The very recent conflict in Nagorno Karabakh has exposed the vulnerability of tracked weapons platforms and other unprotected ground targets to detection and engagement by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using an array of sensors and precision weapons on board. [1] Such capability, earlier limited to only advanced militaries, is increasing rapidly. Today a plethora of means is on hand to military commanders to remotely deliver ordnance on target by air-, ground- and sea-borne weapons platforms. Rapid advances in detection and engagement capabilities, coupled with remotely controlled aerial loitering platforms that are difficult to detect, have made the task of striking targets in inaccessible locations relatively easier, while counters to such attacks have been slow to develop. Similar, yet slower, advances in the use of unmanned ground vehicles/platforms (UGVs) by troops have been in the offing for some time now. To paraphrase Star Trek , ‘land is the final frontier’ for the deployment and effective use of unmanned platforms. This is so as there are several unique challenges that UGVs face, the most obvious being the operating environment’s complexity. Ground vehicles operate in a cluttered and unpredictable environment containing obstacles that are unknown at any detailed level before the mission. [2] It is glaring when it comes to the fielding of high-end drones (for intelligence and reconnaissance, or targeting), leveraging of space and cyber capabilities in a theatre of interest, and an extensive use of electronic warfare means to deny the electromagnetic spectrum to the other side while protecting friendly systems. Ongoing tensions with China have highlighted the technological asymmetry between the Indian Armed Forces and our northern adversary. [3] It is glaring when it comes to the fielding of high-end drones (for intelligence and reconnaissance, or targeting), leveraging of space and cyber capabilities in a theatre of interest, and an extensive use of electronic warfare means to deny the electromagnetic spectrum to the other side while protecting friendly systems. If the military does not keep a laser-like focus on the likely changes that rapid advances in computers (artificial intelligence or AI, machine learning and the ability to quickly process a vast quantum of data), robotics, wireless battlefield networks and sensor-driven weapons can — and will — bring to the coming fight, they will probably be severely handicapped on any future battlefield. While the challenges of maintaining and sustaining legacy forces consume the minds of most force planners, technology and the rapid introduction of “game-changing” weapons systems wait for none. Thus, it is necessary to have a dedicated future force team of thinkers, scientists and planners, civil as well as military, who are given executive authority to crystal gaze, broadly outline the likely contours of conflict in the coming decades, and identify possibilities of developing and integrating new technology weapons that will ensure that the military is not disadvantaged in any potential scenario. It will require a whole of government effort to be abreast of China in this field. How does a mostly industrial-age army, with an uneven distribution of modern and high-tech weapons systems, manage to predict its future needs and ensure their development, induction and integration? It is not an easy task. In 2016, the Indian Army set up the Army Design Bureau (ADB) to plan for the upgrade of present systems and enunciate future technological needs. [4] A formal interface with industry and academia has been established to get the best Indian minds and research facilities involved in military technology development. Fundamental research by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and its affiliates is also closely interwoven into the process by the ADB. From this model, through a statement of future needs by different components of the army, the Indian Army hopes to project and develop future weapons systems, with unmanned platforms probably at the very top of the priority list. A formal interface with industry and academia has been established to get the best Indian minds and research facilities involved in military technology development. A fair understanding of the complexity of developing and fielding UGVs is necessary to grasp the issues the Indian Army will face. The development of unmanned platforms is not new, yet it has taken the most brilliant minds in corporations like Tesla, Google and Microsoft to field prototypes of driverless cars, given the difficulty of safe autonomous navigation through the relatively benign yet continuously changing environment that cities present. Now imagine a military UGV operating in unknown complex terrain with different mission sets. Powerful algorithms will have to place the vehicle in a given threat posture in moments, sensing and overcoming any difficulty, while AI-driven engines will amalgamate the feeds of different surveillance sensors onboard, interpret the intelligence picture presented and activate its suite of weapons (an iteration of the OODA loop done many times over in a second). This may sound like science fiction, but it is the holy grail of convergence of disparate technologies — powerful AI engines, robotics, electro-optics, micro-sensors, 5G and satellite navigation — that have thus far only been tested in laboratories but are now being fielded in future force testbeds set up by most advanced militaries, including the US, Russia and China. A glance at some of the ground platforms currently being field-tested may be instructive to understand their possible usage and determine an approach that India can adopt for eventual induction. Russia and the US are following proven methodologies for unmanned platforms — design, prototype, test, field. The US Army, under the Combat Capabilities Development Command, has the lead in this regard and the types of unmanned ground systems under development are legion; the most recent induction for use by the field army is the QinetiQ Inc. and Pratt Miller Defense Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light, a purpose-built hybrid electric unmanned ground combat vehicle. [5] Russia has battle-tested the Uran-9 unmanned ground combat vehicle in Syria in 2018 and formally inducted it in its ground force in 2019. [6] The Chinese have also been keeping pace with their development of unmanned ground systems and have introduced Norinco’s Sharp Claw UGV, which was first unveiled at the Airshow China 2014 exhibition in Zhuhai, into the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in April 2020. [7] Each of these three UGVs can perform a variety of tasks — from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to fire support and even logistics delivery or casualty evacuation — within their operating parameters.
- Published in
- India
