RAYTHEON EMERGES AS FRONT RUNNER FOR INDIAN NAVY NCW PROJECT
By Bulbul Singh
06 Apr 09. India’s $1 billion network centric warfare system is likely to be built by Raytheon of the United States. The U.S. defence company has been short-listed from other bidders in the Network Centric Operations (NCO) program.
Raytheon emerged as the front runner following the end of Technical Evaluations in response to global bids sent to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon of the United States, Thales of France, EADS of Germany, IAI and Elta of Israel and BAE Systems of the U.K.
In the first phase of the Network Centric Warfare program, a dedicated network centric operations system would be set up to create a Naval operations tasking solution for a real-time battlefield scenario. Under this project, the Indian Navy will set up a high speed data network by linking its warships, submarines, aircraft, naval basis and vital other naval installations to make the entire fleet network centric capable.
“The NCO program will enable India to achieve Maritime Domain Awareness even during peacetime, deep inside the Indian Ocean Region. The program will increase the Indian Navy’s ability to monitor events within its strategic frontiers,” said an Indian Navy official.
Ultimately over 250 naval assets will be linked to each other and the system will provide accurate location, identification and status information on all friendly forces apart from establishing
a dedicated networking using advanced computers, high speed data
links, and software which will help the entire naval units to share common, composite and real time information. Advanced sensors in the NCO will collect information about enemy naval assets in a real-time environment.
Another objective of the NCO system is to carry out effective common C2 activities through networking of naval assets through seamless data which will also help the Naval planners to make and implement accurate decisions quickly even under the conditions of uncertainty.
NCO is an operational concept wherein a common operational picture is used on the battlefield and the control center which will help increase decision-making and reduce errors. The NCO project will mean a shift to network centric from the platform oriented warfare structure and will act as a force multiplier.
“Once this tasked is completed in the next five to seven years, it
will be possible to interlink long range missiles, radars and sensors
on the warships through a dedicated military satellite.” added the
Navy planner
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.