Army networks for future of combat

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: On the power of the fibre optic cable, the Army is riding into a future that is going to be networked from the South B...

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: On the power of the fibre optic cable, the Army is riding into a future that is going to be networked from the South Block-level down, to that of an infantry company engaged in counter-insurgency operations.

As the Army integrates Information Technology (IT) into a war-fighting tool, the vision of a futuristic force dreamt a decade back by the former chief, Gen K Sundarji, is now being realised. And in the process the traditional Army vocabulary is being replaced by terms like ASTROIDS, CIDSS, ACCCS and ADC&R, even as a computer becomes a part of an academy cadet’s personal kit.

As an Army Intranet comes into place, Gen V P Malik’s traditional New Year’s message is for the first time going to be transmitted through a specific web site. By Army Day, 15 January, the Headquarters at South Block is to be connected with the six command headquarters through a Wide Area Network (WAN).

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“The Army HQs’ Local Area Network (LAN) has already reduced the movement of files between departments,whether they are in R K Puram or some other location,” said a senior service officer.

In the build up toward an IT friendly Army, there is to be an IT Awareness Campaign (ITAC) in 1999, also designated the Year of the Jawan. While 10,000 soldiers are to be made IT proficient in the first year, among the incentives being offered are the availability of a computer loan, in addition to a car loan.

“Earlier, the system was to opt for either a car or a computer loan. But now we have decided that both items are essential and hence the soldier must not be denied the opportunity, on account of finances,” said the senior officer.

For the first time, there is also going to be an IT head in the Army budget during the next fiscal year. And from the new millennium, a cadet entering his bunk in the Indian Military Academy is going to find a computer issued on his name, along with the camouflage fatigues. “He will march out of the academy carrying a personal computer, as well as his new rank,” said an officer atArmy HQs.

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The real changes, however, are on the battlefield, “and which we have to make transparent, through the enhanced use of IT,” said a formation commander involved in the process.

Even as satellite imagery, remotely piloted vehicles and aircraft provide the various levels of surveillance, it is the use of IT systems that is going to make the war zone transparent for the soldier. “This is to enable a gunner or a rocket forces chap use his ammunition in the most precise manner possible, and for that we are integrating his terminal so that he is able to acquire, collect and disseminate information, thus enhancing battlefield transparency,” said the formation commander.

“Our effort is to create a seamless link from the bottom to the top,” said a senior Army HQs officer. At the core of this enterprise is the Army Strategic Operational Information Dissemination System (ASTROIDS) which will connect Army HQs with the various theatre commands and downwards to the operational corps. A C4I2 (Command,Control, Communication, Computers, Information and Intelligence) system, ASTROIDS is to be the operational system between the National and Army authorities.

Functioning below ASTROIDS is the Tactical, Command, Control, Communication and Information (Tac C3I) system. Designed as the primary functioning system for the field formations, Tac C3I, in turn, has other components under design. The fulcrum of which is going to be the Command Information Decision Support System (CIDSS).