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THALES: Providing Indian military with an edge through digital electronic warfare

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PROVIDING THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES WITH AN EDGE THROUGH DIGITAL ELECTRONIC WARFARE
02/06/2020
Reckoned as one of the most technologically advanced branches of warfare today, electronic warfare (EW) exploits the electromagnetic spectrum to control it for offensive and defensive actions. This ability to collect and make sense of signals in an environment when combined with radar provides capabilities to detect threats, take evasive action and also launch countermeasures against any attack and its source.

However, the telecommunications boom, including networks of signals for billions of mobile phones and computers, has created massive congestion if not saturation in the radiofrequency spectrum. The result is that now it’s much more difficult to find ‘signals of interest’ in military terms. This is even more propelled by the arrival of 5G telecommunications and the internet of things that are adding even more electromagnetic fog, thus obscuring threat detection.

In such times what remains critical is the reinvention of the medium to mitigate the new challenges. With 60 years of EW experience, applying transformative expertise and advanced digital technology, Thales delivers trusted, field-proven superiority for electronic surveillance, intelligence and self-protection.

In India, Thales’ system deliver information superiority and give the joint forces mastery of action whenever they face their decisive moments. Thales has an operational JV with Reliance Aerostructure where it provides a number of state-of-the-art equipment and systems aboard the Rafale, including the provision of the Spectra electronic warfare system among others. The SPECTRA “Electronic Warfare” (EW) system is the cornerstone of the Rafale’s outstanding survivability against airborne and ground threats. It carries multiple threat capability, including missile approach warning and decoy dispenser, helping to ensure success in hostile environments.[1]

Additionally, Thales also provides EW systems to the Indian Navy, thus, boosting its tactical abilities.

Separating the wheat from the chaff: the three missions of EW
Thales brings forth digital electronic warfare to traverse the path of the challenges of modern warfare, by transforming the basic step of signal processing from analogue to digital, thus allowing sampling of the signal environment digitally. In addition to this, the signals here are analysed utilizing Artificial Intelligence to ascertain their identity and the result is the separation of the wheat from the chaff.

Patrick Agnieray, Electronic Warfare Product Line Manager at Thales, describes how this EW revolution is critical to the successive stages of missions. “First, there is Electronic Intelligence where EW provides details of emitters of interest around you and creates their electronic signatures for later processing by AI algorithms to identify them. The second stage of EW’s mission is electronic support, which provides situational awareness of all emitters that are tracking your ship or having an ability to send a missile toward you. Finally, the third stage is electronic protection, where EW detects an incoming missile and sets the stage for defensive measures.”[2]

Assuring Situational Awareness and Tactical Advantage
Digital EW means you lose less time, you see the missile before it sees you and, so, it saves lives. With better situational awareness, you can tell friend from foe more quickly and so you have more freedom to engage after challenging the adversary to identify itself,” says Philip Ventress, Head of Electronic Warfare Marketing and Product Strategy for the company.

Thales’ transformative Ultra-Wideband Digital Electronic Warfare technology supports armed forces on land as well as on the open seas. It provides the earliest possible warning of radar guided weapons, targeting systems or covertly operating forces. It can be used to collect intelligence to support troop movements and to monitor borders or choke points by gathering intelligence such as patterns of life or transmissions on land.

And by reinventing EW through digital, Thales has also solved the problem of upgrading equipment in case of changes or more congestion in the radiofrequency spectrum. Because it is software-based, there is no need to change hardware. So, algorithms can be changed through new software---even by the customer.

Safety First
In the present security scenario, it becomes imperative that forces spread over vast areas remain connected with one another in every possible way. The integration and conduct of EW to support military missions across all services is critical. Thanks to its expertise in Digital EW, Thales has the potential to provide support to Indian armed forces on the sea or on the ground in a complex environment and guarantees their operational superiority in addition to their force protection.

https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/indi...orces-edge-through-digital-electronic-warfare
 
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Finally IAF will procure something viable in respect to PAF's EW systems installed on F-16 and D-20.

IAF has always downplayed its true "technological capabilities" so it could acquire even more advance capabilities.
 
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Indian ministry of defence guys with Thales representative. Info for ISI :p:
 
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PAF shouldnt have bragged about its capabilities and released details after 27th Feb. Loose lips sink ships.
Pods installed on F-16 are all over the news since past 10 years or more.
 
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EW cannot be achieved just through technological advancement. You need strong minds behind who can bring things on table first and then on execution. Sadly India has always invested in tech advancement but not human development.
 
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Isn't Thales one of the accused in the graft case against South African former President Zuma? I can only imagine the Indian politicians getting huge payouts for this project :D
 
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These EW systems are only for the the 36 Rafales. It would be more interesting to learn about the capabilities of EW suite that will be part of the super sukhoi upgrade. MKIs will after all be the bulk of Indian Air Force.
 
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Now India has started procurements for airforce, but Indian navy is purchasing much dangerous things past many years. So far, our air force has kept Indian navy at bay, but I can't ignore the fact Indian sub was in Pakistani waters, and Pakistani sub was tracked by them with good accuracy.
So, we better pay some portion of our attention on our Navy as well.
 
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