• Integrating friendly and

• Interdicting adversary space capabilities.

But this is not the Army’s first space vision. In fact, the Army’s original space policy dates back 65 years, to its inaugural 1959 policy-crafted at the outset of the first space age.

US Army’s Space Vision

The Army will integrate friendly joint and coalition space capabilities and interdict adversary space capabilities in support of ground force commanders.

The Army’s next fight will occur across multiple domains. Successful operations in and through the space domain will be critical to our success. Space has become more important as both enabler and dependency to our Warfighting. Commanders at all echelons have access to, rely on, and can be observed by the space-based assets of allies and competitors alike. Commanders must understand that space capabilities start and end on the ground and be fully aware of their importance in planning and operations. This means that understanding commercial, military, and scientific space platforms directly correlate to our ability to conceal and protect friendly ground forces across the entire battlespace, from home station to assembly areas, and from assembly areas to objectives. Simply put, we will be operating under constant surveillance and must invest in the knowledge and forces to counter threat space systems and enable our own space systems.

Army space professionals, at echelon, will lead the effort to increase understanding and integration of friendly joint and coalition space capabilities into our operations and activities while simultaneously interdicting the adversary’s use of space based, and space enabled capabilities. To do this, highly trained Army Soldiers and Civilians must be organized, have the right resources, kit, authorities, and expertise to:

• Integrate friendly joint, coalition, and commercial space capabilities in support of all Army Warfighting Functions to include positioning, navigation, and timing; deep sensing; beyond line-of-sight communications; force tracking; environmental monitoring; space domain awareness; and geospatial information.

• Interdict adversary space capabilities by delivering necessary fires and effects at echelon to protect friendly forces from observation and targeting by counter-satellite communications, counter-surveillance and reconnaissance, and navigation warfare operations.

To fight at echelon in and through space means employing the next generation of tactical terminals to leverage multi-orbit satellite communications services and access space-enabled tactical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms to meet deep sensing requirements. By fusing the data from multiple space-based sensors, in coordination with the intelligence community, the Army can deliver targetable intelligence to enable long-range precision fires, movement and maneuver, and command and control. These space capabilities, layered with stratospheric, high-altitude balloons and long endurance, semi-autonomous fixed-wing aircraft, can provide redundant and complementary capabilities for the theater to increase resiliency of the U.S. and Allied space architecture in a denied, disrupted, intermittent and Limited bandwidth environment. Mobile ground and aerial platforms demonstrate the potential to deliver space interdiction fires to deny adversary access to space capabilities, and disrupt their command and control, navigation, targeting and intelligence collection. Forward-postured Multidomain Task Forces, employing Army space interdiction forces alongside cyber operations and electronic warfare enablers, will disintegrate adversary anti-access and area-denial systems. Simultaneously, Theater Strike Effects Groups can synchronize and deliver Army space interdiction fires in support of theater targeting objectives.

Army space professionals are critical to Army Preparedness-to setting theaters, supporting deterrence, and enabling multidomain operations. Forward-stationed Army space organizations conduct continuous operational preparation of the environment during campaigning to help set conditions to defeat layered defenses and open contested theaters in crisis and conflict. These organizations build partnerships with close, highly capable allies to increase interoperability. Positioning Army space operators in theater with cyber and special operations forces allows for convergence, amplifying lethality and contributing to deterrence. Army space integration also supports and spans across all Army Branches and Warfighting Functions to build and navigate the multidomain common operating picture. For example, Army Signal integrates satellite communication services from the Department of Defense and external agencies to establish the networks vital to multidomain operations. The networked enterprise provides force tracking services to ensure joint and combined situational awareness, contributing to information advantage. Additionally, Army Intelligence leverages space-based assets to provide geospatial, signal, and all-source intelligence, enabling the Army and joint space interdiction fires necessary for multidomain operations.

Expeditionary, scalable, and mobile Army space formations, empowered by flexible command relationships at echelon, should move alongside and keep pace with ground combat formations to protect the force and enable the Army to deploy, fight and win decisively against any adversary.

Developing new space capabilities, organizations, and trained professional Soldiers to deliver effects for Army maneuver forces is critical to multidomain operations. Rapid proliferation and tactical application of competitor space capabilities will erode the advantages that ensure U.S. land dominance. To counter this challenge, current and future Army space integration and interdiction capabilities must enable multidomain operations for the Army.

The post SPACE US Army Space Vision Supporting Multi-domain Operations appeared first on IMR.

The post DRDO Starts Limited Production of AD-1 Missile for Enhanced BMD  appeared first on IMR.

With the advent of new technologies that have enabled new domains of warfare, the Indian Armed Forces must begin exploring how to exploit multi-domain operations as opposed to just land, air and maritime domain.

Cyber, Space and the Electromagnetic spectrum did not exist during previous conflicts.

Distributed, multi-domain and joint all domain operations (MDO and JADO) are fast becoming the defining doctrines of this new era.

Essentially, they are the synchronisation of aircraft, ground forces and vehicles, satellites and ships, their systems and all sources of data. Together they deliver a complete picture of the battlespace and empower personnel – in theatre or command – to quickly make decisions that drive action.

Cyberspace is a critical element of this new age of combat; as the electromagnetic spectrum itself – a string of frequencies from radio to microwaves, visible light, X-rays and gamma rays which transmit data – may become. The US, UK and others are looking ever more closely at it.

For future MDOs, artificial intelligence and machine learning will play a critical role, helping decipher data, determine its operational relevance and then present informed options for decision-making jointly across all Services.

If the Army can bring them together along with manoeuvre warfare, which is the Army’s strength, and integrate them at the time and point of choosing, this can open windows of domain superiority leading to denial of access and areas.

For example, Cyberspace can provide opening in the air domain by taking air defence weapons offline, which will then create openings for land and maritime, leading to a new level of complication for the enemy.

For example, when the enemy is engaging you with artillery or you are being engaged from the air, another domain brings in its effects to bear and neutralises the threat. It means you have to look at what equipment you need, what kind of network you need, what kind of training you need, and a lot of interoperability and inter-connectivity.

Cyber is ubiquitous across the battlefield and warfare. The Army has not yet made a beginning to use this domain to facilitate own operations or to disrupt the enemy’s. It does not have cyber forces. Cyber advisories and guidelines do not make up doctrines or methods to adopt in operations, much less in an integrated manner with other domains.

Russian forces have very expertly used the cyber domain to facilitate targeting with their artillery against Ukrainian ground forces demonstrating the ability to take action in one domain and produce an effect or dominate another domain.

The US Navy and Air Force are working on new technologies and capabilities through programmes like Project Overmatch and the Advanced Battle Management System, respectively. Together both forces have developed more than a dozen projects they are collaborating on, bringing all domains together to share and utilise information and assess and respond in synergy.

In the UK, this is being addressed by what the MoD calls the Digital Backbone, a digital transformation programme that will allow information sharing and communication regardless of the hardware being used.

We must at least learn from events in Ukraine, evolve our concepts, map out a phased delivery approach and experiment.

Air-Land Battle doctrine, once the flavour of studies at the Army War College involved two domains – air and land. That alone will not work in the future.

The Armed Forces are not currently organized or trained in this manner. The Training Commands of the three Services have a role and responsibility to integrate these capabilities.

Multi-domain warfare is something on which the Indian Armed Forces have to start at the very beginning and approach it from a joint aspect. Single service approach will just not do.

The goal is to better enable the Services to fight together effectively in all domains simultaneously, to present multiple dilemmas for the enemy. That will mean looking at how do we organize, how to equip and how to train to do that.

A new mindset is needed to enable multi-domain action.

The post EDITORIAL – Focus on Multi-domain Operations appeared first on IMR.

The GISAT-2, is among 21 planned procurements, including some long-term acquisitions as per information from the ministry of defence (MoD). And, the capability development/modernisation of the navy is being undertaken in accordance with the long-term plans being put in place for the next decade.

While the MoD has listed GISAT-2 for procurement this fiscal, the timeline for development of the satellite and launch have not been firmed up yet. Among the armed forces, the Navy has been ahead when it comes to acquiring satellites.

GISAT Family of Satellites

Geo Imaging Satellite (GISAT) is an Indian imaging satellite class for geostationary orbit with a high temporal resolution, meant for providing near real time imaging with fast revisit capability and real time monitoring. Two satellites will provide resolution in the range of 42 to 318 m. It will carry multi-spectral (Visible and Near-InfraRed, and Short Wave-InfraRed), multi-resolution (42 to 318 m) imaging instruments. The first satellite was launched on 12 August 2021 but failed to reach orbit as cryogenic upper stage of GSLV could not ignite. The second satellite, (GISAT-2) will be acquired by Indian Navy and will differ slightly in capabilities compared to GISAT-1.

GSAT-2 capabilities

The satellite’s final geostationary transfer orbit is of around 36,000 km. All Indian earth observation satellites have been placed somewhere around 600 km orbits so far and circle the earth pole to pole. The orbital slot where GISAT-1 will operate is 93.5° East this means that it will be collocated with INSAT 3A, INSAT 4B and GSAT 15.

Known instruments to be carried on GSAT-2 are:

•  Multi-spectral Visible Near Infrared (MX-VNIR)

•  Hyperspectral Imager – Visible Near Infrared (HyS-VNIR)

•  Hyperspectral Imager – Short Wave Infrared (HyS-SWIR)

•  Multispectral – Long Wave Infrared (MX-LWIR)

The geo imaging satellite will help keep a check on natural hazards and disasters, keep a constant watch on the border areas, and monitor any geographical changes.

It will be able to carry out rapid surveillance. It will rotate the earth and return the same spot every two hours and when needed, it can spend a longer time on certain areas.

GISAT has a lifespan of 7 years. The earth observation satellite weighs 2,100 kg. It is powered by a deployable solar array and batteries. GISAT is built on a modified I-1K (I-1000) Bus.

The GISAT-2 will be designed to provide near real-time images of large areas of region of interest at frequent intervals, which will help the navy not only in surveillance but also operations planning. Operating from a geostationary orbit (GEO), the satellite will facilitate near real-time observations under cloud-free conditions too.

A 2+tonne class satellite, GISAT-2, like GISAT-1 will be configured around the modified I-2k satellite bus. The payload specifications of GISAT-2 will differ from that of GISAT-1 and that ISRO is working on various payloads. The first one (GISAT-1) was for civilian use, but GISAT-2 is for strategic purposes and the Navy has very specific requirements which they (ISRO) need to meet. ISRO will be launching the satellite on the GSLV-Mk2 after obtaining financial clearances for the same.

Military Satellites

Currently, India has only two dedicated military satellites. The GSAT (Geosynchronous Satellite) satellites are India’s indigenously developed communications satellites. GSAT 7, launched in Aug 2013, enables the Indian Navy to acquire blue water capabilities and not depend on foreign satellites like Inmarsat, which provide communication services to its ships. GSAT-7A, launched in Dec 2018, is an advanced military communications satellite meant exclusively for the Indian Air Force.

On March 22, 2022, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN) for GSAT-7B satellite for the Indian Army (IA). The GSAT-7B satellite would help the Indian Army enhance its surveillance in border areas.

In November 2021, the DAC had accorded AoN for a 2,236-crore proposal by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to buy GSAT-7C satellite and ground hubs for improved real-time communication.

The post Navy to acquire dedicated GSAT-2 Satellite appeared first on IMR.

The launch was also the 75th launch vehicle mission from Sriharikota. About 7000 visitors witnessed the launch live. In 16 minutes after launch, RISAT-2BR1, weighs about 628 kg, was slung into an orbit of 576 km above Earth. It is expected to serve the forces for around 5 years.

After separation, the two solar arrays of RISAT-2BR1 were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite.

The nine foreign customer satellites were launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), were precisely injected into their designated orbits.

The new satellite gives the armed forces a shot in the arm with its ability to identify objects separated by 35cms. So in case of any future surgical strikes, the armed forces will be able to keep track of the developments continuously before and after they hit the designated targets and get military-grade images.

The 628kg RISAT-2BR1 satellite is meant for applications in various fields like agriculture, forestry and disaster management support, as well as military purposes. Its earlier version, RISAT-2B, was placed successfully in orbit in May 2019.

The PSLV has placed around 310 foreign satellites with the first mission in September 1993. PSLV’s payload capacity has increased from 860 kg to 1.9 tonnes and the “versatile vehicle” has carried 52.7 tonne so far, 17 per cent of which was customer satellites. Some significant launches by PSLV include Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and the record launch of 104 satellites in one go earlier.

ISRO plans to launch RISAT-1A in 2020. It will be a Radar imaging satellite, with its configuration similar to RISAT-1. It is a land-based mission with primary application in terrain mapping and analysis of land, ocean and water surface for soil moisture.

The first dual-band radar imaging satellite with Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR, a joint project between NASA and ISRO (NISAR) to be used for remote sensing, will be launched in 2022.

Indian Military Satellites

RISAT-2, or Radar Imaging Satellite 2

Launched on 20 April 2009

Main sensor – X-band synthetic aperture radar

To monitor India’s borders

Mass of 300 kilograms

Day-night, all-weather monitoring capability

Cartosat-2 Earth observation satellite

Sun-synchronous orbit

Weight 680 kg

Launched on 10 January 2007.

panchromatic (PAN) camera

Swath covered 9.6 km

Spatial resolution less than 1 metre.

Cartosat-2A  Earth observation satellite

Sun-synchronous orbit

Launched on 28 April 2008

Panchromatic (PAN) camera 

CARTOSAT 2B Earth observation satellite

Sun-synchronous orbit

Launched on 12 July 2010 C

Carries a panchromatic (PAN) camera

Cartosat-2E Earth observation satellite

Launched on 23 June 2017

Mass 712 kilograms

Sun-synchronous orbit 

Panchromatic Camera (PAN)

High-Resolution Multi-Spectral radiometer

Resolution of 2 metres.

GSAT-7 or INSAT-4F  multi-band military communications satellite

For the Indian Navy

Launched 30 August 2013.

Payloads in UHF, C band and Ku band.

Weight 2,650 kilograms

Geosynchronous orbit

2,000 nautical mile ‘footprint’ over the Indian Ocean Region

GSAT-7A  military communications satellite

For the Indian Air Force and Indian Army

Interlinks ground radar stations, ground airbase, aircraft to aircraft

Real-time Control System, AWACSaircraft

Payload  10 Ku band transponders

Weight 2,250 kilograms

Launched on 19 December 2018

HySIS Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite

Earth observation satellite

Provides hyperspectral imaging services

Payload Visible Near Infrared (VNIR)

Shortwave Infrared Range (SWIR)

Spatial resolution 30 meters

Swath of 30 km

Sun-synchronous orbit.

Launched 29 November 2018

Features of Cartosat-3 Satellite

Mean Altitude – 509 km

Mean Inclination (in degree) – 97.5

Overall Mass – 1625 kg

Power Generation – 2000W

Mission Life – 5 Years

====================

RISAT-2BR1 Satellite 2

RISAT-2BR1 is a synthetic-aperture radar imaging satellite for reconnaissance built by Indian Space Research Organisation. It is part of India’s RISAT series of SAR imaging spacecrafts and fourth satellite in the series. Launch date: 11 December 2019

Manufacturer: ISRO

Launch mass: 628 kg

Perigee altitude: 560 km

Apogee altitude: 560 km

Rocket: PSLV-QL C48

Mission type: Radar imaging

Mission duration: Planned 5 years

Application: Disaster Management System

                Earth Observation

Orbit Type: LEO

The post C4ISR : Surveillance Satellite RISAT-2BR1 Launched appeared first on IMR.