The Corps of Signals has been doing a commendable job in providing reliable, robust and secure communications to the Indian Army. Lt General S.P. Kochhar, Signal Officer-in-Chief, in an interview with SP’s Land Forces, said that his emphasis would be on convergence of networks and towards harnessing the power of wireless technologies in provisioning of mobile communications in the tactical battle area.

SP’s Land Forces (SP’s): What is the envisaged role of the Corps of Signals in the transformation of the Indian Army, which is at present under way?

Signal Officer-in-Chief (SO-in-C): The Indian Army has embarked on the challenging and multidimensional task of transformation based on the Chief of Army Staff’s vision— “Honing the Army into a well-motivated, operationally-prepared, well-equipped force capable of meeting the security challenges faced by the nation. Initiate the transformation process to function in a networked joint services environment to leverage technology and the human resource capital in consonance with the rich values and traditions of the Indian Army”. The Corps of Signals are a vital component and in fact are the key enablers of this transformation process being brought about by leveraging the power of information communication technology electronics and cyber (ICTEC). The Corps is in the process of establishing a robust and secure ‘info-structure’ which will enable the transformation of the Indian Army into a potent and fully-networked force.

SP’s: Could you define the role and charter of duties of the Corps of Signals?

SO-in-C: The Corps of Signals is a vital component of the Indian Army responsible for providing telecommunication and information assurance in all its forms and manifestations to the Indian Army. Today, donning the mantle of “information warriors”, the Corps has grown from strength to strength and is now in the process of rolling out mammoth info-structures. The Corps is also being charged with the responsibility of providing communications to the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy in a substantive manner. The Corps, as I mentioned before, is also the key enabler of the transformation process of the Indian Army.

SP’s: Are the strategic and tactical level communications in the Army keeping pace with the fast changing field of communication technologies in the 21st century?

SO-in-C: The Corps has always strived to enhance the technology threshold of its communication networks; both strategic and tactical. Proactive measures are being undertaken to leverage both existing technologies as well as factoring in emerging and niche technologies so as to facilitate seamless transition in the times to come. The training offered by our premier institutions have factored this into their curriculum to provide a holistic training framework towards building the necessary skill sets for combatants to administer and maintain our networks. The Corps has assimilated all types of technology from mobile cellular, satellite, microwave and fibre optic communication and are today on the verge of ushering in a next generation network-based futuristic technology. As technology has been evolving at a superlative pace so has the ability of the Corps to garner new technology and exploit these effectively for operations

SP’s: Will the Indian Army’s communications allow it the flexibility required for future operational settings with a vastly increased spectrum of war, fighting hybrid wars and conducting joint operations?

SO-in-C: Future wars will be dominated by the side which is best able to harness the power of ICTEC. Hence the challenge is to ensure information superiority over our adversaries. Towards this end, the Corps of Signals has leveraged the opportunity offered by the rapid advancement of technology in the ICTEC domain to create an extremely resilient, versatile and robust ICTEC info-structure. I am confident that our existing and planned networks will empower and provide the necessary flexibility to the Army in order to perform in the entire spectrum of conflict.

SP’s: What are the new technologies in the field of communications which should be considered for adoption by the Indian Army in the future?

SO-in-C: Relatively new and proven technologies like wireless interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), long-term evolution (LTE), software defined radio (SDR), mobile cellular (3G and 4G), cloud computing, dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), satellite on the move (SOTM), meshed combat net radio (CNR), etc are showing great promise for exploitation in the Army’s context. The future battlefield will witness proliferation of large number of networks based on a plethora of technologies. The challenge will not be in only assimilating new technologies but will also be in convergence of these networks based on multiple technologies. Further, harnessing wireless technologies for provisioning mobile communications for our combat elements will be a key focus area. The cyber domain would also attain great importance and therefore cyber security would be one of our key concerns.

SP’s: Can the term ‘info dominance’ be applied to operations of the Indian Army in the future vis a vis our likely adversaries?

SO-in-C: Info dominance is an important facet in today’s warfare and the same has been proven beyond doubt in recent conflicts. The capability is required to achieve a decisive edge over the adversary, thereby compressing the observe orient decide and act (OODA) loop while maintaining a full spectrum engagement capability. Suitable initiatives are being undertaken by the Indian Army in this regard.

SP’s: What are the latest developments in radio communications at the unit and formation levels? What technologies are we inducting in this regard?

SO-in-C: Technology in the field of radio communications is constantly evolving and rapidly changing. We are taking a keen look at the emerging technologies and the concepts for meeting the communication needs at the forward edge of the battlefield. A number of promising technologies such as software defined radio (SDR) and cognitive radio (CR) are being closely analysed for their effective military usage.

SP’s: With China and Pakistan being so active in the field of cyber warfare, what steps are being taken to ensure cyber security in the Army’s communication networks?

SO-in-C: In the cyber domain, threats are continuously evolving and the race between security system designers and those who want to exploit weaknesses is ever prevalent. The only viable option is to plug the weaknesses by being proactive. Organisations with this mandate are in place and are addressing this issue.

SP’s: How are we planning to employ the legacy systems in the context of modern technology? What changes would this involve?

SO-in-C: At any given time, a large Army like ours will have a certain percentage of equipment which is of legacy and vintage technology. Further, with the rapidly changing technological landscape, equipment will become legacy at a much faster rate. Therefore, while we plan for the future projects, we ensure continuity of the operational life and coexistence of legacy systems with modern systems by ensuring adherence to standards and protocols ensuring backward compatibility.

SP’s: Is the private industry geared up to provide modern hardware and software technology to support the futuristic communication requirements?

SO-in-C: The private industry in India has geared up towards providing modern hardware and software technology to support the futuristic communication requirements of the Indian Army. In fact a large number of communication projects are being undertaken by the private sector. The public-private partnership between the defence forces and the industry is of tremendous importance and most projects and initiatives in future shall gravitate towards this.

SP’s: What was the theme of Defcom 2011 and what do you feel has been achieved in the seminar this year?

SO-in-C: The theme for Defcom 2011 was “Enabling Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for Information Age Warfare”. The seminar-cum-exhibition was attended by a large number of dignitaries from the services, industry and academia. The seminar was conducted over two days with five scheduled sessions. The sessions were chaired and co-chaired by eminent personalities from the defence and industry, notable being the first session on “Foreseeable Demands on ICT Infrastructure for the Armed Forces” chaired by the Minister of Defence for State M.M. Pallam Raju. Lt General K. surendranath, GOC-in-C, artraC, Lt General ramesh halgali, dG Military training, Lt General (retd) p.p.s. Bhandari and Lt General (retd) aditya singh chaired the subsequent sessions. Various notable speakers delivered highly educative and seminal talks on various contemporary issues related to the ICt domain. defcom 2011 was a landmark event and provided an excellent forum to the industry, academia and the three services to share views on important and contemporary issues related to defence communications.