Defence Notes
New Delhi, 12 February 2007
Corps Of Signals
ARMY’S CENTRAL NERVE SYSTEM
By B.K. Mathur
The small but crucial arm of the
Indian Army, the Corps of Signals is celebrating its 96th
anniversary today, February 15. It is
fast growing to match the sophistication of military machines and changed
battle strategies. The Corps is now equipped with the latest equipments and
seems well on way to prepare itself for the present day military developments
in an era of not only satellite communications through electronics and
computerized gadgets but also for what is being increasingly described as Star
Wars. Most militarily advanced nations have placed their satellites to monitor
the happenings in the skies and the Indian Air Force (IAF) has also started talking
about to.
In the fast-changing concept of
modern warfare, one can win or lose without fighting a full-fledged
conventional battle on the ground. But, remember, one fundamental rule of the
war game remains unchanged from the time immemorial: need for a fighting force
of a perfect communication system in a war theatre of any kind, which includes
the present day’s missile and
counter-missile war scenario. That is
the responsibility of the Corps of Signals, rightly described as the central
nerve system, the slightest malfunctioning of which can paralyse the best of
military operation. The Signal units provide complete coordination and
electronic warfare support to the fighting forces and operational communication
for the Navy and the Air Force, which have now come to occupy a dominant role
in modern warfare.
Happily, the communication system
in India’s
armed forces has developed from time to time, thanks to the country’s young
scientists and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The
induction of the state-of-the-art communication systems in the armed forces,
like the AREN-Area grid system, have proved once more that India’s defence
scientists and technicians are not lagging behind anyone in the world, given,
of course, the required financial backing, which is invariably lacking more due
to bureaucratic hassles and bad
planning. Notwithstanding the handicaps, the continuous improvements in
transistors and integrated circuits have not only led to miniaturisation and
module construction, but also to the whole question in the field on electronics
and communication techniques.
This kind of developed system is
required because the field force now needs fully integrated and automated,
secure, reliable and high-speed communication in semi-nuclear or conventional
battlefield of the future. Remember, when sword was the main weapon of a
soldier on foot and a horse and a lance of a cavalry man, the system was quite
different. Today, when a conventional army operation involves a tank, automatic
firing systems and missiles,
supported by massive air operations,
information is required to travel much faster, through electronic equipments.
Even if an operation is on a battalion level in a far-flung border area, the
Army Headquarters at New Delhi
is required to have blow-by-blow account on “one-up one down” basis. In other
words, a message travelling step by
step.
The Indian Army in the past and
now has maintained a good standard of communication too. Looking at the equipment the Corps of Signals
has today and the R&D efforts made by the Defence Ministry’s Bharat
Electronics Ltd. (BEL), one is inclined to believe that India is way ahead of others in the
region. Once our own satellites which our scientists have been launching from
time to time are being fully used for our defence communication networks, India’s
information system in the armed forces in times of operations will doubtlessly be as competent as that of advanced countries.
The Army Signals made a humble
beginning on February 15,
1911 with the establishment of two Companies. At that time most of
the Signal Officers and tradesmen were British. It was only in 1933 as part of
a drive towards Indianisation that a Boys Company was raised at Jabalpur. The World War II
saw a large-scale expansion of the Signals and its greater Indianisation 0to
meet the manpower requirement. With India declaring itself a Republic
on January 26, 1950,
the Signals were designated as the Corps of Signals---and the process of equipping the Corps with modern equipment started
in earnest. After the Chinese aggression
in 1962, heavy demands fell on the Signals. The vintage war equipment was
replaced by more sophisticated and modern systems.
The Corps of Signals was perhaps
the first in India
to launch the introduction of electronic data processing. Way back in 1964, it stressed the importance of computers as an essential tool for operational and administrative
management in the day-to-day use. It was then realized that design-making and
processing massive
amount of information and data in an ever-shrinking time-frame can only be possible with efficient computer services backing at
all levels. The military Exchange at
present handles on an average about 5,000 calls daily and the Signals Centre
about 3,000 messages per days from
the Army Headquarters. That is in peace time.
Imagine, what the position will be in time of war. Added to this is the
painstaking job of enciphering and deciphering the messages.
The phenomenal increase in the
density of electronic, electrical and electro-magnetic devices and systems
which the armed forces are required to use in a confined geographical area are
bound to generate electro- magnetic interference (EMI). It could prove catastrophic, rendering the
complete system totally ineffective. In
fact, this is one of the major problems on which the Defence scientists are
increasingly engaged, as the systems are upgraded regularly. A project study on the subject had been
undertaken sometime back with considerable success
to ensure the vital electro-magnetic compatibility. This has become more
relevant in the present-day context as the concept of warfare now is bound to extend from land,
air and sea to the dimension of electro-magnetic space. This is challenge
number one for the Signalmen of the armed forces.
Indeed, the Corps of Signals has
kept pace with the revolutionary progress
made in the field of communication electronics the world over. But what about the men of the Corps, required
to use the new equipment and systems? The personnel of the Corps, particularly the tradesmen at the
lower levels, are not being “sophisticated” at the speed on which the equipment
is being modernized, despite the fact that the training institutions have
increased in number and some Officers are sent abroad regularly to upgrade
their knowledge. Taken as a whole, the
quality of intake in the Indian Army has of late gone down. But in technical
arms like the Signals, this setback is alarming.
What really is happening is that
the electronics being a new field, qualified youngmen are finding better
prospects in civil employment. And,
alarmingly, the Officers and men of the Corps of Signals rush to put in their
papers the moment rules allow them to do so, to be able to take up more
lucrative civil opportunities. There is an urgent need to put a stop to this
trend, realizing that no war---conventional, nuclear or semi-nuclear---can be
fought without a fool-proof communication system. The Signals have always been
the Indian Army’s plus point, from the times when pigeons were used to convey
messages to the present-day
gadgets. The tradition need to be
maintained even with the latest, modern systems of communication. Any lapse on
this front would mean a crisis situation in the armed forces.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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