the Pilatus Britten Norman Islander. It specifically met the low intensity maritime operations (LIMO) needs that arose in Palk Bay consequent to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) deployment. The Dornier 228 from the

NAVAL AIR

HAL stable could never replace the piston engine workhorse – the Islander - for its versatility of deployment from semiprepared strips with self-servicing simplicity allowing pilots to refuel and undertake turn around servicing (TRS).

However, age of the airframe and engines lead to a mid-life-update (MLU) replacing the Avco Lycoming piston engine by the Allison turboprop engine. The MLU proved to be a failure as it greatly reduced the performance of the aircraft in terms of AUW as well as radius of action and endurance. The flexibility of operations were significantly constrained due to the turbine engine. While the piston engine allowed for an immediate turn around after refuelling, the Allison turbine engine required cooling down time before the next restart, limiting operational flexibility.

The Dornier 228 remained the true work horse of the Naval Air Arm with respect to maritime patrol needs. With its superlative suite of Israeli sensors, be it the AES EW system or the ELTA radar, the brown water capability of the Indian Navy was certainly world class. Many a fleet exercises ended up with the Carrier Battle Group losing to the force without a carrier by the sheer benefit of the EW Dornier. However, it felt

considerably short of meeting the blue water aspirations of a twin carrier Navy.

The IL-38 and Tu-142M long range maritime patrol aircraft provided the Indian Navy the reach that had the main IOR littorals uncomfortable. Sadly, the sensor suite remained dated and often needed immense operator skill to translate the range into a tangible advantage in terms of battlefield transparency. Also, the MLUs had outlived their utility with only incremental changes to the capability of the platform be it installation of the Sea Dragon suite or anything else. Operational limitations in terms of TOLD (Total Landing Distance) requirement made the Tu 142 constrained in out of home base deployment.

The Boeing P8I was indeed the coup de grace when Indian Naval Aviation truly arrived on the world arena. A proven commercial platform, the Boeing 737 was proposed to be equipped with proven sensors and equipment called the P-8 System. Israeli Falcon Maritime Patrol Aircraft, EADS Airbus 319 MPA and a new generation Russian IL38 were also available.

The USN had selected the militarised Boeing 737 named P-8 to replace its aging Orion ASW fleet. Finally competing in an open multi-vendor competition, the P-8I – the (I)

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standing for the Indian version of P- 8 with certain mandatory Indian nominated equipment was the winner. With the concurrent civil aviation boom in India, the aircraft was already in operation with many private operators resulting in a strong MRO (Maintenance and Repair Organisation) network being set up. The Indian Navy thus had the option of outsourcing maintenance of the platform as well as having unlimited operational flexibility since private operators are deploying these aircraft across tier – II and tier – III airfields across India. Start up facilities, refueling, turn around servicing and even minor repairs are easily available off the shelf as would be the MRO network for second and third line servicing. This would also result in a huge capital expenditure saving with respect to setting up of an organic maintenance and support organisation for these aircraft, something that is usually more than 50% cost of the total deal!

Cracking the deal was no mean achievement for the naval planners and kudos would be due to all involved in this.

Getting a government nod for investment of billions of dollars was a significant victory of the Naval Air Staff planners over a bureaucracy that was not used to Direct

AFP

A fleet of Indian Navy Sea King helicopters ready to take off

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An Indian Navy Sea Harrier aircraft takes off from INS Viraat

CIA, the Indian Navy should be thinking of reviewing its aviation force structure to induct UCAVs capable of operation from shore as well as from ships for all types of missions. In this direction, a proposal for an indigenous technology demonstrator unmanned rotary wing UCAV on the Chetak platform had been doing the rounds seeking government funding.

Conclusion

Commercial Sale of military equipment of this value from anywhere, leave aside the USA. In future the Indian Navy is likely to have more of P-8I as follow on order to this contract and to fulfil its perspective plan requirement. The delivery of the aircraft so far has been dot on time and every alternate aircraft from the very first production has gone to the other Navy.

This is indeed a commentary on the Indian Navy being truly equipped with the future and world class technology.Indian Navy, DRDO and Indian Industry will do well to start planning for and manufacture truly indigenous sensors and weapons as upgrade for this platform which can be operated for 40 years as regard its airframe. This ought to be taken up as a challenge as well as a commitment.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

With the addition of the Israeli Aircraft Industries Heron UAVs, the Indian Navy had moved into an exclusive league of obtaining real time theatre level intelligence. The payload of electro optical devices and latest maritime radars gives the force a distinct advantage over most of its adversaries. Since the UAVs are shore based, range does become a constraint.

However, coastal defence including brown water operations are more than adequately met by these assets reducing reliance on and need for replacements of the Islander and Dornier aircraft. With planners

�

From an aspiring third world air arm to as it stands today, the Indian NavalAirArm has the potential of shaping into a sword arm befitting a nation seeking global leadership, provided plans go through without undue procedural delay.

evaluating deck launched and ship recovered UAVs, the Navy could have integral maritime surveillance capability for small task forces rather than being dependent on strategic, expensive and sparse shore based surveillance assets.

With advancement in the field of unmanned flight in terms of size of platform and pay load including the weapons in the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) or drones as popularized by the

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From an aspirational third world air arm to as it stands today, the Indian Naval Air Arm has the potential of shaping into a sword arm befitting a nation seeking global leadership. This is provided plans go through without undue procedural delay and are not mired by divergent individual views with every change of guard. There is a need for providing adequate focus to create infrastructure, up-skill human resources, build logistics efficiency, outsource maintenance to domestic private sector and continually plan for upgrades. For maintenance, the Indian Navy continues to be dependent on foreign vendors to a very large extent and past experience has mostly been bitter on this count. The opening up of the defence sector to domestic private players should specifically thrust on this as it would be a revenue generation model and invest into our own economy. Finally, timely upgrades are extremely important as they save substantial cost and prevent drop in combat potential by maintaining our force levels as efficient with contemporary technology. Thus the file for upgrade should ideally be initiated before even the first aircraft of the deal is inducted!

Notwithstanding the existing scenario of inherent delays in planning and procurement, greatly attributable to the “decision paralyses� in the last dispensation as alleged time and again in the media, the Indian Navy sails in safe waters with respect to its air arm mainly because of the economic boom during the first half of the last decade, which perhaps increased the appetite of the government to realise the vision of our planners.

However, while the arm is getting modern and contemporary systems, the numbers are undeniably inadequate to support the planned infrastructure. Be that as it may, one needed visionaries and thankfully we had capable ones at the helm at that time.

RUSSIAN JETS AND EXPERTS SENT TO IRAQ TO AID ARMY

believe has been too slow to supply American F-16s and attack helicopters — although the United States is now in the process of providing both.

“In the coming three or four days the aircraft will be in service to support our forces in the fight” against the insurgents of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, said Gen. Anwar Hama Ameen, the commander

Su-25 AFP

I

raqi government officials said Sunday that Russian experts had arrived in Iraq to help the army get 12 new Russian warplanes into the fight against Sunni extremists, while the extremists declared their leader the caliph, or absolute ruler, of all jihadi organizations worldwide.

The Russian move was at least an implicit rebuke to the United States, which the Iraqis

of the Iraqi Air Force, referring to five SU-25 aircraft that were flown into Iraq aboard Russian cargo planes Saturday night, and two more expected later Sunday.

Also on Sunday, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria released a 34-minute audio recording of a speech by its official spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who said that the insurgency’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was now the world’s caliph and as such had declared all other jihadi organizations void and under his direct control, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremists’ online presence.

ISIS’ bombastic announcement of its hegemony over the world’s Islamic extremists was little more than a propaganda ploy, but it was indicative of its growing ambitions.

ISIS, originally formed from the broken remnants of Al Qaeda in Iraq, split with Al Qaeda last year when that group’s leaders ordered it to leave Syria.

Since then, ISIS has battled with Qaedalinked jihadis in Syria, as well as with non-extremist rebel forces there, for control of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

The ISIS announcement also revealed Mr. Baghdadi’s alleged real name — Ibrahim Ibn Awwad Ibn Ibrahim Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Badri al-Hashimi al-Husayni al-Qurashi — and said he would be known as Caliph Ibrahim for short.

A caliphate is a Muslim empire that in theory encompasses all Muslims worldwide, and is a term used to describe empires like that of the Ottomans in Turkey in the 15th to 20th centuries, as well as those that did rule much of the civilized world in the early days of Islam.

In present-day Baghdad, the Iraqi Air Force commander, General Ameen, said that Russian military experts had arrived to help set up the new SU-25 warplanes, but that they would stay only a short time. The last five Russian aircraft would arrive by Monday, he said.

Last week, President Obama ordered 300 American military advisers into the country, and the Iranians have reportedly sent advisers from their Republican Guards’ Quds Force.

At least three United States Special Forces teams are said to have been deployed north of Baghdad in recent days, tasked with carrying out a survey of Iraqi forces to determine their condition and needs.

American officials, citing intelligence reports, have said that Iran has been

AFP

Su-25

sending surveillance drones over Iraq as well as supplying the government with military equipment and support.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said the Iraqis, in an arrangement with the Russian Ministry of Defense, had ordered a dozen SU-25s, a ground-attack fighter jet useful for close air support operations.

“They are coming very fast,” General Ameen said in a telephone interview, “because we need them in this conflict against the terrorists as soon as possible.”

He said the Russians would leave within around three days after the aircraft were ready for service.

Soldiers unloading an SU-25, a groundattack fighter jet, in Baghdad on Sunday.

Credit Reuters The Iraqi military used SU-25 jets extensively during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, but they have not been used in Iraq since 2002 or earlier.

Still, General Ameen said they would soon see action again. “We have pilots who have long experience in this plane and of course we have the help of the Russian friends and the experts who came with these aircraft to prepare them,” he said. “This will produce a very strong punishment against the terrorists in the coming days.”

Sunni jihadi fighters were reported on Sunday to have stalled a government offensive to retake the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. Insurgents had apparently regained control of key government buildings in the center of Tikrit, according to witnesses who reported seeing the black flag of ISIS flying over many important buildings.

The day before, Iraqi flags had been hoisted on many of them, as Iraqi troops carried out a ground assault after a threeday operation intended to take the city and roll back the insurgents’ advance toward Baghdad.

Iraqi forces carried out repeated airstrikes, mostly using helicopters, on insurgent targets throughout the city on Sunday for the fourth day in a row, witnesses said.

The Iraqi Army remained in control of roads leading into Tikrit — Saddam Hussein’s birthplace and a longtime stronghold of Sunni hard-liners, about 100 miles north of Baghdad — as well as the campus of Salahuddin University in Tikrit and a military base, Camp Speicher, on the outskirts of the city.

The military’s advance, supported by tanks and helicopter gunships, was hampered by a large number of bombs planted along the roads, a common tactic of the insurgents.

According to a security official in Tikrit, speaking on the condition of anonymity as a matter of government policy, ISIS fighters had kidnapped six relatives of Maj. Gen. Jumaa al-Jabouri, deputy commander of Iraqi military operations in Salahuddin Province, holding them hostage and destroying their homes in the eastern part of the city.

What appeared to be a jumbo Russian transport aircraft, from which the SU-25 warplanes were unloaded, was shown Saturday night on Iraqiya, the state television network, at what was believed to be an air base in Taji, a short distance north of Baghdad.

The new aircraft “will increase and support the strength and capability of the Iraqi air forces to eliminate terrorism,” a statement issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said.

The Iraqis have sought to buy American F-16s and Apache helicopter gunships.

The sale of the Apaches had been delayed by concerns in Congress, which feared Mr. Maliki would use them to suppress his political opponents, but the United States has now agreed to provide them.

The first two F-16s are expected to be delivered in September or October, and the first six Apaches will arrive this fall as part of a lease. But it will take months to train the Apache pilots.

The Iraqi Air Force currently has only two propeller-driven Cessna aircraft equipped to fire guided Hellfire missiles, which the Iraqis ran out of last week. Over the past three days, 75 new Hellfires were delivered to Iraq by the American government.

The air force also had about 180 helicopters, many of them gunships, but six of those were destroyed in the insurgents’ attack on Mosul, and an additional 60 were damaged.

There have also been unconfirmed reports that Iran was prepared to return some of the Iraqi warplanes that Saddam Hussein flew to Iran in 1991 to escape American destruction. Those included 24 French F-1 Mirage fighters and 80 Russian jets.

Duraid Adnan contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Tikrit.

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INDIA AND EUROPE: DARK

INDIA AND EUROPE

Though Europe continues to remain stuck in an economic and political crisis, the

PINAKI BHATTACHARYA

KEY POINTS

Almost mystical styles of doing

business by European nations like France and Italy appeals to the oriental countries like India.

New Delhi’s nation-specific policies of defence relations bear fruits in moments of mutual needs.

The loyalties of nations like France to a devoted trade partner help deepen relations.

E

urope is in doldrums. Possibly, that is the reason the continent is not on the immediate tour itinerary of the country’s newly anointed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If you look at the appointments that Modi has around the world for the next few months, there is the marquee visit to the USA, the multi-lateral foray for the BRICS summit, and the rest are all in Asia, East and South East.

The multi-factor crisis in Europe: uppermost being the economic crises in many of the nations of the European

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Union; its debilitating effect on the Euro; resultant political turmoil, was followed by the Ukraine crisis. This must have contributed to Modi’s disinclination for visiting the countries of the region this year itself.

But New Delhi has deep and ongoing defence-technical relationships with of course, Britain, and then France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Each of these relationships have their own flavour that is distinctive in their content and style. Let’s look at them individually:

CLOUDS, SILVER LININGS JUNE 2014

DSI

huge funding for Indian military modernisation can actually be its deliverance

Airbus's A330-MRTT tanker has won customers in Europe, the Middle East and also Australia © EADS

Indo-British

Legacy has always been a big-ticket item guiding the relationship between India and the British Isles. From the early days of independent India’s own armed forces, the arsenal have been of then recently concluded WW II war materiel that the British left behind. That included from bolt action rifles to fighter aircrafts.

Almost till the 1960s, Anglo-American sources provided weapons and other equipments that India desperately neede d for defending its territories on the

western, northern, and eastern borders.

But as Pakistan became close to the US-led world order by joining the SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organisation) and CENTO (Central Treaty Organisation), while New Delhi went the way of the Non Aligned Movement as a leader of fast decolonising nations of the world, the help with arms supplies from Britain came to negligible levels.

Still, while in 1957, when India wanted a aircraft carrier, Britain sold one of the Majestic class carriers HMS Hercules that

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became New Delhi’s first aircraft carrier, named INS Vikrant. It was decommissioned in 1997.

The defence-industrial part of the relationship began looking up again in the late 1970s, when India wanted Jaguar fighter aircrafts and another carrier. The carrier the British sold to India was HMS Hermes, commissioned in 1957, was transferred to the Indian Navy in 1987, and named INS Viraat, which is still operational.

Jaguar was a product of an UK-French

INDIA AND EUROPE Italian company Fincantieri build INS Shakti (L) pulls alongside USS Boxer LLHD 4 during the ninth Indo-US joint excercise in The Arabian Sea off the coast of Goa.

joint venture. The IAF wanted a low interdiction, close air support aircraft. So about 140 was contracted for buying in 1979 when Janata Party government was in power after ousting Indira Gandhi-led Congress Party post-internal Emergency.

There was a slowdown in arms procurement in the 1990s, when again the Congress Party was in power, with Narasimha Rao as prime minister. Things hotted up again towards the end of the

millennium, when the BJP-ruled NDA was in power. They signed a contract with Britain-based BAE Systems, an AngloAmerican conglomerate in March, 2004.

But most of the deals they negotiated really fructified when the Congress Party returned to power with Dr Manmohan Singh at the helm.

Advanced Jet Trainers were much required for the IAF. They had been in negotiations for more than two decades.

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Eventually, the NDA government had selected the Hawk Jet Trainer of BAE. They were inducted into the IAF in February, 2008. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is producing them under licence.

Indo-French

Independent India’s tryst with France in the defence-technical front began when the country procured 104 Mystere IVA aircrafts in 1957. The Mysteres did a great

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Swedish Gripen NG aircraft

”

job for India in its war against Pakistan in 1965. The aircrafts were from Dassault.

They flew till 1973, when they were completely phased out. They had also served in the 1971 Bangladesh War. When Rajiv Gandhi’s India wanted to procure a 155 mm howitzer gun, in the mid-1980s, the French had responded to the tender. Sofma, the French manufacturer of the gun, was turning out to be the best amongst the six in the fray.

AFP

New Delhi has deep and ongoing defence-technical relationships with of course, Britain, and then France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Each of these relationships have their own flavour that is distinctive in their content and style.

The Indian Army wanted a gun that could fire at a distance of 30 kms. The Sofma gun was reaching a range of 29.2 kilometres.

The army generals including General K Sundarji showed their preference.

But then it lost out to Bofors in the eventual contest. Of course, it also raised the mother of a corruption scandal in the country that felled Gandhi and his Congress Party when he contested for reelection in 1989.

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Thus one can say the French had a setback in the process. They more than made up when the choice of the Indian Navy came up for conventional submarines (SSK). Navy chose the French giant DCNS, an arms manufacturing conglomerate that would build six Scorpene sub marines.

This deal too was negotiated by the NDA government, but came to be fruition during the first UPA government. And charges flew thick and fast that a prominent politician’s son had brokered the deal by bribery. Considering the fact that none of the six submersibles have seen the light of day yet, some of the allegations can well be correct.

But the cleanest deal – at the level of officials - the new NDA government is about to sign is the deal for 126 medium, multirole combat aircrafts. The UPA II has already done most of the spadework and the contract is in the last stages of being negotiated.

The reason it can be called clean still is the arduous process of filing a response to the request for proposal (RFP) that was detailed enough to the bare bones, and the need for providing the cost estimate in terms of the aircrafts’ life cycles.

Considering the size of the multi-billion dollar deal, there hasn’t been a single squeak of protestation from any of the six contenders.

So, the French corporation, Dassault, won the contest with its Rafale fighter aircraft, in a straight contest with the Eurofighter, after the two were downselected, leaving the four others behind.

And if the NDA government concludes the deal in the next few months, it would cost the country more than $ 20 billion – but will provide great succour to the much depleted IAF. India’s French connection will thus be strengthened further, and according to the deal-specific offsets clause that will necessitate Dassault to invest 50 per cent of the total earnings from the contract in the country. In the process, the domestic defence-industrial sector will also receive a major fillip.

Indo-German

The Germans who were lead partners in the European consortium, Eurofighter, tried hard to win the MMRCA contract.

They failed on life cycle cost (LCC). In fact, the Germans have had a bad

INDIA AND EUROPE

Italian AW101 helicopter

run of incidents in their Indian defence engagement.

They first concluded a major deal with the Rajiv Gandhi government for six HDW submarines. They delivered two directly built in Germany; two others were built at MDL. Before the rest two were to built, an uproar began about corruption in the deal and an investigation was launched in 1991. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) eventually cleared their name but only after the two follow-on submarines were scrapped.

Unfortunately for the navy, even the production line for potentially building more HDWs were closed, thus denying the country valuable technical knowledge about building SSKs; the impact of such a gap being felt now.

However, now that the service is planning to order six more follow-on submarines after the Scorpenes, HDW could possibly bid for the contract.

In the aerospace arena, the Germans had also sold to the IAF, the Dornier aircrafts, that is now maintained by the transport command of the service.

During the recent modernisation bonanza of the Indian armed forces, the Germans have been really left out from any share of the pie.

Though the Indian military forces do not use any of the German small arms, the National Security Guard (NSG) uses

EADS-CASA C-295 aircraft

There are some others, like Sweden in the north, who would like to get a foothold onto the Indian market. Saab competed in the MMRCA contest with its Gripen NG fighter aircraft but failed to make the cut.

Important sections of the Indian government decision-makers recognise the fact that suppliers like France have stuck with India in good times and bad

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Heckler and Koch sub-machine guns, in large enough numbers. But then that is more in the nature of small mercies.

Indo-Italy

The Italian behemoth Finmeccanica is in a spot of bother at the moment, with its British joint venture, Agusta-Westland. The latter was contracted by India to supply 12 AW101 VIP choppers for ferrying senior political leaders of the government. But an Italian investigation of the company revealed pay-offs to some middlemen in India for the contract. The CBI is investigating at the Indian end. But for some reason the previous defence minister, AK Antony had not blacklisted either AgustaWestland or Finmeccanica for the alleged ‘crime’ that has been committed.

Even otherwise, another Finmeccanica owned subsidiary, Selex Sistema, had been embroiled in litigation with Tata SED of the Indian multi-national conglomerate, Tata group. Selex and Tata SED had bid for the Modernisation of Airfields Infrastructure (MAFI) project. Selex claimed that the Tata group was favoured by the IAF, thus losing the project. Last heard, Selex is working as a sub contracted entity with Tata SED on the project.

The Italians also have sold small arms, not to the Indian military, but to

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French Rafale aircraft expected to begin arriving by 2015-16 (c) AJB

paramilitaries like the Border Security Force (BSF). The BSF have bought in bulk – more than 30,000 pieces – Beretta automatic pistols.

Fincantieri, the other Italian giant shipbuilder, have constructed two of Indian navy’s two fleet tankers, INS Deepak and INS Shakti. Both were delivered in 2010.

Overall, one can safely say that despite the hiccup about Agusta-Westland, the Indo-Italian defence-technical relations are on a firm base that can continue to flourish.

Indo-Spain

While Spain had been a late entrant into the game of Indian defence sweepstakes, they had been present in the market with a few auxiliary products like communication items and radars. The Spaniard radar and communications makers have projected that in the next few years, almost 90 per cent of Indian skies will have radar coverage A memorandum of understanding was signed between the countries at the ministerial level, as late as in October, 2012.

Spanish firm Navantia is planning to offer its S-80 diesel electric submarine for the Indian Navy's Project 75-(I)ndia, under which it plans to get six large conventional submarines at an estimated cost of more than Rs. 50,000 crores.

The Spanish company CASA was

involved in the European consortium EADS, the builder of Eurofighter Typhoon, which had emerged as L-2 in the tendering process for MMRCA, as mentioned above.

The arms trade between the two countries is not small beer. While the figures may not eye catchingly big, but still between 2002-11, Spain sold about Euro 37 million worth of equipments and arms to New Delhi.

On offer is more. Navantia, for example, has pitched for building Landing Platform Docks, and is willing to partner Larsen and Toubro. CASA, the Spanish military aviation major, was also involved in the Airbus 330 Medium Range Tanker Transporter (MRTT) that was chosen by the IAF during the days of the UPA II regime. Union finance ministry had then refused to clear the deal for the high cost of the MRTTs. In fresh tendering again it had come up as the favourite. But the contract could not be concluded in time for Antony signing on the dotted lines.

But as the IAF was planning the phasing out of the Avro, CASA was pitching their C295 model for the segment. These are all ongoing processes that signify the dynamic profile of the Indo-Italian defence relations.

Epilogue

Over the decades, beginning with the British, independent India has maintained thriving relationships with almost all the west and

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central European powers, who could fulfill its ever burgeoning, armed forces needs.

There are some others, like Sweden in the north, who would like to get a foothold onto the Indian market. Saab competed in the MMRCA contest with its Gripen NG fighter aircraft but failed to make the cut. Still, the widely diversified corporation are ready with other wares that are ready for sale.

Important sections of the Indian government decision-makers recognise the fact that suppliers like France have stuck with India in good times and bad, and have not refused replenishments in moments of need.

France did not even join the AngloAmerican and Japan-Australia sanctions that stopped crucial supplies to the country from these sources. On the contrary, when a Canada have shown temper in terms of providing fuel rods for nuclear power stations like Tarapur, Paris have made sure that they could fill in the breach.

These kinds of measures go a long way in creating a solid basis to a bilateral relationships, where the gives are as defined as the takes. A relation based on real-politik is far more enduring than a relation dependent upon vicissitudes of political developments, all of which can almost never be controlled under even the best of interests.

RUSSIA NEGOTIATING Mi-35 DELIVERY WITH PAKISTAN R

ALTHOUGH THE DECISION WILL IRK INDIA, IT IS MOST LIKELY RELATED TO THE DRAWDOWN OF NATO FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN

ussia has decided to lift a longstanding, self-imposed arms embargo against Pakistan, according to state media.

On Monday the Moscow Times reported that Sergei Chemezov, head of state-owned technology corporation Rostec, said that Russia had decided to lift an arms embargo against Pakistan.

Chemezov added that Russia is negotiating the sale of Mi-35 attack helicopters to Pakistan.

“The decision was taken and we are negotiating the delivery of helicopters,” he said, Voice of Russia reported.

Pavel Felgenhauer, whom AFP said is

a leading Russian defense commentator, characterized the move as a “sea change” in Russian policy, and one that risked antagonizing India.

“This is an important, key change in Russian policy in the region,” Felgenhauer told AFP. He added: “The sale of arms to Pakistan will abruptly worsen our relations with India, the main buyer of our arms… This risks dismantling our cooperation with India.”

However, Boris Volkhonsky, head of the Asian sector of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, dismissed such views in comments to Russian state media on Monday. “I do not think

that India will have any objections. After all, India and Pakistan both buy weapons from the U.S., and this has not bothered them,” Volkhonsky told Russian media.

For its part, Pakistan is denying that an arms embargo ever existed at all.

India, the world’s largest arms importer in recent years, has long been the top purchaser of Russian weaponry.

The AFP report suggested that Russia’s decision to lift the arms embargo against Pakistan may have been motivated by India increasingly purchasing arms from Western nations like the U.S., France and Israel. There have been other signs

could theoretically now compete with Chinese defense companies in Islamabad.

Russia’s decision to remove its arms embargo against Pakistan, and enter into negotiations to sell Mi-35 attack helicopters, could also be part of the burgeoning rivalry between Russia and the United States. Washington has also historically been a large supplier of arms to Pakistan and the Mi-35s would most

Mi-35M

of strain in the Indo-Russian defense relationship in recent years.

The move could also be seen as being consistent with the general strengthening of ties between Russia and China in recent years. China and Pakistan have long cooperated together against India and selling arms to Pakistan could be Moscow’s attempt to create greater balance in its policy toward that triangular rivalry. In fact, over the last couple of years there have been numerous signs that Russia has been trying to increase ties with Pakistan. At the same time, Pakistan is by far the largest importer of Chinese arms. Indeed, by some estimates, 54 percent of Pakistan’s arms imports between 2009 and 2013 came from China. In that sense, Russian arms

Islamabad attractive financing options as a means of generating a greater foothold in the market.

The most logical reason for Russia’s decision to end its arms embargo, however, has to do with the coming NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Pakistan uses its current AH-1 Cobras primarily to aid in its fight against radical Islamic militants along its border with Afghanistan. Russia has an obvious

Mi-35M

likely serve as a replacement for the U.S. made AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters that Islamabad has relied upon for years, primarily to aid in its counterinsurgency fight against militant Islamists located along its border with Afghanistan (the Afghan Air Force already uses Mi-35s).

Pakistan’s fleet of AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters has suffered from a plethora of problems and Islamabad has desperately needed to replace them for some time. One possible replacement that has been floated is the U.S. AH-1Z helicopters; however, the U.S. Marines are given priority over foreign customers for these helicopters. The fact that Russia is prioritizing the sale of the Mi-35s to Pakistan therefore signals that it might be prepared to offer

interest in this fight given the threat it also faces from radical Islamists both at home and in former Soviet satellite states in Central Asia. In fact, Afghan’s Air Force consists mostly of M-17 and Mi-35 helicopters.

Upgrading Pakistan’s fleet of attack helicopters is probably Russia’s contribution to Islamabad’s efforts to contain radical Islamist militants in the region. This will be Russia’s selling point to India, which also has an interest in seeing Pakistan tackle its militancy problem. So long as the RussianPakistani defense relationship is limited to arms that primarily assist Pakistan’s counterinsurgency efforts, it is likely to be tolerated by India.

—Courtesy: The Diplomat

DEFENCE BUZZ

JUNE 2014

DSI

DEFENCE BUZZ An Update on Defence News

Maiden PDV mission

the help of data received from Radars predicted the Trajectory of the incoming Ballistic Missile. PDV that was kept fully ready, took-off once the Computer system gave the necessary command for lift-off.

The Interceptor guided by high accuracy Inertial Navigation System (INS) supported by a Redundant Micro Navigation System moved towards the estimated point of the interception. Once Missile crossed atmosphere, the Heat Shield ejected and the IR Seeker dome opened to look at theTarget location as designated by the Mission Computer. With the help of Inertial Guidance and IR Seeker the Missile moved for interception.

All events were monitored in real-time by the Telemetry/Range Stations, at various other locations.The mission was completed and the interception parameters were achieved.

In a significant milestone achieved in the direction of developing a two layered Ballistic Missile Defence system, DRDO successfully carried out the maiden PDV mission meeting the mission objectives. PDV mission is for engaging the targets in the exo-atmosphere region at about more than 120km altitude.

Both, the PDV interceptor and the two stage target equipped with motors were specially developed for the PDV mission.The target was developed for mimicking a “hostile Ballistic Missile approaching from more than 2000 km away” was launched at 0907 hrs from a Ship in the Bay of Bengal.

In an automated operation, radar based detection and tracking system detected and tracked the enemy’s ballistic missile.

The computer network with

Training Command Annual Commanders’ Conference Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chief of the Air Staff inaugurated 2 days Annual Commanders’ Conference of Training Command on 15 May 2014. All commanders of Flying, Technical and NonTechnical Training Establishments of Air Force Stations under HQ Training Command attended the conference.

In his inaugural address, the CAS acknowledged the hard work and professionalism

of all air warriors ofTraining Command for their unflinching effort of conditioning every trainee to become fineAir Warriors. He emphasized the importance of inculcating moral values, qualities of Leadership,

mental and physical prowess and an indomitable spirit to win against all odds. He also urged allAirWarriors to be fully involved in the process of IAF’s modernisation towards full spectrum strategic force.

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New Chief of Army Staff

Indian Government have decided to appoint Lt General Dalbir Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM,VSM, presentlyVice Chief of the Army Staff as the next Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) after retirement of the present Chief of the Army Staff, General Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC on July 31, 2014.

Lt General Dalbir Singh was commissioned in the Army on June 16, 1974. During a career spanning nearly 40 years, he has held various Command and Staff appointments. He has done National Defence College, Long Defence Management Course and Senior Command Courses.

Lt General Dalbir Singh is presently serving asVice Chief of the Army Staff since January 01, 2014. Earlier he commanded Eastern Army Command.

The General officer is decorated with PVSM, UYSM, AVSM andVSM awards.

DEFENCE BUZZ

JUNE 2014

The bi-annual maritime coastal security exercise introduced post 26/11 was conducted on 21-22 May 2014 across the State of Gujarat and UnionTerritory of Daman & Diu coastline.The maritime security exercise was conducted to ascertain the preparedness and synergy between coastal security stakeholders.The exercise along the 1600 km Gujarat coastline was coordinated by the Coast Guard Regional Headquarters (NW), Gandhinagar.

The exercise instituted for validating the coastal security Standard Operating Procedures by all stake holders for protection of Vulnerable Areas and points including effective usage of coastal security telephone

helpline number ‘1093’.The two day long exercise utilised ships and aircrafts of the Coast Guard and Navy, UAVs of Navy,Air Force and Gujarat Police, personnel from Police Commandos and patrol boats of BSF, Marine Police and Customs. In addition the Port Security Boats and Harbour Tugs were also deployed for the exercise.

The exercise achieved synergy in operations in all spheres of coastal security against threats, ranging from unauthorized access of vessels through sea using commandeered fishing boats, capture of high value targets, infiltration through creeks, attacks on offshore installations/ SPMs, Port Security, hostage crisis, blockades along coastal highways and threat to industries along the coast.

Next-Generation 737 commercial airplane, the P-8I is the Indian Navy variant of the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing has developed for the U.S. Navy.

“The Indian Navy is putting the first three P-8Is through their paces operationally, and

the P-8I delivered today will begin flight trials in the coming months,” said Leland Wight, Boeing P-8I program manager.

The P-8I incorporates not only India-unique design features, but also India-built subsystems that are tailored to the country’s maritime patrol requirements. In order to efficiently design and build the P-8I and the P-8A, the Boeing-led team is using a first-in-industry, in-line production process that draws on the company’s Next-Generation 737 production system.

Exercise Sagar Kavach BSF Investiture Ceremony Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung decorated 10 BSF Men with police medals for gallantry and 21 BSF officers and men for meritorious service on the occasion of 12th BSF Investiture Ceremony on 22nd May 2014. Nehchal Sandhu, Dy NSA, Senior Officers from MHA, DsG and Senior Officers of other CAPFs, BSF Officers and men, Retired BSF DsG, IsG, family members of the martyrs and families of the force were present on the occasion.

Jung lauded the role of BSF in border management & anti naxal operations and also pay tribute to late Shri Rustamji

and other officers whose pioneering efforts were instrumental in the raising and growth of BSF. BSF DG D K Pathak stated that BSF is ready to face the challenges and is preparing itself in terms of doctrine, infrastructure, weaponry and training. He reiterated BSF’s commitment in bringing peace in the Maoist’s infested areas where it is deployed.The Director General also spoke about the ‘Soldierly traits and Visionary leadership Skills’ of first Director General Shri K F Rustamji, who was always popularly referred to as “Founding Father of BSF”

Boeing delivers 4th P-8I MPA India has received the delivered of the fourth P-8I maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing on schedule, fulfilling the first half of a contract for eight aircraft.

The aircraft departed from Boeing Field in Seattle and arrived May 21 at Naval Air Station Rajali, where it joined three P-8Is currently undergoing operational evaluation.

“This marks an important milestone — the halfway point

for P-8I deliveries to India,” said Dennis Swanson, BDS vice president in India. “The program’s success the past year is really a testament to the great work between Boeing, the Indian Navy and industry.”

Based on the company’s

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DEFENCE BUZZ

New Defence Minister Arun Jaitley took over as Defence Minister on 27 May 2014. Jaitley outlined the priority areas of the government, said “Security of

JUNE 2014

India is a matter of prime importance and predominantly the external security of India is the responsibility of this Ministry”. For this he stated that “preparedness and support to our Armed Forces

and speeding up all equipment required for their support are going to be the priority areas as far as our government is concerned”. He also remarked that over the last few years some of the areas in the

DSI

Ministry had slowed down and therefore, expediting them will be a matter of top priority.

Replying to a question of enhancing the FDI limit beyond the existing 26 percent, he said, this is an issue which will be dealt with by his two Ministries and added that it has already come up in his preliminary discussions in the Finance Ministry.

The Defence Minister took stock of various developments i by interacting with the Defence Secretary RK Mathur, Secretary (Defence Production) GC Pati, Secretary Ex-Servicemen Welfare Sangita Gairola and Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Avinash Chander.This was followed by the three Service Chiefs calling on the Defence Minister in his chamber.

Integrated Officer Trainees passing out parade In a memorable Passing Out Parade 125 Officers of the 85th Integrated OfficerTrainees Course, passed out of the portals of the FirstTraining Squadron, to the traditional tune. Rear Admiral MS Pawar, VSM, Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command was the Chief Guest on this occasion. He reviewed the impressive Parade and awarded trophies to the winners.

The training onboard the ships of the IstTraining Squadron commenced on 23 Dec 13 for a duration of 24 weeks. During this period the officers were given extensive

India & French joint exercise Garuda-V Indian & French Air Force commenced bilateral air exercise “Ex GarudaV” at Jodhpur Air Base on 2 June 2014. The joint exercise was aimed at enhancing Operational Co-operation and to validate capabilities.

During this fortnight long exercise both the Air Forces engaged in Operations based on their Operational Philosophy and methodology of operations practicing various challenging air situation scenarios.The Exercise will help both Air Forces in appreciating the intricacies of planning and

conduct of combat missions in an Operational Environment.

Frontline fighter aircraft of the IAF including the SU 30, Mig-27 (UPG), Mig 21 Bison and force multipliers such as the AWACS and Flight Refueller Aircraft IL 78 participated from the Indian Air Force while the French AF fielded their frontline Rafale Fighter aircraft along with their KC 135 Refueller.

The Fifth Indo-French bilateral Air Exercise “Garuda-V” is scheduled from 2-13 June at Air Force Station Jodhpur.The previous edition of the exercise was held at Istres, France during 2010.

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instructions and sea experience on General Navigation, Astro Navigation, Communications, Gunnery and Seamanship. The officers visited various ports on the East and West Coasts of India and also got an opportunity to sail overseas to Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar. As part of the course the officers underwent sail training onboard IN sail shipsTarangini and Sudarshini.The Chief of Staff during his address highlighted the importance of effective leadership andTeam work in facing the future challenges.

DEFENCE BUZZ

JUNE 2014

DSI

Passing out parade of 126th NDA course

Army Cadet College course-103

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha Chief ofAir Staff, IAF reviewed the passing out parade of 126th course at National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Pune. Three hundred and sixty cadets graduated from the National Defence Academy as they passed through the portals of prestigious Khetarpal Parade Ground.

The Chief Guest was received by Air Marshal Kulwant Singh Gill Commandant, National Defence Academy at the Parade Ground.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chief of Air Staff, IAF while addressing the Passing-out Course cadets, complimented the immaculate turnout, excellent drill movements and high standard of parade. In his address he said “The quality of the passing out parade speaks volumes of the fine training that is imparted by the Prestigious Institute”. He

also congratulated the award winners for their outstanding performance in the entire spectrum of training curriculum over the last 3 years at the Academy.

NDA is one of the finest tri-services institutes in the

world and is best in terms of infrastructure, size, capacity and quality of training. Rigorous training, inclusive of both physical and mental exercises has transformed the cadets into the excellent young warriors.

A total of 58 Cadets of the Army Cadet College (ACC) Wing graduated recently and were awarded degrees during the presentation ceremony at Indian Military Academy. Amongst the 58 Cadets, 29 of them were from Science Stream and 29 of them from Humanities Stream.These degrees were conferred on the Cadets by the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

The ceremony was presided over by Lt Gen Manvender Singh, AVSM,VSM, Commandant, Indian Military Academy.The Army Cadet College trains selected personnel from the Other Ranks of the three Services found suitable to be commissioned into the Indian Army. After three years of Academic training at the ACC, the graduated course will hereafter join the Indian Military Academy for one year pre-commission MilitaryTraining.

naval ties between the two countries.The overarching aim of this visit is to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two navies and the countries in general.

INS Sahyadri is on passage to participate in the largest multilateral exercises in the world “RIMPAC”.The exercises will be held at Hawaii in Jul – Aug 14. INS Sahyadri departed her home port,

Vishakhapatnam on 28 May 14 and will stay at Darwin till 13 Jun 14 and then proceed to Hawaii.

The multi role stealth frigate, boasts of an array of weaponry in her arsenal. Long range anti-ship missiles, medium and short range surface to air missile augmented by powerful guns of different calibres provide a formidable shield against all

types of threats.Two integral multi-role helicopters carried by the ship act as force multipliers in all maritime scenarios due to their versatility and endurance.

Commissioned on 21 Jul 12, INS Sahyadri, is presently being commanded by Captain Jyotin Raina, and is manned by 25 officers and 255 sailors of different specialisations/branches.

INS Sahyadri makes port call at Australia Covering a distance of almost 3500 nautical miles (6500 Km), Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri, an indigenously built guided missile stealth Frigate, arrived at Darwin, Australia.

This is the second visit of the ship to Australia, having participated earlier in the International Fleet Review conducted at Sydney in Oct 13.

During her stay at Darwin, the ship would undertake operational turn around while the ship’s crew would participate in various events like professional interaction, sports events and social fixtures.

INS Sahyadri’s port call at Darwin will serve to reinforce

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