Night Vision & Electro-optics Webinar and Virtual Expo was organised by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) and Indian Military Review on 16-19 Jan 2021.

Inaugural Session

Welcoming the delegates, Lt Gen Sunil Srivastava, Director, CENJOWS stated that the aim of the seminar was to bring together all the stakeholders in discussing and resolving issues pertaining to building night vision capability of the Armed Forces. The need of the hour, he said, was to reduce the OODA loop, increase battlefield transparency and use technology to stay ahead of the adversary. Night vision and optronic devices provide this key situational advantage to the soldier and can be used in all spectrum of ops which holds great advantages. Use technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine language (ML), Big Data, 5G and IOT and integration of these to work in autonomous mode and linkages with command and control centres needs to done in earnest, because whoever controls the night will win the battle. The user, private industry, DPSUs, academia should come together to create an environment which overcomes the procedural bottlenecks and ensure self sufficiency in this field which will also be aligned with the Atmanirbhar Bharat policy.

Keynote Address. Lt Gen HS Kahlon, Director General Capability Development, Army HQ highlighted the prevailing security environment, especially along our Northern Borders, the impact of the pandemic, the reality of a two-front war and the economic challenges in modernising the Army. He referred to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and the role of technology in future wars. Night Vision Devices (NVD) were critical for battlefield transparency and have played a critical role in Kargil war and counter-insurgency (CI) operations. The future needs of the forces in this critical area should be met by indigenous technology and the Industry should rise to the challenge. He said that the procurement procedure was being streamlined and a number of steps were being taken to reduce the delays and bottlenecks in procurement, which included priority to Indegenous Design Development & Manufacture (IDDM), trials through a central organisation like the Trials Wing, clear formulation of Staff Qualitative Requirements (SQR), greater interaction with industry, encouraging ideas and innovation through IDEX, etc. Aligned with the Atmanirbhar policy, the emphasis would be on procuring equipment through indigenous sources. He exhorted all the participants to interact and find vibrant solutions for developing NVDs in India.

Theme Address. Lt Gen Anil Kumar Samantara, Director General Infantry, Army HQ, said that the requirement of NVDs would be an important battle winning factor in times to come. The situation on our Northern borders had clearly shown that the need of the hour was to equip soldiers with reliable and technologically advanced equipment, which should be indigenous as the threat is real and present. The technologies should be futuristic and be robust enough to withstand the harsh and adverse weather conditions as seen in Ladakh. He emphasised the need to invest in technologies in the cooled and uncooled thermal imaging (TI) system, image intensifier (II) tubes and electro-optic (EO) systems of 3rd generation and beyond, Sights for weapons and ballistic computer sights were all planned to be procured. Surveillance capability in super high altitude areas (HAA) needed to be improved. The problem statements had been finalised and shared with the industry. All stakeholders should now work together to create innovative solutions with a proactive approach.

Industry Sponsor’s Presentation. Mr Ved Prakash, Head Optronics, Tata Advanced System gave the industry perspective and highlighted the strides made by the industry in developing indigenous NVD and EO devices. He gave an overview of the work being done by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) in this field and the product range being developed. He highlighted the excellent infrastructure which had been created by the company for R&D and testing. These products were compatible with the JSS 5555 and MIL 810 standards and were best in class. In order to incentivise the Industry, he recommended that the NVD and EO equipment should be included in the new negative import list, all future procurements in this field should be categorised IDDM, vendors should be allowed to field one product per EMD so as to reduce the complexity of trials and the SQRs should be of the best and latest world standards.

Industry Perspective. Col KV Kuber, Director Defence and Aerospace, Ernst & Young gave a historical insight on the evolution of NVDs and EO devices and highlighted the need to increase fundamental research in this field. He also spoke about the technologies being used around the world and the need to shift to high resolution, multi-spectral domain. He stated that the defence public sector undertakings (DPSU) had the advantage of securing revenue procurements and they also participate in capital procurement cases while the presence of private industry in revenue procurements was negligible. This needs to change in order to encourage private industry. There is huge potential of growth in this field as these are required by CAPFs and state Govts also, thus we should synergise the R&D efforts so as to be totally self sufficient in NVDs and EO eqpt. The EY-IMR report on NVDs and Electro-optics was released at the end of the session.

Session 2 – Emerging Technologies

The session was chaired by Maj Gen KV Jauhar, Addl DG, Army Design Bureau. He gave an overview of the use of technology in modern wars and the far reaching impact of these on war fighting. He spoke about the need of aerial intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance (ISR) resources for the Army and the new initiatives being undertaken in concert with the private industry, academia, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and DPSUs in developing indigenous best-in-class products and capability. He highlighted the need to bring down the life cycle costs of acquisitions as budget constraints would always be an important consideration.

Mr Vaibhav Gupta, Director, MKU Ltd gave an overview of the company with special reference to their focus on R&D and producing world class products. He gave insight into the products being manufactured by the company especially NVDs, where the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology was being used for image processing thus giving excellent results.

Dr N Ranjana, Director DSTA, DRDO spoke of the importance of technology in ISR arena and the improvements taking place in sensors, materials, computation, integration, costs, etc. The use of quantum and nano technology along with AI, ML and incorporating cameras with panoramic vision & FPA technology would transform this field in the future. She highlighted that the Indian industry and R&D organisations have taken great strides in this field and should continue R&D to create the futuristic equipment indigenously.

MrAmbareesh Dixit from HGH group spoke about the growth and the products being developed by his company and gave a detailed talk on the test and measurement products being created for the NVDs and EO devices and how these could help in ensuring higher effectiveness of the devices even in field conditions.

Mr Ronen Sharashov, Director of Marketing, SCD spoke about the leadership position which the Israeli firm had acquired globally and the advanced technologies and IR products which were being developed by the firm for defence applications.

Mr Vinod Yadav from TASL gave an overview of Tata group and its global customer base. He highlighted the product portfolio of his company, the optronic infrastructure created and R&D being done by the company in NVDs and EO systems. He also spoke about the future trends in the field of multi spectral sensor fusion, higher FOM, Data fusion and use of AI/ ML for autonomous systems, etc.

Session 3 – NVD Requirements

This session was chaired by Maj Gen Sanjay Rihani, Addl DG Information Systems, Army HQ. He highlighted the importance of technology in winning modern wars, the 24×7 nature of warfare and increased transparency, lethality and mobility which will make the use of NVDs and EO systems imperative. He gave an overview of the roadmap for night enablement of the Indian Army and the steps being taken to meet the given timelines.

Col Amitoz Singh, Colonel Infantry-8, Directorate General of Infantry, Army HQ gave an insight into the requirements of NVDs and EO systems by the Infantry for soldiers, personal weapons and crew served weapons. He gave a detailed presentation on the status of various procurement cases and the future plans. He also covered the future of infantry soldiers in so far as equipment was concerned, which also included NVDs. He highlighted the need for producing robust and effective indigenous equipment by Indian companies.

GpCapt Manu Singh from the Air HQ outlined the IAF’s needs for NVDs and EO equipment. He covered operational dynamics and peculiarities in use of NVDs by the Air Force and also gave existing capabilities and challenges of NVDs held with IAF. He covered two problem statements pertaining to NVGs to be used for application of non-smart weapons and technical alternatives for NVGs for pilots. He emphasised the need to provide cost-effective Made in India solutions.

Capt (IN) Rajneesh Dalal, Capt (SR) Gun, Directorate of Staff Requirements, Naval HQ covered the requirements of the Indian Navy for NVDs and EO equipment in short, medium and long term periods. He highlighted the peculiarities of naval operations, the limitations of radars and the need to use EO devices to increase battlefield awareness, which was a critical aspect of the maritime operations keeping in mind the high degree of manoeuvre this environment possesses. He gave out the key naval requirements for the EO devices in the sub surface, surface and the aerial arenas of maritime operations.

Session 4 – Sub Conventional Operations

This session was chaired by Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi, Editor of Indian Military review. He highlighted the importance of technology in winning modern wars and how the use of hand-held TI (HHTI) and the border fence in the early days of insurgency had reduced infiltration in Jammu & Kashmir. The use of EO devices would give great advantage to the soldiers in the Line of Control (LC), Line of Actual Control (LAC) environments due to the 24×7 nature of warfare and increased transparency.

Mr Sandeep Shah, Managing Director, Optimized Electrotech gave an overview of his company, highlighting the product portfolio. The company was producing world class products, which were rugged and usable in all weather and field conditions. He further highlighted that the company was aligned with the Atmanirbhar call and the products were completely being made in India.

Maj Gen Mandeep Singh, Addl DG Rashtriya Rifles spoke on operational scenario in CI operations and the propensity to carry out most operations in day time in order to overcome the limitation of visual feedback and the need to reduce collateral damage. He emphasised the importance of NVDs and EO devices in giving great advantage to the soldiers in night operations, which provided surprise element in the conduct of operations. However, the scaling and availability of these devices was limited, thus forcing very few night operations. He highlighted the changed paradigm and the need to scale these to each soldier and procure the latest equipment for assisting soldiers to adopt new tactics in the CI grid. He spoke about the future requirements of these devices for the Rashtriya Rifles and procurement timelines.

Mr KS Banyal, Inspector General Border Security Force (BSF) spoke on the challenges in border management at night operations and gave a brief introduction about the terrain along the international boundary (IB) with Pakistan and Bangladesh, where BSF was operating. He highlighted the precarious nature of border management operations, especially at night and the importance of using electro-optical devices to gain advantage over the adversary. He also spoke about the ineffectiveness of NVDs in foggy/ bad weather and the need to have all-weather systems. He also gave an overview of the steps being taken to make the borders secure with fencing, lighting and electronic means being increasingly co-opted in most areas.

Session 5 – Day-2 Inaugural Session

Lt Gen Sunil Srivastava, Director, CENJOWS welcomed all participants and flagged the important issues which had been highlighted a day earlier.

Inaugural Address. Lt Gen KS Brar, Director General Armoured Corps gave the inaugural address and highlighted the need for the user to understand technology so as to work with the innovators in creating effective solutions for the Services. He highlighted that the NVDs and EO systems were not standalone devices and need to be integrated with other systems for achieving effective results. There was, thus, a need for a systems integrator to co-opt all the systems and come up with solutions required by the users. He further stated that there is a need to synergise technology at the national, Tri-service and Service level. This would give great dividends and ensure cost effectiveness. He highlighted the need to upgrade equipment as all equipment could not be state-of-the-art, therefore, there was adequate scope in all arenas of technology development for the industry with some working in upgrading equipment while others created disruptive technologies.

Session 6 – Night Vision Devices For Platforms

This session was chaired by Air Vice Marshal PM Sinha, Asst Chief of Air Staff Operations (Offensive), Air HQ. He highlighted the importance of night fighting in the current environment and the need to create this capability in platforms, weapons and ISR to reduce the fog of war and prevent fratricide.

Col Vikas Magar from Army Aviation Corps gave a talk on Night Operations by Army Aviation helicopters and spoke about the existing capabilities of night operations by Army Aviation, the NVD equipment available worldwide and the requirements of Army Aviation in the future. He highlighted the need to procure light-weight, high-resolution devices using white phosphorous so as to reduce fatigue of the pilot while achieving better accuracy and clarity.

Col Gurpreet Singh, Colonel FRCV, Directorate General of Mechanised Forces, spoke about the Night Fighting Capability of Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs). He gave a historical background of the use of technology in AFVs, the necessity of night enablement, the current status of the Mechanised Forces in this field and the future requirements to overcome limitations in night fighting. He also spoke of the technologies which were desired, the platforms in which this technology was required as also the different types of NVDs being procured for AFVs, viz, commanders, gunners and drivers devices with their specific requirements. He deliberated on the question that whether technology should drive the tactics or it should be other way around.

Col Abhijit Singh, Colonel Artillery-9, Artillery Directorate Army HQ spoke about Surveillance and Target Acquisition by Night. He gave an overview of the importance of ISR in a battlefield, the requirement of NVDs and EO equipment for surveillance and target acquisition and the linkages between the sensors and shooters. He highlighted the need for greater interaction between the users and industry for ensuring speedy procurement.

Session 7 – Night Vision Devices For Platforms

This session was chaired by Lt Gen Anjan Mukherjee, former Consultant OFB & former Director General Artillery. He stated that night fighting capability was an amalgamation of a number of technologies such as EO, EM, fusion, short wave infrared (SWIR), integration with composites and light weight materials, AI, etc. The need of the hour was to produce indigenous equipment which was usable in field conditions and aligned with AtmaNirbhar policy. The aim should be to provide solutions for day-to-day problems of the user rather than showcasing technology.

Dr Sudhir Khare, Scientist G, IRDE, DRDO spoke on future trends and emerging technologies in IR imaging for defence applications. He gave a detailed presentation on the excellent work being carried out by IRDE in this field. He highlighted that most research and equipment provided to the Services, be it for AFVs or infantry or artillery had been conceived and developed at IRDE. He highlighted that research on advanced technologies was also being undertaken and also shared with the private industry. He spoke on the technology trends in this field, the gaps in our capabilities and the way ahead to overcome them.

Mr Abhijit Chakraborty spoke about the latest trends in NVDs in the Indian context. He explained the latest trends in the II tubes, the importance of using the right technology for the specific equipment and the suitability of green light to reduce fatigue as compared to white phosphorous.

Mr Sourabh Bhaskar, Works Manager, Ordnance Factory, Dehradun gave a detailed presentation on the yeoman work being carried out his Ordnance Factory in productionising, testing and maintenance of NVDs in India. He gave an insight into the design aspects and the challenges faced in manufacturing NVDs in India.

Closing Address

Lt Gen Sunil Srivastava, Director, CENJOWS, highlighted the advances which have taken place in the indigenous manufacture of NVDs and EO devices in India. He stated that the seminar had clearly brought out the increased capability of our industry in this field and it was reassuring for all stakeholders that the future appeared bright. He, however, flagged the need to synergise efforts and have jointness in QRs, protocols and systems. Future wars would involve distributed war fighting, autonomous decision making, all weather 24×7 operations, miniaturisation and use of high technologies like AI, ML at individual soldier level. We need to ensure that the systems created are aligned towards these futuristic requirements.

Vote of Thanks

Maj Gen Ravi Arora, Chief Editor, Indian Military Review thanks all sponsors, exhibiters, delegates, speakers and CENJOWS for their particopatuion and help in making the event successful.

Recommendations

•             Gaps in capabilities should be addressed in a synergised manner with participation of DRDO and private industry together.

•             Private vendors must be encouraged and certain amount of hand-holding was essential to find innovative solutions under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. One suggestion which emerged was to include all NVDs and EO equipment in the negative list for exports. There is need for infusion of investment and technology.

•             There was need of level playing field for all the manufacturers especially for private players in the revenue procurements where the DPSUs and Government agencies had a monopoly. Lack of proper specifications by the users and limitations of procurement from single vendor resulted in delays in procurement.

•             Formulation of QRs based on the latest technology will allow faster growth and also assist the forces in acquiring world class equipment. There was need to prioritize and plan procurement of NVDs of all the Services in concert.

•             The delays in procurement need to be addressed at all levels. The procedures should not dictate the pace of procurement by becoming all important. There is need to streamline formulation of QRs, conduct of trials and training of personnel. initiatives underway should be given traction.

•             Requirement of night vision capability by armed forces especially Infantry, Artillery and Armoured Corps was shared with the industry in detail. The Air Force and Navy highlighted their requirements especially for increased battled transparency and alternatives for NVG for pilots. It is for the industry to now come uo with solutions for these needs.

•             Use of technology to overcome limitations of weather especially fog was highlighted by all the users and industry was asked to come up with innovative solutions.

•             There has to be greater synergy between all the stake holders. User must understand technology so as to ask for the right equipment. This would also help in framing appropriate QRs. Use of IDEX and other initiatives to sponsor innovation needs to be encouraged.

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Inaugural Session

Welcome Address. Welcoming the delegates, Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, Director CENJOWS, averred that interaction with troops on the frontline had revealed that night vision devices (NVD) were lacking both in quantity and contemporary quality. China on the other hand, has invested heavily in high technology equipment, including NVDs. India has to urgently increase its night vision surveillance capabilities to ensure optimum security of its borders. Despite the scaling of NVDs for the Indian Army being finalized, the shortfall of large number of NVDs still existed. He hoped that the Indian armed forces would get the required night vision capabilities at the earliest for effective defence of land borders, air space and long coastline, as also to undertake operational offensive operations in all three domains.

Inaugural Address. Lt Gen SS Hasabnis, DEputy Chief of Army Staff (P&S), Army HQ, said that the Indian Army had to be prepared for conventional, multi-domain and hybrid warfare. The Indian Armed Forces have to follow a threat-cum-capability approach when equipping themselves to deal with such warfare. The counter-insurgency/counter-terrorist (CI/CT) operations and Line of Control (LoC) monitoring requires 24×7 effort. Thus, NVDs can make such operations effective during nighttime as well as during bad weather conditions. He also highlighted that surveillance of the battlefield was a tactical level issue till a few decades back. However, it has now moved to the operational level. Also, war fighting has largely shifted to non-conventional operations and this necessitated a modification in surveillance philosophy. We now need to equip soldiers with night vision from sub-tactical level to operational and strategic levels.

Keynote Address. Lt Gen Sanjay Verma, Director General Weapons & Equipment, Army HQ brought out that the technology changes in NVDs had moved very fast. The Army soldiers and Air Force pilots now want latest Generation-3 NVDs. However, there was a gap between perception of industry and the actual requirements of the armed forces, as far as NVDs were concerned. He mentioned that while the Image Intensifier devices (IIDs) progressed from Generation 0 to Generation 3 in 70 years, the Thermal Imaging (TI) devices had changed the dynamics completely. In 2019-20, the Armed Forces were looking for fusion of II and TI techniques into a single device, as also its integration with the weapon so as to exploit the strengths of both technologies in operations. He also exhorted the industry to try and integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into II/TI fused devices; and may be go a step further and provide an underlay of digital maps and global positioning system (GPS) feed into such devices.

Theme Address. Maj Gen JS Sandhu, Additional DG Infantry, Army HQ, emphasized that the weapon in the field was as good as the night sight on it. Thus, the critical requirements for NVDs were weapon compatible ranges, ruggedness, easy sustainability and adequate power requirements. The biggest challenge for the soldier was carriage of multiple power banks at remote posts or during patrolling. A common power bank/charging system would greatly help in reducing the load on the soldier especially for special operations. Moreover, NVDs should be able to withstand vagaries of weather, have in-built GPS and laser range finder (LRF), and be easily portable and maintainable. He said that the Infantry arm intends to upgrade the procurement of II and TI sights for small arms and sniper rifles in batches, to ensure timely upgrades with evolution of technology. He also exhorted the industry to interact and engage freely with the procurers so as to clearly understand the user requirements and explain their products comprehensively.

Session  1–Emerging Technologies

Maj Gen AK Channan, Additional DG Perspective Planning & Head Army Design Bureau, chaired the session and explained the importance of having superior NVDs in operational conditions. He said that the there had been a paradigm shift in the surveillance techniques at the sub-conventional level and in border guarding role. In such a situation, efforts must be made to shorten the sensor-to-shooter loop. Also, the next level of technology should aim at the convergence/fusion of all images into a single networked equipment so that commanders are able to get a comprehensive picture of their area of interest. He invited the representatives from the industry to present their products and technologies and stressed that future NVDs also must cater for measures to guard against counter-NVD devices.

Ronen Sharashov from Semi-conductor Devices, Israel spoke on “Infrared Detectors for Defence Applications.” He gave a detailed presentation on the role and significance of using Infra-Red (IR) detectors for airborne, maritime, land and space applications. He explained the extensive range of cooled and uncooled detectors based on a variety of sensing materials across the entire IR spectrum, viz, NIR, SWIR, MWIR and LWIR.

Bhanu Pratap of VVDN Technologies spoke on “Design Manufacturing in Technology Innovation.” VVDN has end-to-end product development capabilities with special refernce to thermal imaging equipment, which includes PCB and Firmware Development, Mechanical Design, Camera Testing, Compliance with State of the art Infrastructure, Video Management System. All cameras are designed, developed and manufactured in India by VVDN with Source Code availability. VVDN has the capability to customize specifications as per requirements. VVDN Technologies utilises AI, machine learning, big-data analytics technologies to produce innovative solutions to complex problems related to national security and defence. VVDN has a global footprint with nine design and delivery centres, four manufacturing facilites and six global sales offices.

Munjal Shah of Paras Defence made a presentation on use of advanced technologies to produce high quality optical products which are the main components of all MVDs. He said that his company had five vertical to offer products and solutions – Defence & Space Optics, Defence Electronics, Heavy Engineering, EMP Solutions and Niche Technologies. In the Defence & Space verticals, their products included IR lenses, optical domes, difractive gratings, multi-fold lenses, large size space mirrors and metal reflectors & mirrors. Munjal Shah explained the exceptional optical performance of coated Germanium lenses of various thicknesses. Theirs was India’s only company manufacturing Diffractive Gratings for Space Hyperspectral Imaging System, ZnS Domes & Windows, Saphire Domes and Gyro Blocks & Coated Resonator Shells. Their latest offering was precision zoom lenses.

Prachi Gupta of MKU Ltd spoke on “Night Vision – The Benefits of Indigenisation.” She explained the higher costs of imports vis a vis benefits of indigenization which allows for customisation, control over quality and after sales service. She recounted MKU’s business activities and strengths in soldier systems. MKU had Class 10,000 clean rooms and used latest Gen-3 technologies. MKU has supplied equipment to over 230 forces worldwide. It has expertise in optics, electronics and product design for II weapon sights, monoculars and binoculars. She explained the features of Netro NV3000, TW4000, TW4100, NC3000 and TM4100 II sights for various weapons, helmet-mounted binoculars, monoculars and so on.

Vinod Yadav of Tata Power SED, speaking on “Technologies and solutions in EO Domain,” gave an expose on the technologies and solutions in the electro-optical domain.

Session 2–NVD Requirements

Air Marshal Anil Chopra, former Head of Flight Test Centre (ASTE), chaired the session and explained that the first requirement was that the soldier must be equipped properly and be able to see the battlefield clearly. Secondly, he should be able to communicate the battlefield picture upwards to his commanders. He, thereafter, asked the officers from the three Services to spell out their requirements for NVDs keeping these imperatives in mind.

Col Amitoz Singh, Colonel Infantry-8, Directorate General of Infantry, Army HQ, spoke on Infantry Requirements. He explained the scales of all types of NVDs and weapon sights, the quantities for which procurement action had been initiated and the technical requirements of each. He spoke of clip-on type II and TI sights for carbine and assault rifles. He laid out a time line of one and half to two years for procurement of first batch of NVDs, followed by staggered purchases of small quantities, but more frequently.

Col Surya Prakash, Colonel Artillery-9, Directorate General of Artillery, Army HQ, spoke on Artillery’s Requirements. He stressed that LORROS had been the bedrock of surveillance, fall of shot correction and recording at the LoC. He wished that the TI devices had foliage penetration capability and recommended that the industry look at combining the electro-optics and radars for comprehensive all weather, uninterrupted surveillance.

Gp Capt AK Wahi, Group Captain Operations (Space), Air HQ, spoke on Air Force requirements. He explained the peculiarities of the airborne medium, citing that there was a huge problem of too many light sources, as opposed to their absence in the ground environments. He said that NV goggles had huge limitations in fog, mist and smoke, which could have disastrous consequences in the airborne operations, but the pilots could land in total darkness using FLIR. He recommended panoramic (110 degrees) coverage for NVGs, runway and cockpit modifications to suit both, IR and visual modes and better cameras for IR on aircraft.

Capt (IN) Robin Chakravorty, Captain SR (Gun), Directorate of Staff Requirements, Naval HQ, spoke on Indian Navy’s Requirements. He explained the NVDs required for naval ships, aircraft and Special Forces. He stressed on the imperative of all-round field of vision for NVDs, along with stability in roll, pitch and yaw axes for naval platforms. Further, the NVDs must be able to function in multi-spectral domain, to cater for all conditions.

Session 3–Challenges In Combat Operations

Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi, chaired the session and emphasized that the night and all weather fighting ability would be the most critical component of revolution in military affairs (RMA) in future battles. Highlighting the necessity of having NVDs of mixed/different ranges to meet the requirement of varying terrain like high altitude, jungle, riverine or deserts having their own peculiarities, he asked the officers from the Army and central armed police forces (CAPFs) to bring forth the challenges faced in their domains during combat operations.

Col Gurpreet Singh, Colonel Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV), Directorate General of Mechanised Forces, spoke on “Mechanised Forces in Night Operations.” He briefed the audience about battlefield environment and various conflict scenarios which were ever evolving with varying factors of space, probability and high visibility. He highlighted the night enablement and timely connectivity at night as core issues for mechanised forces’ operations.

Brig AN Kukreti, Brigadier Infantry B, Infantry Directorate, Army HQ, spoke on “Enhancing Infantry Operations by Night.” He emphasized the requirement of NVDs for foot soldiers in terms of improved detection, recognition, identification, day & night continuous capability, integration, maintenance & sustenance, reduction in size, weight, cost and power consumption and, lastly, ease of operations. He recommended that future night sights should be modular, with a common basic structure and add-ons based on requirements, for enabling better flexibility and easy upgrades.

NS Jamwal, Inspector General, Frontier HQ, BSF Jammu, gave a presentation on “Challenges in Border Management at Night.” He comprehensively covered all the borders of India, their peculiarities, challenges in dominating them, the electro-optical gadgets available and problems faced by the BSF.

Session 4–R&D and

Maintenance Support

Lt Gen Anjan Mukherjee, Consultant Ordnance Factory Board former DG Artillery, chaired the session and spelt out that major sustenance issues for NVDs were lack of infrastructure, SMTs/STEs, literature, expertise and spares. There was also a need for adequacy of resources, low sustenance cost and obsolescence management of NVDs. Hence, there was a need to build a relationship with the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) beyond the contract stipulations so that their expertise and assistance was available for sustenance until the equipments were in service.

HK Sharma, Principal Scientific Officer, CQA AVA, Avadi, spoke on Quality Control of Night Vision & Electro-optic Devices. He gave out the classification of NVDs and their components requiring quality checks. He went into details of various parameters – image quality, response, noise, resolution, accuracy, geometric, operational and spectral. He also explained the quality test and their procedures.

Benjamin Lionel, Outstanding Scientist and & Director, Instrument Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) DRDO, spoke on  “Latest Developments in Night Vision Devices in India.” He touched upon the design, fabrication, thin film coating and assembly of day and night II and TI optical systems and progress made in dual mode (day & IIR) seekers and Infrared Search & Track Systems.

Sourabh Bhaskar, Works Manager, Ordnance Factory Dehradun (OFD), spoke on “Manufacture of NVDs, sights and EO Equipment.” He explained the facilities available and work being carried out by OFD. OFD  was working on latest dual band thermal imaging fusion technology with Low Light Level sensor in consultation with IIT. OFD was also working on manufacturing of 12.7 mm SRCG (Stabilized Remote Controlled Gun) for the Indian Navy through transfer of technology and development of LIGHTS (Laser Illuminated Guidance & Homing Targeting system) and CAMOPS (Compact Airborne Multi Sensor Optic Payload System) Project.

Maj Gen SS Suhag, Additional DG EME, Army HQ, spoke on  “Sustainment challenges in Electro-optics equipment.” He said that since India’s private industry was progressively becoming technically advanced, especially in the field of NVDs, there was a need for the industry to set up forward repair bases at major Army locations. He felt that annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) based on component replacement approach, particularly for foreign sourced items, were a major drain on Army’s revenue budget. He, therefore, proposed to build in-house repair facilities, particularly for card and ICBs with active collaboration of Indian private players, so as to break the monopoly of foreign propriety vendors.

Valedictory Session

Valedictory Address. Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, Director CENJOWS pointed out that after scaling, the requirement of NVDs for Infantry alone was above 4 lakhs. Thus overall requirement for the three Services was not only huge, but massive. In addition, the BSF patrolling the 4096 km long border with Bangladesh required large numbers of NVDs for better border management. He felt that the formulation of GSQRs/PSQRs must be prepared by consensus of all stake holders, with due inputs and technological advice of industry. Towards this, he reiterated that CENJOWS had a mandate to bring the industry and users on the same platform and exhorted the industry to use CENJOWS as the via-media for interacting and sending suggestions to relevant users and policy makers in the Government.

Vote of Thanks. Maj Gen Ravi Arora, Chief Editor IMR and Seminar Coordinator, concluded the seminar by thanking the participants and sponsors of the event.

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The Army has launched a hunt for image intensifier (II) and thermal imaging (TI)-based night sights for a total of 56,000 7.62X51 mm assault rifles, according to the RFIs. II-based night sights amplify ambient light for detecting targets, while TI sights spot targets by their body heat. The Army wants 40,000 II-based night sights and 16,000 TI-based night sights.

This is part of the Army’s effort to make up huge deficiencies in night fighting capabilities

Requirements of NVDs and EO Devices

An essential requirement is for the soldier to use his weapon sight for surveillance. The power source for the II sights should preferably provide for continuous surveillance, whereas, for the TI-based sights power would be required for confirmatory and not continuous role. Detachment of soldiers should also be able to estimate range, wind speed and altitude.

Recent Developments

•             SIG 716 assault rifles are under delivery. They require reflex, telescopic, II and TI sights.

•             Reflex, telescopic, II and TI scopes are required for 5.56x45mm carbines and 7.62x51mm light machine guns (LMG), whose procurement process through fast track procedure (FTP) is under progress.

•             Telescopic sights and night scopes are required for balance quantity of LMGs for which Request for Proposals (RfP) has been issued.

•             Night scopes are required for .338 sniper rifles, whose procurement process is under progress.

•             Acceptance of necessity (AoN) for telescopic sights for assault rifles and thermal sights for medium machine guns has been granted by the Defence Acquisition Council.

•             A case for night sights (TI) for ASG 30 automatic grenade launcher is at the pore-AoN stage.

•             A case for TI sights for 84mm rocket launcher (RL) is at the pre-AoN stage.

Requirements for Small Arms

In the case of close quarter battle (CQB) weapons, ie, for ranges under 300 metres, the Infantry is looking for reflex sights with magnifier (3x) for employment during day and II-based ‘clip on’ sights for night fighting (with Figure of Merit (FOM) > 1700).

For longer range weapons, ie 300-800 metres, the Infantry is looking for telescopic sights (4x or 5x) for daylight employment and TI sights 9’clip on’ or standalone) for night fighting. Specifications should be FPA format minimum 640×480 pixels and pitch 17/12 microns.

For support weapons like LMGs, MMGs, etc, the Infantry is looking for Integrated Day complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) & Night (TI) sights, ballistic computers, GPS, Laser range finder and digital magnetic compass (DMC), requiring minimum or no modification to the weapon to bring it into use.

Night Fighting Enablement Road Map

Passive night sights (PNS) for small arms (SA) which are in service have a FOM of 950. Their maximum range is 200 metres with moonlight conditions. For supporting weapons weapon sights available are bulky. For surveillance, the PNVGs and PNVBs which are in service have poor ergonomics and performance. The hand-held thermal imagers (HHTI) in use are bulky and noisy.

In the short term, the Infantry wants to increase the scales of TI and II devices by 10 times; go for increase in the FOM of short-range II devices to 1700 and of long range TI devices to 12 microns. For support weapons  too, it would like to go scale the TI devices and opt for ‘clip on’ and indigenous fire control system (FCS). In the case of surveillance devices, it wants substantial increase in their scaling, besides silent and light HHTI (uncooled), integrated LRF, GPS and DMC.

In the long term, the as far as night sights go, Infantry plans to review the QRs (min FOM 2200), explore SMART sights and increase the level of indigenisation through R&D. For support weapons, Infantry wants customised solutions through R&D, aiming for development of network integration and use of artificial intelligence (AI). For surveillance devices, Infantry wants industry to provide data transmission and networking options as well as AI enhanced devices.

Future Upgrades

For the infantry, exotic devices like Panoramic Goggles, Head-up Display and data connectivity of individual devices is part of their future plans. So also in the case of surveillance devices, devices with fusion technology, HHTI with LRF and GPS, devices based on short wave infra red (SWIR), data storage and connectivity are part of projected planning and not immediate needs.

R&D for NVDs

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is currently developing night vision equipment for the Indian Army tank crew. It has supplied 300 TI-NVDs for T-72 tanks and around 2000+ are on the way to production. The range of these devices is around 3 km and DRDO is currently working on NVDs for commanders of T-90 tanks.16 The NVDs for T-90 tanks could have a vision of 4 km and will help in better battle surveillance, acquisition and firing on targets. These NVDs are being jointly produced by Bharat Electronics Limited, Machilipatnam and OFB Dehradun.

Whether an equipment will work during hot weather conditions in India or not should be the first parameter to be tested when acquiring foreign systems. DRDO has tried to keep its pace with new emerging technologies. DRDO understood the potential of IR (infrared) based instruments and was able to successfully develop active and passive IR systems, thermal imaging and low light television systems.

Many types of devices have been successfully developed for use by the artillery, infantry and armoured corps. Passive NVDs like Passive Night Sight for Anti-tank weapon, Passive Night Observation Device for Arty OP, Passive Night Vision Binocular and Driver’s Passive Night Periscope have been successfully developed by IRDE, Dehradun and are under production at different production centres in the public/private sector.

Indian military has decided to increase engagement of NVDs with AI (Artificial Intelligence). An AI-based NVD mounted on a helmet could capture target movements in an area, alert a user through vibrations, and provide information through an attached wrist band. AI-enabled products and AI-based tools for sensor data analysis, predictive maintenance, and situational awareness have been developed by (Defence Public Sector Undertakings) DPSUs like Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL). An Rs 73.9 crore project has been sanctioned under Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) to build AI-based solutions to improve intelligence collation and analysis capabilities of Indian defence.

There are a few laboratories and research organizations in India that are involved in the development work of NVDs. Some of these are as follows.

1) Opto Electro Factory, Raipur (OFB) is one of the production units of Ordnance Board under the Ministry of Defence, India located in Dehradun Valley. It offers a wide range of electrooptics instruments and laser based sighting systems for meeting the requirements of military, para-military and special armed forces. Its key products include Passive Night Vision Goggles 102A, Driver’s Passive Night Periscope for T-55 Tank, Bino Night Vision Passive Cased 101A, Passive Night Sight for AK-47.

2) Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), a research laboratory of DRDO, designs, develops and conducts research in optical and electro-optical instruments for the defence services. Its key products are Gap Measuring Device Mk III, Electro-optical Fire Control System for Naval Ships, Helmet Mounted Thermal Imaging Camera (HMTIC), and Light Weight Portable Laser Target Designator for Air Force.

Comments

Every soldier wants to “own the night.” To provide this capability, the Ministry of Defence has listed its requirements in the TPCR, which amounts to $2.3 bn. A number of Requests for Information have been floated. But our processes are abysmally slow and warped. There are shortcomings in our R&D, manufacturing processes are shoddy, newer technologies are either beyond reach – all this results in time and cost overruns and when the troops get the equipment, there are complaints about quality.

That said, there is plenty of talent and capability available in the country to deliver state-of-the-art night vision devices. Many companies in India, even start-ups, have supplied such equipment to the United States Army and others around the world. There must be something fundamentally wrong with our procurement process, if the same companies are not found fit to supply to the Indian armed forces. Blame it on L1 mentality!

It is also inexplicable that only one item of night vision devices is listed by the Defence of Defence Production for feasibility study – on Night Fighting Control System for AGS-30 – as a Make II project.

Ground warfare waging capabilities depend upon whether you have low-, modest- or high-quality night vision devices. Pairing night vision sights with platforms like missiles and fighting vehicles drives up the threat level, which is true for both sides.

The air force, with advanced attack aircraft, sophisticated navigation and targeting sensors and highly capable ground surveillance radars, gets all its night fighting capability as part or original equipment. In combined and all-arms synchronised and joint warfare it is important for the night fighting capabilities of all components to be compatible and equal. Mismatched forces cannot launch deep attacks based on near-realtime intelligence data, nor operate at night and in adverse weather, and strike throughout the entire depth of the battlespace simultaneously. Unfortunately, the Army, even for low end purchases like night sights for assault rifles, light machine guns, and rocket launchers, orders add-ons separately – either indigenously developed or retrofitted – which leads to problems later. An example was the go-ahead given by the Defence Acquisition Council for thermal night sights for assault rifles on 28 November 2019.

Night vision skill and training go hand-in-hand. It is not enough to just provide IR and thermal night vision devices to the soldiers. Using them to fight at night and defeat the enemy requires changes in field craft, tactics and, more importantly, light discipline, greater awareness, similar to daylight manoeuvring. The enemy too, even with older generation night vision equipment see you in the dark, denying the advantage you have. Just a few devices in the enemy’s hands can change the calculus.

Equipping soldiers selectively, on as required basis, will not instil the discipline and the expertise to use the devices. Transforming a force into a night-capable effective and lethal unit requires changes in training – where soldiers walk and how they walk, choosing to take cover and concealment, operating with more general tactical discipline and so on. The change must be wholesale and comprehensive. Hence, the importance of getting and equipping the force in adequate numbers so as to make it a second habit.

The bottom line is that all soldiers who have to fight at night and their personal weapons must have night fighting capability, all platforms used for night manoeuvres must have the capability and all equipment used in joint warfare or combined arms concept must be night capable. The sooner, the better.

Generation of NVDs

With several technology advancements, NVDs have evolved from Generation 1 to Generation 3+. They are discussed as under:

 Generation 1: Generation 1 is the most common technology sold. It is the most popular owing its low cost in comparison to Gen 2 and Gen 3 . Generation 1 NVDs generally allow a person to see out 75 to 100 yards depending on conditions. It relies on an ambient light sources rather than an infrared light sources. Some common Gen 1 NVDs are AN/PVS-1 Starlight scope, AN/PVS-2 Starlight scope, PNV-57E tanker goggles, PAS 6 Varo Metascope.

 Generation 2: Contrary to logic, Generation 2 NVD are not half way between Gen 1 and Gen 3 in terms of ability. Gen 2 equipment are much closer to Gen 3 than Gen 1 technology. In fact, Gen 2 is often considered optimum, owing their exceptionally good performance and reasonable price compared to Gen 3 and Gen 3+ devices. Generation 2 uses an improved image-intensifier tube resulting in a much brighter image quality.15 Examples include, AN/ PVS-3 Miniaturized, AN/PVS-4, AN/PVS-5, SUPERGEN, PNV-10T.

 Generation 3: Gen 3 NVDs are currently the gold standard in night optics technology. With this technology one can expect exceptional performance and 10,000 hours plus image tube life. This technology allows a unit to operate effectively in areas that have too much light for a standard or non-autogated device to function like urban areas with street lights and house lights. Third-generation night-vision systems have the same micro plate as Gen 2. In addition, they also use cathode to improve image quality. Examples include, AN/PVS-7, AN/NVS-7, AN/PVS-10, AN/PVS-14, AN/PNVS-14, CNVS-4949, PN-21K.

 Generation 3+: Gen 3+ or 4 is the latest generation available and they use film-less image tubes to improve performance. This autogated technology allows a user to achieve high performance in light polluted areas and do not shut down in bright surroundings. it is an improvement over the Generation 3 in terms of less image noise and the ability to operate with a luminous sensitivity of around 700. Examples include, AN/PVS-22, NVS-22.

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Sights and EO Devices Required

The infantry’s requirements, based on scaling of devices is huge. The following table shows the enormity of the requirements and the numbers for which procurement action has been initiated:

Type      Required             Procurement

                                                Initiated

Carbine (II)         130,000 40,000

Rifle (TI)               90,000   19,000

Rifle (II)                180,000 40,000

LMG (TI)              27,000   5,000

LMG (II)               12,000   2,300

RL (TI)   15,000   3,500

MMG (TI)            5,000     1,500

EO Devices

PNVG (II)             100,000 17,000

PNVB (II)             30,000   20,000

HHTI (Cooled)    8,000     7,500

HHTI (Uncooled)              12,000   0

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The delivery of all 72,000 7.62x51mm calibre rifles will be completed by early-2020. The Army will get 66,400 of these SiG-716 rifles, while 4,000 are for the Indian Air Force and 2,000 for the Navy.

These guns are compact, with an effective range of 500-metre, use modern technology and are easy to maintain in field conditions.

It has been almost 15 years since the Army first demanded them. These US-origin rifles have a longer kill range and are meant only for frontline soldiers, while Russian AK 203 asault rifles are manufactured by Ordnance Factory Korwa, under a joint venture. The factory in Uttar Pradesh will progressively manufacture 7,45,000 Kalashnikov AK-203 rifles worth over Rs 12,000 crore with even meet the demands of the police forces. The 7.62x39mm caliber AK-203 rifle, a derivative of the iconic AK-47 and has an effective range of 300-metres.

While Army will get a little over 7 lakh of these Kalashnikov rifles, the Indian Air Force will get 29,000 and the Navy 13,600.

The Army had first asked for new assault rifles back in 2005, along with close-quarter battle carbines, for its 382 infantry battalions to replace the existing 5.56mm INSAS (Indian small arms system) rifles, but unrealistic technical parameters as well as corruption allegations repeatedly derailed the procurement projects.

Apart from the new assault rifles, the Army has also gone in for emergency induction of 210 Israeli “Spike” anti-tank guided missiles and 12 launchers, which have a strike range of up to 4-km, for the western front with Pakistan, as was earlier reported by TOI.

Similarly, the Army has acquired over 30 new sniper rifles, Beretta’s .338 Lapua Magnum Scorpio TGT and Barrett’s .50-caliber M95 guns, which have an effective kill range from 1,500 to 1,800-metre, for use along the 778-km long line of control.

The Army also requires 4.58 lakh close-quarter battle carbines and replacements for the INSAS machine gun. The defence ministry says the huge shortfalls in basic infantry weapons will eventually be met with Indian companies as well as Ordnance Factory Board tying up with foreign ones to manufacture them under the “Make in India” initiative.

Night Vision Devices for LMGs

A request for information (RFI) on advanced night-vision device (ANVD) was floated by the army in December 2019. The LMG is a light support weapon that features a longer and heavier barrel along with a bipod. The LMG also has a longer range of 700 m as compared to 400 m for the rifle. While the LMG has a 30-round box magazine, it can also use the rifle’s 20-round magazine.

At present, the night firing capability of soldiers with an INSAS LMG without an ANVD is highly inaccurate. ANVD is an opto-electronic device that allows high resolution images of the area in the user’s field of view to be produced in conditions of very low light or total darkness.

The incorporation of ANVD will enable a soldier to acquire targets during night for all types of operations and thereby improving his combat efficiency. Also the ANVD will enable to identify and detect a target in adverse weather conditions, which is a limitation in absence of ANVD.

The Army’s requirement is that the device should be able to detect a human at a distance of at least 500 m and a vehicle at 1,200 m and should enable the user to identify them at a distance of 350 m. It should also have the feature to record and store images as well as videos.

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Army to Order Six Apaches

Even as the IAF inducts 22 Apache Guardian attack helicopters armed with deadly missiles and rockets, the Army too is getting ready to order six of these heavy-duty choppers or “tanks in the air” from US.

The Rs 4,168 crore contract for the six Boeing-manufactured Apaches and associated equipment will be inked soon after being cleared by the cabinet committee on security (CCS_.

The AH-64E Apache multi-role combat helicopters are being bought under the US foreign military sales programme, Washington’s government-to-government method for selling US-built platforms. The deliveries of the helicopters will begin in 2022.

Armed with fire-and-forget Hellfire missiles, an Apache can track up to 128 targets a minute and prioritise threats. The missiles equip the gunships with heavy anti-armour capabilities.

Just six helicopters constitute a flight and would have limited operational value. The maintenance facilities of these six choppers should hopefully be dovetailed with the 22 Apaches that the IAF is acquiring – that is two full helicopter squadrons.

The IAF had begun to induct its 22 Apaches earlier this year under the Rs 13,952 crore deal inked with the US in September 2015. The Indian Air Force has begun inducting these helicopters. The six army Apaches are being bought as a follow-on option to the 2015 contract.

The army will deploy attack helicopters for the first time. Attack helicopters have been on the army’s wish list for several years, but IAF objected to the plan. The army says it requires more attack helicopters as it had moved a case to buy 39 Apaches a few years ago.

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