To test the operational readiness of satellite systems and personnel manning them, the Indian Army last week carried out Exercise Skylight validating and showcasing the resilience of its communication capabilities in case terrestrial connectivity is disrupted in future conflicts, officials in the security establishment said.
“During the two-week long exercise, all satellite communication assets in the Army were activated and various technical and operational scenarios in space domain were simulated. Various agencies responsible for space and ground segments, as also the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) participated in the exercise,” a source in the security establishment said. This includes over 200 static platforms and over 80 vehicle based and man portable systems that were incorporated.
“We could validate our capability and it was a very successful exercise,” the source stated adding the exercise covered the eastern part of the country, northern borders and the island territories. “This will be done regularly,” the source saidd.
The Army has carried out detailed studies of cyber and electromagnetic effects in the war in Ukraine. Electronic warfare has played a major role in Ukraine, sources said, “We had multiple iterations on how this conflict has panned out, at various levels,” the source cited above said.
The studies established efficacy of reliable satellite communication like the one afforded by ‘Starlink’, officials said. Taking a cue from the same and also the latest trends in satellite technology, the Army has placed some realisable challenges before the industry and academia. These include the future requirement of fighting troops for small form factor hand held secure satellite phones, satellite IoT and satellite high speed data backbone, some of which will call for utilisation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, one official explained.
As on date, Indian Army is utilising the services of a number of ISRO satellites as it does not have a dedicated satellite. In March, The Defence Acquisition Council cleared a proposal for a GSAT-7B communications satellite. The army is on course to get its own satellite by December 2025.
“The indigenous multiband satellite with advanced security features will support tactical communication requirements of not only troops deployed on the ground, but also remotely piloted aircraft, air defence weapons and other mission-critical and fire support platforms,” another official stated.
To train its personnel on all aspects of satellite communication, the Army recently published Request for Information for its own student satellite, for training engineering students in Military College of Telecommunication Engineering on satellite technology.
In this line, another domain the Army is actively pursuing is Quantum computing which gives added security and also gives ability to deny the space to an adversary.
While national R&D is focused in this field, Indian Army is closely watching the advancements made by our adversaries, to ensure that these vital capabilities are inducted into our armed forces well ahead of times, officials added.
