I heard recently that Indian army is setting up a Computerised Command & Control System for an Indian Artillery deployment. I felt proud to know that Indian Army is taking the first step towards acquiring network-centric warfare capabilities. This it is doing by inducting a computerised command and control system which will integrate its artillery weapon operations.
It is named as Project Sakthi – Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS).
As per an Army officer, “The role of ACCCS is to automate and integrate all artillery operational functions and provide decision support at all levels of artillery command from the corps level down to the battery or guns level in a networked environment".
In lay man’s term it means that Shakti, would give the troops the capability to concentrate artillery fire power at operational and tactical levels in a reduced time-frame and deliver a decisive blow to the enemy at the desired place.
It is developed by Army's Directorate General of Information Systems. Also, the Sakthi's three main electronic devices -- Enhanced Tactical Computer, Gun Display Unit and Hand Held Computer -- are produced by the defence public sector undertaking Bharat Electronics Limited.
All this looks hunky dory. I want to stand corrected, if I’m wrong. All these means that controls are being transferred to computers and most of these computers are networked for pure number crunching and decision making and latter to authorize a attack. Does all this not sound like lines from a sci-fi movie? It does and yes, technology is taking us closer to what we once used to call as science fiction.
The point of writing all this is to express my apprehensiveness about the ability of Indian Army in general and Indian Defense forces in particular to withstand computer hacking attacks. There has been increasing news of high quality hacking attacks targeted at defense networks. I’m not a cynic, but, I’m just playing the role of a critic who wants the best to come out. What will come if highly talented hackers from Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, America, etc. get a foothold onto this system and crumble it completely or worse they direct the systems to attack India and India defense forces? What then?
I don’t have an answer to these questions. But, I sincerely hope that Indian Defense Forces have not one, but several answers to all these questions. Amen!
