![](https://bharatshakti.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/LT-BSI-Defence.gif")
Surveillance plays a critical part in military operations; this is especially true for long-drawn operations and deployments the Indian armed forces are actively participating in. It is said that ‘the side that sees first, shoots first’. In India’s case, the use of surveillance and electro-optics has made the Indian Army a more effective force on the Line of Control.
The use of different types of night-vision and thermal imagers has stopped countless infiltration attempts, resulting in the deaths of many terrorists. The image of a soldier observing the enemy using binoculars is increasingly being replaced by one in which the soldier is sitting in a control room empowered by technology.
During Operation Sindoor, surveillance devices deployed on land, air and sea played a crucial role in keeping the Indian forces well informed. The ability to see first helped shorten the Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA) loop.
Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, while addressing a closed-door event in New Delhi on Wednesday, stated, “When we look at global conflicts commencing from Armenia-Azerbaijan to Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas, and to our own experience in Operation Sindoor, one truth emerges with crystal clarity – the side that sees first, sees farthest and sees most accurately, prevails.”
In some cases, the duration of this cycle is reduced from hours to minutes. This has been made possible by the quicker dissemination of information vertically and horizontally. This makes the entire structure more cohesive and resilient.
India effectively used its surveillance assets, especially in the Electro-Magnetic (EM) domain, which were critical in damaging Pakistan’s air defence systems acquired from China. Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, pushed for additional focus on surveillance.
Dixit said, “When weapons can strike targets hundreds of kilometres away with pinpoint accuracy, the traditional concepts of front, rear and flanks, combat zones, and depth areas—all become irrelevant, what we call the front of the theatre merges into one. This new reality demands that we extend our surveillance envelope far beyond what previous generations could have even imagined.”
This comes at a time when Indian technology is proving to be equal to the best the world has to offer. This was proven by the Akashteer system during the kinetic phase of Operation Sindoor. The system integrated disparate types of air defence equipment and made them operate on a common platform.
Similar systems are needed to bring all other types of sensors and shooters onto a single interface; this will increase the effectiveness of the armed forces. A concerted effort should be made by the forces, industry, DRDO and other stakeholders to try to bring this to reality at the earliest.
