INDIA TO LAUNCH SATELLLITE FOR NCW
By Bulbul Singh
28 Oct 09. To give a boost to Indian Navy’s Network Centric Warfare program, India has planned a dedicated satellite for the Indian Navy. The ‘Satellite over Sea’ will be launched next year and will have a 1000 nautical mile footprint over the Indian Ocean region. C4ISR is the next big thrust for the Indian Navy.
The ‘Satellite over Sea’ is being developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and will be launched by ISRO early next year.
The launch of the ‘Satellite over Sea’ will initiate a big ticket Network Centric System program for the Indian Navy under which most sea assets will be networked through the dedicated satellite. “In the next two to three years Network Centric Warfare will be the thrust of the Indian Navy,” said a senior Indian Navy planner.
The dedicated military satellite will be geo-stationary with a 600-1,000 nautical mile footprint over the Indian Ocean Region.
“Once the satellite and its transponders are operational, Indian naval warships, submarines and aircraft will be able to communicate on real-time basis and provide a digital tactical battlespace view of the dispersed fleet formations, aircraft locations and even submarine deployments,” added the Navy planner.
Once the Indian Navy gets its dedicated satellite and network, its assets will be able to achieve maritime domain awareness in the region, which will enable exchange of surface and air operational pictures in real-time.
Currently, the Indian defence forces do not have a dedicated military satellite and have to depend on 1-meter resolution Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) launched in 2001 for military purposes.
The naval satellite will be followed by separate IAF and Army ones in 2011-2012.
The Indian Navy is to develop a Network Centric Operation (NCO) system to be linked to the ‘Satellite over Sea’ in the next two to three years at a cost of around $1 billion.
The main hardware of the NCO system would comprise- [a] Interface Unit capable of receive data from combat management system [CMS] of warships and submarines through platform on-board radar and sonar systems , [b] Track Fusion Unit which will generate fused tracks from the inputs from the CMS and other information sources and will provide the navy with a Network Tactical Situation Picture , [c] Data Link Units to provide a seamless communication channel through V/UHF, SATCOM systems, [d} NCO Core to carry out threat evaluation, mission planning and execute both defensive and offensive missions. By providing fastest speed of command to reduce the sensor-to-shooter time to the minimum and achieve maximum hit and destruction capability. This system provides reliable, accurate tracking and identification on neutral and hostile elements, activities , platforms and individuals.
The NCO will be able to track and engage information about friend or foe platforms on a real-time basis.
The Indian Navy plans to ultimately link even the long-range missiles, radars, air defence systems on all the sea-based assets to a central control room which will take another six to seven years.