The Indian Army is finally making progress on digitisation

Two critical developments have occurred on the adoption of cyber technology by the Indian Army (IA). The IA has announced that it will operationalise the long-delayed Battle Surveillance System (BSS). Absence of a BSS has had significant bearing on building a digitised and cyber-enabled IA. A quick glance at why the BSS is necessary will reveal why its delayed adoption should not just be welcomed, but equally testifies to the apathy demonstrated by India’s civilian and army leadership in not allocating the resources necessary to implement the establishment of the BSS earlier. The IA’s senior leadership hesitated for several years and did not treat the BSS as a priority, even as China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Pakistan Army (PA) stole the lead over in the areas of digitisation and cyber technology.

Pursued as part of “Project Sanjay” by the IA, the indispensability of the BSS stems from two factors. Firstly, it creates a surveillance architecture that integrates all the command centres with commanders and staffers at different levels of the IA. This will help in enhancing the sensor to shooter loop. Secondly, the BSS will be integrated with the IA’s Artillery Combat Command and Control and Communication System (ACCCS), further strengthening the sensor to shooter loop. Consequently, the BSS not only establishes a comprehensive operational and tactical picture for all echelons of command, but when fully integrated and operationalised will equally augment situational awareness enabling accurate decision-making by apex level commanders.

The BSS not only establishes a comprehensive operational and tactical picture for all echelons of command, but when fully integrated and operationalised will equally augment situational awareness enabling accurate decision-making by apex level commanders.

Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL) in Ghaziabad is the lead integrator of the sensors of the BSS. Despite this progress, the IA is yet to get its act together on the creation of Battle Management System (BMS), which will link every soldier from the lowest echelon to the highest. How the BMS differs from the BSS is unclear. One real difference could be that the BMS’s function is to create a network for Beyond Line of Sight (BLoS) communications, capacities for spectrum and network management, Quality of Service (QoS) with low latency or reliable high speed delivery, and strong encryption. Under the BMS, data transmission rates would be higher and custom developed for the IA. Following its completion, the BMS, as is already the case with the BSS, will also be integrated with the ACCCS and the Command Information and Decision Support System (CIDSS), also known as the Army Information and Decision Support System (AIDSS). The AIDSS has been operational since 2011.

Although there are conflicting views on whether the BSS is distinct from the BMS, nevertheless, the IA’s application of cyber and digital technology is still evolving and incomplete. When all these elements are completed, they will be integrated into the Operational Information System (OIS) responsible for all the classified tactical and operational matters. The OIS will form one of two parts of the Army cloud that was launched in 2015. The other part of the Army cloud is the Management Information System (MIS), which will hold and oversee all data related to personnel issues.

Reinforcing these developments is the IA’s move in the direction of greater indigenous capability for its tactical communications. The IA has struck a deal with the Bengaluru-based Astrome Technology Private Limited (ATPL) to develop a Local Area Network (LAN) communications system dubbed the “Tactical LAN Radio (TLR)”, which, once fully integrated in to the IA’s order of battle, will provide interception resistant communications between deployed units of the IA.

A second development, which is more recent, is the adoption of the Operating System (OS) called the Maya OS-Ubuntu. Several entities were associated with the development of the OS. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) developed Maya OS-Ubuntu in concert with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Together, these entities have developed an OS whose interface and functionality are similar to the Windows OS. This OS also has a virtual layer that is effectively shielded with the help of software called Chakravuyh, which prevents the end user and the internet from being penetrated by malware.

Among the Indian armed services, the Indian Navy (IN) is the first to proceed with the integration of Maya OS. The advantages of a natively-built OS are considerable in ensuring network security across the services and the MoD. Although the IA is still evaluating the software, it should not take long before the service adopts it. The Maya-OS is crucial for India to build greater cyber resilience into the Indian defence forces networks, and it is also a good step in terms of leveraging native software and computing capacities for the Indian armed services. There are fewer possibilities for hostile intrusions into the computer networks operated by India’s armed forces following the adoption and integration of the Maya-OS. With the integration of Maya-OS, encrypted communications will be better.

Among the Indian armed services, the Indian Navy (IN) is the first to proceed with the integration of Maya OS. The advantages of a natively-built OS are considerable in ensuring network security across the services and the MoD.

After demurring for many years, not exclusively of their own accord, the IA leadership is finally and steadily making progress in creating a cyber-enabled capability for the service. A critical, but not an exclusive, reason behind the IA’s current technological transformation is the fact that the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), General Manoj Pande, happens to be a technologist. He is the first engineer to helm the IA. To be sure, his immediate predecessor, General Manoj Mukund Naravane, and the late Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, also played an instrumental role in bringing about the current technological change underway in the IA. Apart from the active role played by the IA’s senior leadership in leveraging Innovations in Defence Excellence (iDEX)—which is one of the Modi government’s flagship initiatives to tap into India’s private sector, especially start-ups—the IA has also launched 42 projects under the Defence Start-up Challenge (DISC), Open Challenges, and iDEX prime scheme geared towards developing state-of-the-art technological solutions for the technical challenges faced by the IA. All in all, these developments and the direction taken by the IA augurs well for the service.

• Defence and Security
• India

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