Lt General S.P. Kochhar, Signal Officer-in-Chief, in an interview with SP’s Land Forces, said that his emphasis would be on harnessing the power of wireless technologies in provisioning of mobile communications in the tactical battle area

SP’s Land Forces (SP’s): Will the Indian Army’s communications allow it the flexibility required for future operational settings with a vastly increased spectrum of war?

Signal Officer-in-Chief (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 infostructure. 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 adopted 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?

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 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?

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 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 modern technology?

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 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.