Quad will spur India to all-domain operations

We may just be on the cusp of some path-breaking war-fighting concepts. All domains would encompass aerial actions by air forces in the land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace — with the integration and sharing of information across all operations being enabled by high-speed computing at nearly the speed of light. This would be an ideal opportunity for India to sit at the high table of international war-fighting, with distinct advantages over adversaries such as China and Pakistan.

Air assets: All-domain operations would become even more applicable in the context of the expanded IAF air operations. PTI

Gp Capt Murli Menon (Retd)

Defence Analyst

While the war clouds over Ukraine over the NATO-Russia standoff appear to have dissipated somewhat (and saved India the blushes over having to take sides, albeit having to abstain in a crucial UN debate on the matter), there appears to be a build-up in the Asia-Pacific. India’s strategic role in the evolving Indo-Pacific Quad is becoming substantial day by day. As and when the Quad assumes its rightful military dimension, the newfangled phraseology of ‘all-domain operations’ would become even more applicable in the context of the expanded IAF air operations.

Traditionally, leading global players in the business of power projection have tended to use jargon to make up for actual capabilities. But we may just be on the cusp of some path-breaking war-fighting concepts. All domains would encompass aerial actions by air forces in the land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace — with the integration and sharing of information across all operations being enabled by high-speed computing at nearly the speed of light.

This would be an ideal opportunity for India to sit at the high table of international war-fighting, with distinct advantages over adversaries such as China and Pakistan.

Seamlessly integrating operations across domains not achievable by adversaries ought to be our aim, too, as was touted recently by Admiral Christopher W. Grady, the US Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Though one cannot expect this to be a cakewalk by any means, war would continue to be as messy and unpredictable as always. In India’s context, the all-domain operations would entail a ‘two-front war’ necessarily, against the threat spectrum in our neighbourhood.

The timing as far as the IAF is concerned is crucial too, with new technologies and force accretions being on the anvil. This, of course, would include the Rafale, the Tejas and its derivatives, the SU-30 and MiG-29 upgrades and whichever platform wins the 126 MMRCA flyoff. Add to this the entire panoply of modern transporters and heli-capabilities, such as the Super Hercules, the C-47 Chinooks, the Apache AH-64, C17 Globe Masters, force multipliers like aerial tankers and AWACS/AEW and Aerostat radars, all tied in through secure communications and data-linking.

Air assets of the Indian Army, Navy, Coast Guard, the paramilitary forces and the DGCA, such as radars and all types of AD guns and missiles, would need to be brought into our all-domain integration through optimal C4 I2 engineering.

We have dabbled in a National C4 I2 project for some years now, though it has not succeeded in proper integration into the system. Once the requisite architecture is in place and continuous exercising and operationalisation thereof has been done, our national all-domain expertise would get optimised.

Down the line, the IAF would need to look at aerial platforms of the like of the JSF F35, which have already demonstrated the capability of sharing operational data from diverse locations such as Texas, Hawaii and Australia.

In India’s case, ISRO would need to be integrated wholly into the defence C4 I2 architecture, what with satellite communications and space-based imagery sensors and search and rescue elements, including Combat SAR, being valuable combat assets.

It was heartening to see the Indian Tejas being demonstrated at the Singapore air show along with other advanced aircraft, including the F35. Participation in such fora would enable the IAF to learn the ropes in cyber, electronic warfare, sensor and big-data fusion capabilities, which constitute the backbone of the all-domain warfare.

Being au fait with such modern war-fighting milieu would enable our military commanders to act expeditiously and exploit the enemy’s OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop. The post-pandemic scenario would pave the way for considerable business development revolving around legacy aerial systems and command and control software and hardware.

The real challenge is to have systems and platforms capable of gathering the required operational data and processing and analysing it appropriately and transmitting it quickly to a multitude of subscribers in the loop.

Lots of upgrade and retrofit would be called for. There would be advantages to be gained if source codes are indigenous and the government’s Atmanirbharta programme would play an important role, especially with the brainpower resident in our IITs and other institutions of higher learning in the civil and defence sectors.

In the earlier days, when the IAF was considering upgrades, integrators such as the 1553 data bus, played a big role in enabling different weapon subsystems to talk to each other. The Matra Magic missile integration on to the MiG 21 Bis is a classic successful case in point. This approach would bear fruit even into the all-domain future, especially for developing nations like ours, as we

possess considerable ‘legacy hardware’ in our inventory.

Our expertise in the digitisation of analog systems, such as the digitisation of the troposcatter communication hubs, for example, would pay rich dividends going forward. Entities such as the Software Development Institute in Bangalore (credited with developing software for the Sukhoi-30) would play stellar roles in this respect.

So, we would retain our legacy equipment, and optimally integrate them into our ultra-modern national and sub-service C4 I2 architecture to get seamless tactical and operational mosaics.

Another area to facilitate all-domain expertise is that of international air and other military exercises. We already do participate in a slew of such exercises, including the Red Flag in Alaska.

All-domain concept proving and integration with other friendly forces need to be dovetailed into such exercise settings so that shortfalls in indigenous engineering capabilities, if any, could be addressed suitably by learning from better systems and practices of our international partners. Also, all-domain war-fighting needs to become a standard fit in the research and development syllabi of our academic service institutions.