Draft:Artillery Combat Command and Control System

The Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS), under Project SHAKTI (lit. 'Power') is an indigenous, integrated, digitized, networked system developed by the Indian Army's Directorate General of Information Systems (Project Management Organization), in partnership with Bharat Electronics, Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, and Armament Research and Development Establishment.

It is Indian Army's first Combat Command, Control, and Information (C3I) system. The ACCCS automates and supports decision-making for all operational facets, from the corps to the level of artillery battery. It is the central location for the Regiment of Artillery's fire power component, which is designed to seamlessly integrate with the C3I grid. The Director General of Artillery Lieutenant General KR Rao, and Chief of the Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor received the ACCCS on 12 June 2009.

The Command Information Decision Support System of the Indian Army, which is a component of the larger Tactical Command, Control, Communications, and Information (TAC-C3I) System, is connected to ACCCS. It is further evolving into Artillery Combat Command Control and Communication System (ACCCCS), which makes use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Survey of India's Defence Series Maps.

System

It is one of the most effective operational information systems used by the Indian Army and is always being improved. Technical control based on time and location accuracy, tactical fire control, fire planning, deployment management to attain maximum fire densities at critical areas, and operational logistics management are accomplished by ACCCS. It can focus artillery firepower at the tactical scale and deliver hits at important positions with consolidated firepower. Components like the hand-held computer, the gun display unit, and an upgraded tactical computer are manufactured by Bharat Electronics.

The project has a ₹36 billion (US$400 million) price tag as of 2007. According to a report dated 22 November 2007, ACCCS was experiencing technical issues and the project was behind schedule. Help from abroad has been sought to fix it. BEL denied technical issues and informed about the change in qualitative requirements in the middle for computers and other subsystems by the Indian Army. As per sources from Ministry of Defense, BEL purchased outdated computers from Elbit Systems as a stopgap, until indigenous development was complete. For which, the Indian Army wanted the upgrade. The American Army Battle Command System served as the foundation for Project SHAKTI.

CAIR was responsible for designing and developing the core technology. The development and production of computers and intelligent terminals connected as a wide area network was the responsibility assigned to BEL. The artillery computer center, battery computer, remote access terminal, and gun display unit are the primary subsystems. Artillery control equipment, guided missile systems, and artillery gun fire control systems are all remotely connected to ACCCS. These systems are then connected to the military headquarters and the commander on the battlefield. The fire control system is developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation with assistance from Rosboronxport. The communication control system, guidance systems, and reconnaissance systems make up the ACCCS fire control system. It was anticipated that ACCCS would effectively boost artillery firepower by an estimated five times as a result of automation.

According to the Indian Army's mandate for artillery units to deploy Mounted Gun Systems (MGS), the 2021 request for information proposal stipulated that the fire control system (FCS) must be compatible with Project SHAKTI. In terms of technical fire control, fire planning, deployment management, and operational logistics management, the ATAGS is compatible with ACCCS.

Upgrades

The Indian Army is working on a number of programs to achieve information supremacy in all areas. The Army is establishing captive data centers throughout the nation, which will be fully operational by the end of 2023, in order to operationalize the upgrades over a high-bandwidth secure network.

On 20 January 2013, the Indian Army received a new artillery combat and control system dubbed Shakti from BEL to meet the network-centric warfare requirement. It will be the primary subsystem of TAC-C3I. The improved tactical computer, handheld computer, and gun display unit that make up Shakti are all connected via fiber-optic cable, landlines, or tactical radio networks. Shakti integrates and automates artillery operating tasks using software that integrates with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Geographic Information System (GIS). Shakti's primary responsibilities include calculating trajectories, handling fire requests, managing ammunition, recommending gun deployment locations and observation posts for both offensive and defensive operations, providing ammunition and logistical support on time, and creating task tables, fire plans, and automatic gun program generation. BEL collaborated with the DRDO to develop the system software. Numerous user assessments, integration testing, verification and validation trials, and a comprehensive field evaluation trial have all been conducted on it.

A project sanction order has been issued as of 2022 for the development of high frequency software-defined radio (HFSDR) under Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 (Make II category). The Indian Army plans to acquire 300 HFSDRs. It will enable long-distance radio communication and GIS-based blue force tracking. As part of the Year of Transformation 2023, the Indian Army is updating the ACCCS with new situational awareness modules and extremely realistic Defense Series Maps.

Project Sanjay

In order to complete the sensor-shooter grid by connecting it to the ACCCS, the Indian Army began working with BEL in partnership with CAIR to design Battlefield Surveillance System (BSS). It facilitated the integration of numerous sensors and establish 60 surveillance centers for the field formations. Sensor data and information are integrated into an all-encompassing system that facilitates prompt decision-making. Extensive validation of BSS was conducted across plains, deserts, and mountains between August and October of 2022. It satisfied Indian Army's expectations with over 95% success rate. The Army field formations along the northern and western borders would receive their deliveries by December 2025, with BEL having been granted the contract. The original development cost was estimated to be ₹2,700 crore (US$320 million) which was later revised to ₹2,402 crore (US$280 million). It was developed under the Buy (Indian) category.

Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh officially launched it on 24 January 2025. In order to ensure accuracy, avoid redundancy, and create an integrated picture for tactical battle, this automated system aggregates and processes inputs from satellites, helicopters, UAVs, air defense radars, battlefield surveillance radars, counter-battery radars, long-range reconnaissance and observation systems, thermal imagers, reconnaissance vehicles, and patrolling. It also looks at depth areas that are 200 kilometers beyond the boundaries. From March to October 2025, it will be incorporated into brigades, divisions, and corps. The system includes a communication control unit, a generator, a monitoring center, and multiple monitoring communication terminals. It is highly mobile. It shows the military's strategic locations. BSS uses AI analytics to locate and evaluate the target and sends audio, video, content, and photos over fiber-optics as well as fast and secure VHF, HF, and UHF hybrid networks.

Situational Reporting Over Enterprise-Class GIS platform (e-Sitrep)

The e-Sitrep is tailored to the Army's operational requirements, featuring geovisualization, temporal and dynamic querying, and analytics based on authorization levels. It was deployed in June 2023.

Project Avgat (Army’s Own Gati Shakti)

On a single GIS platform, it integrates inputs from the operational domain, logistics, satellite imaging, topography, and meteorology to introduce multi-domain spatial awareness. Project Avgat will be operationalized gradually. During the first phase, it will combine operational domain inputs, specific logistical inputs, satellite imaging data, topographic inputs, and meteorological inputs on a shared platform. By late 2023, the system should be completely functional.

Situational Awareness Module for the Army (SAMA)

SAMA is a comprehensive combat information decision support, re-designed as Army Information and Decision Support System, which is being developed in collaboration with the Bhaskaracharya Institute For Space Applications and Geo-Informatics and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, to provide commanders a comprehensive picture of the battlefield by combining inputs from all operational and managerial information systems such as ACCCS, BSS, e-Sitrep, and MISO. It was put into use in May 2023 for corps-level field validation. The Army's Northern Command was the first to operationalize SAMA in June 2023.

Project Anumaan

The Indian Army signed a memorandum of understanding on 24 November 2022, to assist National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting in gathering observations along the northern borders and will obtain higher-resolution weather predictions along the Chinese frontiers. An application was under development for artillery operations. For deployments along the high altitudes areas, it will provide precise weather forecasts. It will help in surveillance and intelligence gathering. The Indian Army is planning to release the Anuman app on 19 May 2023.

See also

• Army Battle Command System