Hundred Years of Signalling 1911 to 2011

100 YEARS OF SIGNALLING (1911-2011)-SEMAPHORE TO SATELLITE (Lt Gen Harbhajan Singh, PVSM)

The journey of Corps of Signals through 100 years of its existence has been aSaga of rich heritage, providing communications often under fire, in hostile climatic and terrainconditions, in undivided India, after independence and in many corners of the world. The Corpshas excelled in fulfilling its role during war, in insurgency milieu, peace, in aid to civil authorityduring man made or natural disasters and for peace keeping under the United Nations in a number of countries. Its performance has stood up to its motto of Certa Cito,Tez-o-Sahi(after Independence) and afterwards Teevra Chaukas. Many brave Signallers paid the supreme sacrifice but kept the communications THROUGH, in the best traditions of the Corps of Signals and theIndian Army. We pay homage to them.The means of signal communications available at various times through these 100 yearsdepended on the technology in vogue, to fulfill the war and peace time requirements of the IndianArmy at different times. Before Independence, the British brought in the technology, ideas andmeans of communications from England, for both military and civil communications in India.After Independence on 15 Aug 1947, the sources of technology and equipment were diversified.While, the Soviet Union became major supplier for lethal weapons and platforms like aircraft, shipsand tanks, the communication equipment bore the stamp of Western countries. Gradually, localassembly and manufacturing capacity was set up in India, mostly in the Public Sector. After theeconomic and industrial liberalization in 1991, the electronics scene in India changed and it became possible for the civil sector to start supplying equipment, at times with foreign collaboration. Thecontributions of our Defence Scientists and the public and private sector companies has been of very high standards.
The Corps has excelled in adapting available technology and modernization/updating of means of communications to meet the changing operational scenarios. Those at the helm in SignalsDirectorate showed great vision and organizational skills to keep the Corps contemporary in itsthinking, communication systems, equipment, training and organizations.The Corps of Signals has also been responsible for introducing new systems likeComputers electronic warfare, signal intelligence in the Army and training personnel of all armsand services as also the Navy and the Air Force.
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100 Years of Signalling 1911 to 2011 by Lt Gen Harbhajan Singh, PVSM
Note: A thirteen Paged Article- an abridged version has been published in SIGNALMAN Feb Issue. Download and save it for reading at leisure. This is published in SCRIBD. Use + and - signs to increase/ decrease font and up and down arrows for pages.

A Strategic Perspective for the Corps of Signals

THE CENTENARY YEAR AND BEYOND— A STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE FOR THE CORPS
“The vision of Signals Corps is to attain and maintain informatics ascendancy by developing infostructure to cater for Network Centric Warfare in a digitized battlefield of tomorrow. The aim and objective of Signals Corps is to make the Indian Army Network Enabled Force by 2012 and Network Centric Force by 2017”
Extracts from Official Website of Indian Army– Corps of Signals

Introduction
1. It has been rightly commented that the saga of wars has been a narrative of human ingenuity and resilience amidst all adversities. The tales of valour epitomizes the ‘never say die’ attitude of the soldier. The Corps can be justifiably proud of its alacrity and professionalism of the highest order rubbing shoulders with their brethren from the combat forces. In the words of one of the former SO-in-C’s, the Saga of the Corps has been “a story of enterprise and endeavor, of accomplishment, and of courage and consistency. The methods of signaling used in the yester years may appear very primitive today, and one can only marvel at their ingenuity and determination.” The tasks on hand for the Corps have been unenviable, given the thirst for signal communications and keeping them ‘through’ always and every time. The accolades won testify the dexterity and technical acumen punctuated with combat skills exhibited by all ranks of the Corps. Some invaluable major pioneering efforts have been the “Area Grid Systems’, the ‘ASCON’, ‘Enterprise Wide Messaging Network’ and ‘Cellular Communications’.

2. As a part of the Centenary celebrations, it is planned to release the Third Volume of The Corps History, a compilation done by a dedicated and committed Veteran of The Corps-Maj Gen (retired) VK Singh. This painstaking compilation would surely reflect on the rich and valuable contributions by all concerned during the period under review. Also it would set the right framework for similar compilation of the ensuing years to the present day .There is another monumental contribution by yet another visionary of the Corps—Maj Gen (Retd) Yeshwant Deva,AVSM—“Dedicated to my son-The Signalman” as he puts it. Laced with a strenuous research spread over two decades, this book titled “Sky is the Limit” is a first hand account of the ‘SIGNALS’ in Operation Pawan, highlighting some very defining and inspiring acts of valor , dedication and commitment our Corps personnel.

3. As we draw inspiration from the performance of the Corps in the years gone by, it is also a good time to reflect on the future especially the challenges that lie ahead and how we view the ‘the core competencies’ of the Corps in the coming years.. We should logically arrive at a strategic perspective paving the way for what needs to be done internally to culminate into a well thought out strategy for execution and as a long term orientation of the Corps against the backdrop of warfare of the future. There is yet another factor we have to contend with namely the influence of ‘technology’. It is tough to make predictions especially of technology, but we do have some idea as to what are likely in the years ahead. The speed and convergence of scientific and engineering disciplines promise to fundamentally change the nature of deployment and redeployment, and prolonged sustainement of forces. Discovery and innovative breakthroughs in scientific areas related to high density- energy sources, superior material reliability, and information and knowledge fusion across the operational, intelligence, and logistics domain will vastly increase the combat readiness and operational effectives of the Armed Forces. The Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) has become a reality and has brought in significant changes in military doctrines at one level and in hardware at the other. Military technologies are changing rapidly and their procurement and induction demand a proper understanding of the wide array of the technology spectrum. We need to factor all these aspects in the strategic perspective of the Corps.
Looking Beyond the Horizon— Adapting to Netcentric Warfare(NCW) Paradigm...
A Strategic Perspective: click here to read more

Lt Gen (Retd) SRR Aiyengar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM has served in the Corps for nearly four decades and commanded three premier training institutions namely MCTE, DSSC and NDC.