Israeli team in Delhi to propagate ‘digital warfare’

By Rajat Pandit, The Times of India (Mumbai), 25 May 2005, 12:30:10 AM

NEW DELHI: Even as the Army gears up to face the rapidly evolving challenges of information warfare in a digitised battlefield, a top Israeli military delegation has arrived in town to discuss cooperation in C4I systems.

Advanced armies in the world, especially the American forces, are now increasingly turning to C4I (command, co-ntrol, communications, computers and intelligence) systems since conflicts in the future are expected to be fought primarily in the theatre of information warfare (IW). A major force-multiplier in modern day warfare, IW basically revolves around acquiring “information superiority” over your adversary and then “hitting” at his observation and surveillance systems to “disrupt” his command and control structure.

The visiting delegation, interestingly en-ough, is headed by Brigadier-General Arnon Zuaretz, the chief of staff of the C4I branch of the Israeli Defence Forces, tasked with spearheading the “digital revolution” in the Israeli forces.

Zuaretz will hold talks with the signal-officer-in-chief, Lt-General Davinder Kumar, on Wednesday, apart from visiting the communication complex at Sena Bhavan.

He will also get a briefing on “modernisation initiatives” in the arena of communications and IT in the Indian Army.

Officers say the Signals Corps is undertaking several projects to upgrade the entire range of IW systems across the entire electromagnetic spectrum in the Army.

“IW support to counter-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East, for instance, has already achieved good results,” said one.