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..:: India Strategic ::.. Indian Navy: India Navy: A C4ISR Nuclear Force
PREAMBLE
Indias meager investments in space and nuclear programmes soon after the Independence in 1947 were initiated by the pioneering Cambridge educated scientists, Dr Homi Bhaba and Dr Vikram Sarabhai under Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was himself educated in the UK at Harrow and Cambridge.
India s space and nuclear programmes were civilian led, but had the potential for military objectives,which were never articulated. Homi Bhabha had great friendship with the likes of Niels Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli, and Enrico Fermi and is credited to be the father of Indias nuclear programme. The charge of Ministries of Space and Nuclear Energy were always held by the Prime Ministers and generously funded from the powerful PMs Office (PMO). A unique method of funding, working and auditing, was employed where no one entity was aware of the whole picture.
This allowed Indian scientists the liberty to pursue variegated programmes without interference. Although Indian leaders have consistently believed in a non-nuclear weapon world, it was Mrs Indira Gandhi who gave the go-ahead for developing nuclear weapons as a response to the Chinese bomb, and Chinas assistance to Pakistan in developing nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, she made sure to designate Indias nuclear test in May 1974 as a peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE).
As a senior scientist put the system in perspective, While all Government organizations in India have worked in a bureaucratic top down system from New Delhi, Indias Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), headquartered at Bangalore and Bombay respectively, remained away from the capital, and worked on a freewheeling bottom up approach. This is why we produced the nuclear bomb in secrecy, and Indias space, nuclear power and nuclear medical programmes, can now hold their own with leading nations of the world. India is now forging ahead in both spheres, thanks also, to the recent US-India nuclear deal sponsored by President Bush which allows India to reprocess USAs spent fuel, and the NSG clearances and lifting of sanctions.
Today civil space applications are benefiting India, in spatial Geographic Information Systems-GIS, as GIS integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. The cycle allows decision makers and Indian military commanders to pictorially view, plan, interpret, and visualize data in ways that reveal intelligence like never before.
GIS technology is being integrated into the Indian military framework, and a land-based secure digital and fiber optic and space-based Defence Communication Network (DCN) is being set up, for the Armed Forces and Indias national security needs. Indias Telecom ministry has also accepted the armed forces demand that one slot of pan-India wireless broadband airwaves be reserved for it, and private mobile operator Reliance has offered WIMAX service when operational, which will assist the military to connect to the last mile in the mountains and forests.
Advances in space are also noteworthy.
INDIAN SPACE APPLICATIONS FOR MILITARY AND NAVAL USES
ISRO was pioneered under a dynamic head Dr Vikram Sarabhai who passed away young, but was followed later by Caltech educated Dr Satish Dhawan in 1972 who served in ISRO and made sure that Indias space programmes were never overtly associated in any way with Indias military.
This was a master stroke. Dhawans contacts in USA and abroad came in handy for imports, and his dedication to space made him even decline an invitation by Mrs Gandhi to become the Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and move to New Delhi from Bangalore.
The autonomous civilian working method allowed ISRO to receive foreign aid and experimental rockets for launches from abroad, and its scientists were freely invited to conferences and training programmes. ISRO was able to import components except during periods of sanction when France and Russia made exceptions, and ISRO made rapid strides in the space segment for Indias civil applications, and was able to partner with foreign space agencies and launch satellites. ISRO has also launched a satellite in space and recovered a module back, and landed a probe on the moon called Chandrayaan-1. ISRO has plans to place two astronauts to circle the earth in space by 2013.
Indias advances since 1980 in space technology with satellites manufactured and launched by ISRO has made it the 8th nation in the world to demonstrate it could send satellites in to orbit for remote sensing in low earth orbit (LEO), and high earth orbit for geo stationary (HEO) communication satellites in the INSAT/GSAT series.
India has become fairly self sufficient, and now possesses capabilities for its Armed Forces to move ahead into the world of GIS, space reconnaissance and digital communications technology for net centricity, a place previously occupied only by the developed nations.
There are 10 active Indian remote sensing satellites in operation - IRS- 1C, IRS-1D, IRS-P3, Oceansat-1/2, Resourcesat-1, CARTOSAT 1/2 and the Technology Experiment Satellite (TES). Another 680 kg Cartosat 2B costing $ 40 mill was successfully launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C-15) on 12th July 2010. They are all placed in 650 to 820km polar sun-synchronous orbits, carrying multiple cameras, which include Panchromatic Camera (PAN), Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-III) and Wide Field Sensor (WiFS).
The satellites are intended for advanced mapping and intelligence applications. Cartosat-2B has a spatial resolution of 2m and a swath of 30 km per camera. The cameras are mounted with a tilt of +26 deg and -5 deg along track with respect to nadir to provide stereo pairs of images for generation of Digital Terrain Models (DTM)/Digital Elevation Models (DEM) with a revisit capability of 5 days, which can be realized by steering the spacecraft about its roll axis by +26 degrees.
Some of the military technologies were demonstrated in TES with military funding. These included attitude and orbit control system, high torque reaction wheels, new reaction control system with optimized thrusters and a single propellant tank, light weight spacecraft structure, solid state recorder, X-band phased array antenna, improved satellite positioning system, miniaturized TTC and power system and two-mirroron- axis camera optics. TES also carries a panchromatic camera with a spatial resolution of 1m, and an experimental radar.
The Svalbard and Tromso stations of Kongsberg, Norway have been added to the ISRO network to support data reception requirements of IRS missions.
On 23rd September 2009, ISRO in a landmark event launched an oceanmonitoring satellite OCEANSAT-2 and six European nano satellites aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Indias Southeastern coast. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a statement, congratulated the (ISRO) on the successful launch of Oceansat-2, which he said will herald a new beginning in our understanding of the oceans.
Oceansat-2 was placed into its intended 720-kilometer sun synchronous polar orbit, dedicated to data collection that began with Oceansat-1, which was launched in 1999 and is nearing the end of its operational life. A third satellite, Oceansat-3, is planned for launch in 2012. Oceansat-2 is being used for weather tracking and forecasting and the identification of potential fishing zones, ocean condition forecasting, coastal zone studies and providing inputs for weather forecasting and climate studies. The Indian Navy has access to the data for bathymetric studies, to assist Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) among other military uses.
Oceansat-2 for ocean surveillance carries an Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) and an 8-band multi-spectral camera operating in the Visible Near IR spectral range and a Ku-band Pencil Beam Scatterometer. This camera provides an instantaneous geometric field of view of 360m covering a swath of 1,420 km. The Scatterometer is a microwave radar for measuring the ocean surface wind velocity. It operates at 13.515 GHz providing a around resolution of 50 m.
The Armed Forces intelligence agencies, and the tri-service Defence Image Processing and Analysis Centre (DIPAC) in New Delhis which has a satellite receiving centre at Gwalior, supports the Armed Forces by analyzing satellite data. The remote sensing LEO satellites are tiltable, can change their area of coverage and have resolutions from 25 meters to 1 metre but are blind in cloud cover or at night, and have a limited ability to detect targets at sea. On 20th April 2009, ISRO launched RISAT-2, Indias first satellite with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) bought from IAI of Israel. Incidentally, it was hurriedly launched post the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, while RISAT-1 was being readied by ISRO.
This has demonstrated ISROs ability to launch spy satellites at short notice.
RISAT-2 has panchromatic cameras and radar capability similar to Israels TECSAR for imagery at sea and along the coast. RISAT-2 can penetrate clouds and is a milestone achievement.
It was indicated at an International Geo-Intelligence conference held in New Delhi in May 2010 that the ISRO and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), an intelligence agency modeled after USAs National Space Agency (NSA), can control the satellites in coordination with the Armed Forces tasking and specially cater to the Navys requests. Adequate commercial data banks of ships and computer systems are now available commercially to finger-print ships at sea and in harbours. With space data now readily available 24x7, a repeat of the intelligence failure like the Kargil infiltration by Pakistani forces in 1999 can be well avoided, and greater surveillance of the Indian Ocean will also be possible.
In addition the Armed Forces are able to purchase electro-optical data available from satellites like the French SPOT, ENVISAT, LANDSAT, IKONOS and Japanese ALOS and radar data from RADARSAT, GEOEYE and German TERRASAR.
INDIAS MISSILE POWER AND THE INDIAN NAVY
Indias home designed nuclear capable surface to surface ballistic missiles (SSMs) that are in operational service range from the 250 to 350 km liquid fuelled Prithvi and the ship launched Dhanush, to the 700 to 1500 km solid/liquid fuelled Agni I and 2 and the Shaurya.
These missiles are all beneficiaries to an extent from ISRO programmes, and were incubated when Dr A P J Abdul Kalam shifted from ISRO in the 1980s to build missiles and later to head Indias Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The underwater launched nuclear capable, 700km Sagarika K-15 missile is awaiting a submarine platform, and the longer range ICBM Agni-3 missile is under development. The joint Indo-Russian supersonic 299km Brahmos cruise missile is in service with the Army and the Navy, and a lighter air launched version will be tested soon from a SU-30MKI.
Indias civilian programmes in space and nuclear arenas are now contributing to Indias military preparedness in some measure.
The Indian Navy (IN) though is the biggest beneficiary of these advances.
It is getting a makeover to catch up with the advanced navies of the west. Today Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and the acronym C4ISR is part of the military jargon worldwide. Advanced militaries are severely dependent on downloaded optical, infrared and radar satellite data, interlaced with intelligence and real time digital communications.
Planning of military and naval operations with maritime domain awareness is a complex process, and is shaped by the capability of the commander and his staff, and advanced systems which provide a variety of inputs to him.
The naval decision making process is being made simpler, by developing knowledge based (KB) space support systems. The Indian Navy was given access to US Navys internet based Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange SystemMaritime (CENTRIXS-M) and Integrated Shipboard Network System (ISNS) during Malabar exercises which was full of rich experience for the Navys technical officers and men. INs Weapons Engineering Electronics Establishment (WEESE) laboratory and civilian companies like Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata and a modem manufacturer worked together on a stop-gap Naval Enterprise Network, using an HF/VHF based internet protocol called Link-S/11 based on ARINC 249, and also employed VSAT Ku band reception and transmission via a GSAT satellite under Project Rukmani, but the bit rate and foot prints were limited.
IN also employs INMARSAT terminals for digital communications but sparingly, as it is not secure and also inordinately expensive. It has been useful nonetheless in anti-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa, where secure web sites are used for the multinational operations.
The good news released by the Indian Navy is, it will soon have access to a Navy dedicated Geo Stationary ISRO built multi-band satellite, carrying payloads in UHF, S/C and Ku-band nodes.
The satellite in the GSAT series is planned to be launched during 2011 on board a Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and positioned at 74º East. The recent GSLV launch with an Indian manufactured cryogenic engine had failed earlier this year, but ISRO has pinpointed the error and may use a Russia supplied cryogenic engine for now to ensure success. The satellite weighs 2330 kg with a payload power of 2000W and mission life of 9 years. By end-2011 all naval ships will have dual offset Gregorian terminals in 45 inch radomes for transmission and reception via ISROs launched satellite, entering the NCW domain.
Orbit Technology Group of Israel has claimed to be the preferred suppliers for the ship terminals, having supplied the UAV control systems on INS Vindhyagiri and Taragiri to control shore launched Searcher UAVs to extended ranges. Orbit claims it has acceptance in USA, UK and Singapore. The internet terminals linked to the ships CIC computers, compass and other sensors will be able to cater for the desired roll, pitch and yaw as well as the turning rate. Indias march towards modern and safe and secure global positioning, and GIS data transmission in the Indian Ocean has begun, led by the Indian Navy.
INDIAN NAVYS AMBITIOUS EXPANSION PLANS
The Navys C4ISR plans are dedicated to support the Navys ambitious warship building programme which aims to induct 40 new large surface platforms, 15 conventional and nuclear submarines and 300 planes, helicopters and UAVs by 2022, concurrent with Indias 12th five year plan.
Two aircraft carriers, 36 other ships and seven submarines are under construction/order and the refitted nuclear Akula submarine Nerpa, from Russia, will join the Navy in 2012. Indias own nuclear submarine ATV INS Arihant is making steady progress at the Ship Building Centre (SBC) at Vishakapatnam.
Indias second term Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, speaking at the 2006 Commanders Conference in New Delhi, had stated that funds for the Navys expansion will not be a constraint. He has kept his word, despite escalations of over $ 1.3 billion over the negotiated $ 974 million for the 45,000 ton aircraft carrier INS Vikrmaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) from Russia, and the increase of $ 468 mill reported by Forecast International for the ongoing six conventional French Scorpene submarines building at Mazagon Docks Ltd at Mumbai, contracted in 2006 for $ 3.9 bill. The Scorpene delivery schedule has slipped by nearly three years and the first boat will be commissioned in 2013.
In June this year Indias Ministry of Defence (MOD) placed an order for six naval 3,000 OPVs on Pipavav Shipyard Ltd a private yard on the west coast for $ 700 mill in the new Buy Foreign Design and Build in India scheme.
Another green light has recently been given under the same scheme by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) and approved by the apex Cabinet Committee for Security (CCS), to progress and issue request for proposals (RFPs/tenders) for six additional Brahmos firing submarines for $ 10 billion and seven latest western designed frigates to be built in India for around $ 7 billion.
REGIONAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE GPS SYSTEM (IRNSS)
The civil and military need for a national GPS for GIS and other applications is also taking shape. The 24 satellites of the American GPS, and 18 of Russias Glonass satellites where India is a small partner, can well be turned off or errors could be entered. Indias missiles are GPS reliant for accurate targeting. The Chinese have completed the Biedou system regionally; with ambitions of a larger worldwide Compass system and the EU has gone in for the Galileo. Technological fantasies and programming possibilities abound in what GIS and GPS can contribute to the military, like the internet protocols have done, which itself was a military innovation. Advances of technology in warfare are also referred to as the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA).
ISRO has planned a 7-satellite Indian Regional Navigational Satellite GPS System (IRNSS) along with Gagan (sky in Hindi) an acronym for GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation system for air navigation GPS accuracy. Gagan has been processed by Raytheon, which provides the ground stations, and ISRO jointly, and will provide civil and military usefulness.
It should be operational by 2013.
Three of the satellites in the constellation will be placed in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean located at an apogee of 24,000 km with atomic clocks and electronic equipment to generate the navigation signals. The IRNSS signals will consist of a special positioning precision service being carried on L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S band (2492.08 MHz) and broadcast through a phased array antenna to maintain continuous coverage and signal strength. The satellites would weigh approximately 1,330 kg each and their solar panels will be capable of generating 1,400 watts, with 20 meter accuracy throughout India and extending further to 2000km. The civil applications are many and the military applications are obvious.
CONCLUSION
The Indian Naval ships when 24x7 internet capable with each other, and connected to the Navys shore headquarterss through ISROlaunched communication satellites and stabilized terminals, will have better maritime domain awareness (MDA) and the leadership in New Delhi will have better situational awareness. The software system options of open architecture, Java, Silverlight, and Flex and banking softwares like SABRE and such civilian advancements is allowing the Navy to build common operating platforms.
This allows the Navy interoperability with western navies and will contribute towards Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR). The challenge will only be to get rich and valid data and intelligence at sea.
The Indian Navy is well prepared and funded for it.
PREAMBLE
Indias meager investments in space and nuclear programmes soon after the Independence in 1947 were initiated by the pioneering Cambridge educated scientists, Dr Homi Bhaba and Dr Vikram Sarabhai under Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was himself educated in the UK at Harrow and Cambridge.
India s space and nuclear programmes were civilian led, but had the potential for military objectives,which were never articulated. Homi Bhabha had great friendship with the likes of Niels Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli, and Enrico Fermi and is credited to be the father of Indias nuclear programme. The charge of Ministries of Space and Nuclear Energy were always held by the Prime Ministers and generously funded from the powerful PMs Office (PMO). A unique method of funding, working and auditing, was employed where no one entity was aware of the whole picture.
This allowed Indian scientists the liberty to pursue variegated programmes without interference. Although Indian leaders have consistently believed in a non-nuclear weapon world, it was Mrs Indira Gandhi who gave the go-ahead for developing nuclear weapons as a response to the Chinese bomb, and Chinas assistance to Pakistan in developing nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, she made sure to designate Indias nuclear test in May 1974 as a peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE).
As a senior scientist put the system in perspective, While all Government organizations in India have worked in a bureaucratic top down system from New Delhi, Indias Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), headquartered at Bangalore and Bombay respectively, remained away from the capital, and worked on a freewheeling bottom up approach. This is why we produced the nuclear bomb in secrecy, and Indias space, nuclear power and nuclear medical programmes, can now hold their own with leading nations of the world. India is now forging ahead in both spheres, thanks also, to the recent US-India nuclear deal sponsored by President Bush which allows India to reprocess USAs spent fuel, and the NSG clearances and lifting of sanctions.
Today civil space applications are benefiting India, in spatial Geographic Information Systems-GIS, as GIS integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. The cycle allows decision makers and Indian military commanders to pictorially view, plan, interpret, and visualize data in ways that reveal intelligence like never before.
GIS technology is being integrated into the Indian military framework, and a land-based secure digital and fiber optic and space-based Defence Communication Network (DCN) is being set up, for the Armed Forces and Indias national security needs. Indias Telecom ministry has also accepted the armed forces demand that one slot of pan-India wireless broadband airwaves be reserved for it, and private mobile operator Reliance has offered WIMAX service when operational, which will assist the military to connect to the last mile in the mountains and forests.
Advances in space are also noteworthy.
INDIAN SPACE APPLICATIONS FOR MILITARY AND NAVAL USES
ISRO was pioneered under a dynamic head Dr Vikram Sarabhai who passed away young, but was followed later by Caltech educated Dr Satish Dhawan in 1972 who served in ISRO and made sure that Indias space programmes were never overtly associated in any way with Indias military.
This was a master stroke. Dhawans contacts in USA and abroad came in handy for imports, and his dedication to space made him even decline an invitation by Mrs Gandhi to become the Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and move to New Delhi from Bangalore.
The autonomous civilian working method allowed ISRO to receive foreign aid and experimental rockets for launches from abroad, and its scientists were freely invited to conferences and training programmes. ISRO was able to import components except during periods of sanction when France and Russia made exceptions, and ISRO made rapid strides in the space segment for Indias civil applications, and was able to partner with foreign space agencies and launch satellites. ISRO has also launched a satellite in space and recovered a module back, and landed a probe on the moon called Chandrayaan-1. ISRO has plans to place two astronauts to circle the earth in space by 2013.
Indias advances since 1980 in space technology with satellites manufactured and launched by ISRO has made it the 8th nation in the world to demonstrate it could send satellites in to orbit for remote sensing in low earth orbit (LEO), and high earth orbit for geo stationary (HEO) communication satellites in the INSAT/GSAT series.
India has become fairly self sufficient, and now possesses capabilities for its Armed Forces to move ahead into the world of GIS, space reconnaissance and digital communications technology for net centricity, a place previously occupied only by the developed nations.
There are 10 active Indian remote sensing satellites in operation - IRS- 1C, IRS-1D, IRS-P3, Oceansat-1/2, Resourcesat-1, CARTOSAT 1/2 and the Technology Experiment Satellite (TES). Another 680 kg Cartosat 2B costing $ 40 mill was successfully launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C-15) on 12th July 2010. They are all placed in 650 to 820km polar sun-synchronous orbits, carrying multiple cameras, which include Panchromatic Camera (PAN), Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-III) and Wide Field Sensor (WiFS).
The satellites are intended for advanced mapping and intelligence applications. Cartosat-2B has a spatial resolution of 2m and a swath of 30 km per camera. The cameras are mounted with a tilt of +26 deg and -5 deg along track with respect to nadir to provide stereo pairs of images for generation of Digital Terrain Models (DTM)/Digital Elevation Models (DEM) with a revisit capability of 5 days, which can be realized by steering the spacecraft about its roll axis by +26 degrees.
Some of the military technologies were demonstrated in TES with military funding. These included attitude and orbit control system, high torque reaction wheels, new reaction control system with optimized thrusters and a single propellant tank, light weight spacecraft structure, solid state recorder, X-band phased array antenna, improved satellite positioning system, miniaturized TTC and power system and two-mirroron- axis camera optics. TES also carries a panchromatic camera with a spatial resolution of 1m, and an experimental radar.
The Svalbard and Tromso stations of Kongsberg, Norway have been added to the ISRO network to support data reception requirements of IRS missions.
On 23rd September 2009, ISRO in a landmark event launched an oceanmonitoring satellite OCEANSAT-2 and six European nano satellites aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Indias Southeastern coast. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a statement, congratulated the (ISRO) on the successful launch of Oceansat-2, which he said will herald a new beginning in our understanding of the oceans.
Oceansat-2 was placed into its intended 720-kilometer sun synchronous polar orbit, dedicated to data collection that began with Oceansat-1, which was launched in 1999 and is nearing the end of its operational life. A third satellite, Oceansat-3, is planned for launch in 2012. Oceansat-2 is being used for weather tracking and forecasting and the identification of potential fishing zones, ocean condition forecasting, coastal zone studies and providing inputs for weather forecasting and climate studies. The Indian Navy has access to the data for bathymetric studies, to assist Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) among other military uses.
Oceansat-2 for ocean surveillance carries an Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) and an 8-band multi-spectral camera operating in the Visible Near IR spectral range and a Ku-band Pencil Beam Scatterometer. This camera provides an instantaneous geometric field of view of 360m covering a swath of 1,420 km. The Scatterometer is a microwave radar for measuring the ocean surface wind velocity. It operates at 13.515 GHz providing a around resolution of 50 m.
The Armed Forces intelligence agencies, and the tri-service Defence Image Processing and Analysis Centre (DIPAC) in New Delhis which has a satellite receiving centre at Gwalior, supports the Armed Forces by analyzing satellite data. The remote sensing LEO satellites are tiltable, can change their area of coverage and have resolutions from 25 meters to 1 metre but are blind in cloud cover or at night, and have a limited ability to detect targets at sea. On 20th April 2009, ISRO launched RISAT-2, Indias first satellite with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) bought from IAI of Israel. Incidentally, it was hurriedly launched post the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, while RISAT-1 was being readied by ISRO.
This has demonstrated ISROs ability to launch spy satellites at short notice.
RISAT-2 has panchromatic cameras and radar capability similar to Israels TECSAR for imagery at sea and along the coast. RISAT-2 can penetrate clouds and is a milestone achievement.
It was indicated at an International Geo-Intelligence conference held in New Delhi in May 2010 that the ISRO and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), an intelligence agency modeled after USAs National Space Agency (NSA), can control the satellites in coordination with the Armed Forces tasking and specially cater to the Navys requests. Adequate commercial data banks of ships and computer systems are now available commercially to finger-print ships at sea and in harbours. With space data now readily available 24x7, a repeat of the intelligence failure like the Kargil infiltration by Pakistani forces in 1999 can be well avoided, and greater surveillance of the Indian Ocean will also be possible.
In addition the Armed Forces are able to purchase electro-optical data available from satellites like the French SPOT, ENVISAT, LANDSAT, IKONOS and Japanese ALOS and radar data from RADARSAT, GEOEYE and German TERRASAR.
INDIAS MISSILE POWER AND THE INDIAN NAVY
Indias home designed nuclear capable surface to surface ballistic missiles (SSMs) that are in operational service range from the 250 to 350 km liquid fuelled Prithvi and the ship launched Dhanush, to the 700 to 1500 km solid/liquid fuelled Agni I and 2 and the Shaurya.
These missiles are all beneficiaries to an extent from ISRO programmes, and were incubated when Dr A P J Abdul Kalam shifted from ISRO in the 1980s to build missiles and later to head Indias Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The underwater launched nuclear capable, 700km Sagarika K-15 missile is awaiting a submarine platform, and the longer range ICBM Agni-3 missile is under development. The joint Indo-Russian supersonic 299km Brahmos cruise missile is in service with the Army and the Navy, and a lighter air launched version will be tested soon from a SU-30MKI.
Indias civilian programmes in space and nuclear arenas are now contributing to Indias military preparedness in some measure.
The Indian Navy (IN) though is the biggest beneficiary of these advances.
It is getting a makeover to catch up with the advanced navies of the west. Today Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and the acronym C4ISR is part of the military jargon worldwide. Advanced militaries are severely dependent on downloaded optical, infrared and radar satellite data, interlaced with intelligence and real time digital communications.
Planning of military and naval operations with maritime domain awareness is a complex process, and is shaped by the capability of the commander and his staff, and advanced systems which provide a variety of inputs to him.
The naval decision making process is being made simpler, by developing knowledge based (KB) space support systems. The Indian Navy was given access to US Navys internet based Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange SystemMaritime (CENTRIXS-M) and Integrated Shipboard Network System (ISNS) during Malabar exercises which was full of rich experience for the Navys technical officers and men. INs Weapons Engineering Electronics Establishment (WEESE) laboratory and civilian companies like Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata and a modem manufacturer worked together on a stop-gap Naval Enterprise Network, using an HF/VHF based internet protocol called Link-S/11 based on ARINC 249, and also employed VSAT Ku band reception and transmission via a GSAT satellite under Project Rukmani, but the bit rate and foot prints were limited.
IN also employs INMARSAT terminals for digital communications but sparingly, as it is not secure and also inordinately expensive. It has been useful nonetheless in anti-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa, where secure web sites are used for the multinational operations.
The good news released by the Indian Navy is, it will soon have access to a Navy dedicated Geo Stationary ISRO built multi-band satellite, carrying payloads in UHF, S/C and Ku-band nodes.
The satellite in the GSAT series is planned to be launched during 2011 on board a Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and positioned at 74º East. The recent GSLV launch with an Indian manufactured cryogenic engine had failed earlier this year, but ISRO has pinpointed the error and may use a Russia supplied cryogenic engine for now to ensure success. The satellite weighs 2330 kg with a payload power of 2000W and mission life of 9 years. By end-2011 all naval ships will have dual offset Gregorian terminals in 45 inch radomes for transmission and reception via ISROs launched satellite, entering the NCW domain.
Orbit Technology Group of Israel has claimed to be the preferred suppliers for the ship terminals, having supplied the UAV control systems on INS Vindhyagiri and Taragiri to control shore launched Searcher UAVs to extended ranges. Orbit claims it has acceptance in USA, UK and Singapore. The internet terminals linked to the ships CIC computers, compass and other sensors will be able to cater for the desired roll, pitch and yaw as well as the turning rate. Indias march towards modern and safe and secure global positioning, and GIS data transmission in the Indian Ocean has begun, led by the Indian Navy.
INDIAN NAVYS AMBITIOUS EXPANSION PLANS
The Navys C4ISR plans are dedicated to support the Navys ambitious warship building programme which aims to induct 40 new large surface platforms, 15 conventional and nuclear submarines and 300 planes, helicopters and UAVs by 2022, concurrent with Indias 12th five year plan.
Two aircraft carriers, 36 other ships and seven submarines are under construction/order and the refitted nuclear Akula submarine Nerpa, from Russia, will join the Navy in 2012. Indias own nuclear submarine ATV INS Arihant is making steady progress at the Ship Building Centre (SBC) at Vishakapatnam.
Indias second term Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, speaking at the 2006 Commanders Conference in New Delhi, had stated that funds for the Navys expansion will not be a constraint. He has kept his word, despite escalations of over $ 1.3 billion over the negotiated $ 974 million for the 45,000 ton aircraft carrier INS Vikrmaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) from Russia, and the increase of $ 468 mill reported by Forecast International for the ongoing six conventional French Scorpene submarines building at Mazagon Docks Ltd at Mumbai, contracted in 2006 for $ 3.9 bill. The Scorpene delivery schedule has slipped by nearly three years and the first boat will be commissioned in 2013.
In June this year Indias Ministry of Defence (MOD) placed an order for six naval 3,000 OPVs on Pipavav Shipyard Ltd a private yard on the west coast for $ 700 mill in the new Buy Foreign Design and Build in India scheme.
Another green light has recently been given under the same scheme by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) and approved by the apex Cabinet Committee for Security (CCS), to progress and issue request for proposals (RFPs/tenders) for six additional Brahmos firing submarines for $ 10 billion and seven latest western designed frigates to be built in India for around $ 7 billion.
REGIONAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE GPS SYSTEM (IRNSS)
The civil and military need for a national GPS for GIS and other applications is also taking shape. The 24 satellites of the American GPS, and 18 of Russias Glonass satellites where India is a small partner, can well be turned off or errors could be entered. Indias missiles are GPS reliant for accurate targeting. The Chinese have completed the Biedou system regionally; with ambitions of a larger worldwide Compass system and the EU has gone in for the Galileo. Technological fantasies and programming possibilities abound in what GIS and GPS can contribute to the military, like the internet protocols have done, which itself was a military innovation. Advances of technology in warfare are also referred to as the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA).
ISRO has planned a 7-satellite Indian Regional Navigational Satellite GPS System (IRNSS) along with Gagan (sky in Hindi) an acronym for GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation system for air navigation GPS accuracy. Gagan has been processed by Raytheon, which provides the ground stations, and ISRO jointly, and will provide civil and military usefulness.
It should be operational by 2013.
Three of the satellites in the constellation will be placed in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean located at an apogee of 24,000 km with atomic clocks and electronic equipment to generate the navigation signals. The IRNSS signals will consist of a special positioning precision service being carried on L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S band (2492.08 MHz) and broadcast through a phased array antenna to maintain continuous coverage and signal strength. The satellites would weigh approximately 1,330 kg each and their solar panels will be capable of generating 1,400 watts, with 20 meter accuracy throughout India and extending further to 2000km. The civil applications are many and the military applications are obvious.
CONCLUSION
The Indian Naval ships when 24x7 internet capable with each other, and connected to the Navys shore headquarterss through ISROlaunched communication satellites and stabilized terminals, will have better maritime domain awareness (MDA) and the leadership in New Delhi will have better situational awareness. The software system options of open architecture, Java, Silverlight, and Flex and banking softwares like SABRE and such civilian advancements is allowing the Navy to build common operating platforms.
This allows the Navy interoperability with western navies and will contribute towards Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR). The challenge will only be to get rich and valid data and intelligence at sea.
The Indian Navy is well prepared and funded for it.
