New Delhi, Oct. 15 -- The Ministry of Defence, on Thursday, entered into contracts valued at around Rs 4,106 crore for augmenting the secure communication network of the Indian Air Force and also upgrading the anti-submarine warfare capability of the Indian Navy in order to give a big boost to indigenously manufactured defence equipment.
These contracts pertain to the procurement of the GSAT-7C communication satellite by the Indian Air Force and Varunastra heavy-weight torpedoes by the Indian Navy, which are priced at Rs 2,563 crore and Rs 1,543 crore, respectively. These contracts were inked with New Space India Limited, Bengaluru, and Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad, in the presence of A Anbarasu, Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition).
As a locally produced satellite, GSAT-7C will enable seamless and robust communication for Indian Air Force assets, increasing their coordination and efficiency. The use of the special communication satellite would be important in improving the efficiency of military communications, which is crucial in coordinating air operations in the complex battlespace environment.
Communication satellites have become a strategic need for the Indian military forces, due to the nature of the modern battlefield that is characterised by network-centric operations. In addition to this, modern warfare is all about real-time information. Due to the presence of security threats along the borders with China and Pakistan and the entire Indian Ocean region, the use of a reliable communication satellite is very important.
As opposed to traditional forms of communication networks, satellite technology can ease communication between soldiers posted in distant Himalayan areas, ships working out in distant oceans, and planes and command centres coordinating their work within multiple theatres.
On the contrary, the Varunastra heavy torpedo, created at the Naval Science and Technology Laboratory, is an indigenous, submarine-hunting torpedo with manoeuvring features. The torpedo will enable the Navy to detect and attack hostile submarines from a distance.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.