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Battlefield commanders’ communication system hangs fire for a decade |
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A critical mobile communication system that will enable Indian Army commanders to direct the conduct of a battle in real time could finally see the light of day a decade after it was conceived, a senior officer said on March 25.
“Personalities have delayed the project,” the Indian Army’s Signal Officer-in-Chief, Lt. Gen S.P. Sree Kumar, said cryptically of the Tactical Communications System (TCS) that has been in the pipeline since 1998.
“It will happen some day. When it will happen, I can’t say,” he said while addressing an Army-industry interface to announce the DEFCOM India-2008 international seminar on network centric technologies to be held in New Delhi on May 27-28.
“Three Defence Ministers have cleared the project. Three departments of the Defence Ministry - Finance, Acquisitions and Defence Production - have cleared the project. It was then sent to the Finance Ministry which made certain observations,” Kumar said.
“The observations were addressed. Then, during a presentation to the new Defence Secretary, a certain personality who I do not want to name pointed to the new procedures (for defence acquisitions) that needed to be followed,” he added.
“There was then a meeting of the Army Chief, the Vice Chief, the (two) Deputy Chiefs and myself. We will now prepare a note for the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security). We are now moving forward but as to when (the final approval will be received), I can’t say,”
The TCS, which will cost in the region of $1 billion, will replace the ageing Army Radio Engineering Network (AREN) system that was put in place in the 1980s.
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