Talk Securely

Col Mandeep Singh (retd)

From the early 20^th Century when the rapid mechanization transformed all aspects of warfare, effective communication system has always been vital to success of all military operations. In the present era of combined operations, it is equally essential to have clear and secure voice communication, backed by shared data services, creating an information network in which all elements have access to vital intelligence.

From the early days of C2 i.e., Command and Control to the present ‘Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Information and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4I2SR) systems’, communication networks are the backbone on which military organisations operate and function as force multiplier for commanders at all levels. The communication network that is at the heart of C4I2SR provides the forces with the network centric warfare capabilities and for it to be effective, military communications must be reliable and secure in all conditions, including in degraded and denied network environments.

The basic and fundamental communication networks are the tactical communications that serve to convey information, commands or military intelligence across various points on a battlefield. They are designed to provide communication assistance to the military during combats and critical operations under varying environmental conditions. A recent development is the use of cognitive radios that are vital components in today’s military operations, enabling soldiers to securely communicate under all battlefield conditions. They can intelligently detect which communication channels are in use and which are not and can instantly move into vacant channels while avoiding occupied ones. They can identify potential interference; path-loss, shadowing and multipath fading that might impair use of a particular frequency. This ensures highly secure and extremely efficient military communications.

Besides radio, Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) network is one of the most widely-used communications systems for battlefield operations that can relay mobile, secure, real-time information via satellite over commercial or government frequencies, or combination of both. With continued reliance on radio, OFC and VSAT, Ind