By Kartik Bommakanti*
The Indian Army and the US Army are slated to conduct high-altitude navy workout routines between 14–31 October 2022, in Ladakh not removed from the Line of Precise Management (LaC) the place an lively navy stand-off is underway between India and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). As a part of the 15th spherical of the Yudh Abhyas joint navy train, India will showcase methods and ways the military makes use of in excessive altitude or mountain warfare. Equally, the US Army may also showcase its applied sciences that may be deployed and utilized in mountainous terrain.
US applied sciences for Indian use
One of many important areas is communications know-how which is prone to be efficient in high-altitude mountain terrain. For starters, the US Army has already began the method of introducing new Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) applied sciences for utility in high-altitude environments. Take the case of the US Army’s Aerial Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (A-ISR) system—an air-borne platform, which is also called the Airborne Reconnaissance and Digital Warfare System (ARES), which lately underwent demonstration checks within the Indo-Pacific.
Whereas the most recent proof means that it’s nonetheless within the stage of know-how demonstration, it is not going to be lengthy earlier than it’s subjected to full-fledged operational deployment. In April 2022, the ARES was despatched to the Indo-Pacific for operational employment. The ARES is a enterprise jet-based know-how demonstrator which is able to help in real-time intelligence assortment and processing. From the standpoint of intelligence assortment, the ARES helps meet the trinity of parts— Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED). Even when the ARES system is just a know-how demonstrator, and never prepared for operational use, not to mention sale, its capabilities may very well be showcased to the Indian Army when the Yudh Abhyas joint workout routines occur later in October this yr. Past the ARES system, there are different technological capabilities the US Army might reveal.
Excessive Aerial Platforms
In what the US Army calls “a passively denied surroundings”—which entails pure impediments created by mountain options reminiscent of valleys and mountain folds forming pure limitations in opposition to Radio Frequency (RF) and communication relays—applied sciences are being examined to develop means by which troopers, deployed for motion in undulating mountain terrain, can talk with senior commanders who’re distantly situated. To beat the obstacles introduced by these geological options of mountainous environments, the US Army is within the means of testing the “Aerial Tier Community” consisting of a swarm of drones.
These drones are designed to relay downward, and obtain alerts and communication upward from the bottom allowing the alerts to “hop” over obstructions and thus enabling communication between troopers throughout a rugged mountainous battlefield, reminiscent of between two valleys separated by a mountain ridgeline, utilizing a community of Excessive Aerial Platforms (HAPs). Lack of efficient communication is prone to be extraordinarily disruptive to the conduct of navy operations to the extent that troopers couldn’t solely lose contact with one another but additionally fail to coordinate and synchronise responses to enemy motion within the absence of sign relays. Lack of contact between dispersed infantry combating items throughout mountainous terrain might, and can, generate alternatives for the enemy to execute ambushes, disrupt the motion of troops and herald reinforcements.
As of right now, communication relays or transmissions happen by way of satellites. Nonetheless, satellites have weaknesses in that they’re susceptible to jamming and may very well be destroyed utilizing counterspace capabilities, kinetically or non-kinetically, reminiscent of Anti-Satellite tv for pc (ASAT) weapons. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and Pakistan which pose an unrelenting risk to India could be tackled utilizing HAPs, as they provide extra flexibility in methods satellites can’t. For the reason that trendy battlefield is sensor heavy, supplementing satellite tv for pc communications via HAPs is sensible for monitoring and finding enemy positions, directing hearth precisely utilizing artillery weapons, and enabling shut cooperation between infantry items and armoured items deployed for operations in high-altitude terrain. If precision firepower is to be successfully utilized in opposition to extremely dispersed targets in rarefied atmospheric situations—which is a key attribute of high-altitude terrain—leveraging high-altitude applied sciences that the People are prone to showcase will at the very least be useful, if not a significant crucial.
Excessive-altitude applied sciences and mountain warfare
From an Indian standpoint, these high-altitude applied sciences will assist the military combine them into its operational technique and ways within the area of mountain warfare. To be exact, applied sciences developed by the People geared for mountain warfare won’t be instantly obtainable, however the US Army’s demonstration will give the Indian Army a window into what to anticipate and the way these applied sciences might discover utility within the space of mountain navy operations. It can additionally enable the Indian Army to match the efficiency of its personal ISR capabilities for high-altitude operations relative to the US. The US Army, for its half, might achieve expertise from the Indian Army’s many years’ price of information and expertise in high-altitude warfare. Nonetheless, the People are actually not amateurs or greenhorns on this regard. Years of combating the Al Qaeda terrorist group and the Taliban in Afghanistan’s rugged mountainous areas have given American floor forces a considerable quantity of expertise.
These applied sciences might complement India’s personal efforts on this space. As the most recent reviews counsel, India is within the means of buying swarm drones to fulfill ISR capabilities for mountainous terrain navy operations. The Indian Army is predicted to amass two swarm drone units, developed by a duo of start-ups primarily based in Bengaluru, to cater to the ISR and communications wants for its floor items overlaying armoured, artillery and infantry forces deployed in Japanese Ladakh. These Unmanned Aerial Automobiles (UAVs) will assist the Indian Army with communication relays, surveillance information, and intelligence about enemy pressure actions and deployment patterns involving concealment and deception, and in addition assist with synchronising armoured, mechanised and infantry-based defensive and offensive operations.
Nonetheless, it’s unclear what Digital Warfare (EW) capabilities these drone units possess for motion throughout the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS). Any navy confrontation between India and China will happen in a dense electromagnetic surroundings. With out important EW capabilities within the Indian Army’s order of battle, Suppression of Enemy Defence (SEAD), Digital Assault (EA), Digital Help (ES), and Digital Safety (EP) are all essential to dominating the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS), or at the very least at a necessity to stop the PLA floor and air forces dominating the EMS. If China had been to dominate the EMS throughout a struggle with India, it can deprive India of situational consciousness, communications and steering for the military’s weapons programs. The US Army is within the means of integrating the Multi-Operate Digital Warfare – At Giant (AFEW-AL) pod most definitely mounted on an MQ-1 Grey Eagle drone. The Indian Army can be nicely suggested to induce the People to showcase this functionality within the forthcoming Yudh Abhyas train.
Conclusion
However Washington’s quest and desire that the Indian Army supply know-how from the US, down the road, India might additionally develop a few of these applied sciences indigenously with out important exterior help. Nonetheless, for now, the hassle must be to guage and decide the extent to which American applied sciences are efficient and related in assembly the unforgiving calls for of mountain warfare. Regardless of the Indian Army’s swarm drone acquisition, they ought to order judgment and await the American demonstration, which could reveal complementarities in addition to strengths and weaknesses with personal its swarm drone deployments.
