B y Rear Admiral Dr. S. Kulshrestha (Retd.), INDIAN NAVY Senior Fellow - New Westminster College ,Canada India has put in plac...
By Rear Admiral Dr. S. Kulshrestha (Retd.), INDIAN NAVY
India has
put in place a formidable structure for major elements of maritime domain
awareness (MDA) in areas of its immediate interest however; in my opinion should
be the aspiration of the Indian Navy to acquire formidable sea denial and sea
control capabilities. It is opined that the terms Sea watch/denial/ control are
likely to expand and transform in to ‘Oceanic space watch/ denial/control’. The
term Oceanic space denial/control would embrace a cylindrical space in 3D+
dimensions; that is the sea surface, the atmospheric volume above, the outer
space at least up to low earth orbiting satellite heights, the water volume up
to the sea bed, the sea bed itself and also security of the deep sea mining
assets in the EEZ.
The above
premise implies that a broader oceanic horizon is inclusive of not only
extensive and broader spatial operating arena, but also much wider and broader
foray in to the verticals below the surface to the sea bed and above up to
periphery of the atmosphere. Unless implications of this nature are anticipated
and factored in, technological forecasts themselves would trail behind the
rapid advancing pace of technology and the synergies being achieved due to harmonization and adaptation inter and intra scientific fields. Therefore, it is imperative that holistic
perspectives into the ‘information consciousness’ arena include the oceanic
domain awareness as well as it’s connect with India’s security and MDA.
Oceanic
Domain Awareness (ODA)
Scientific
study of the oceans originated in U.S. essentially as a function of national
security. Investigations that focused on the tactical and operational impacts
of the fluid, geophysical, chemical and biological marine environment upon U.S.
Navy operations successfully addressed many challenging naval requirements; but
oceanographic inquiry in support of naval needs also triggered unexpected
results. In many instances, the knowledge of the oceans that was acquired
through directed studies - and through complementary lines of inquiry that were
enabled by tools developed for naval oceanographic research - further affected
national security in ways that were not anticipated and which transcended
tactical and operational significance and could be considered of more strategic
consequence.
The primary
impetus to the rapid development of oceanography during its 20th century days
as a science is without a doubt the submarine and the fundamental changes that
occurred when naval warfare became truly three-dimensional. Prosecuting
submarines was feasible principally through the transmission of underwater
sound, actively by sonar to echo-locate targets and passively by listening
hydrophones and triangulation. The scope of oceanographic efforts in the
pursuit of the submarine opened all of the oceanographic disciplines (physical,
chemical, biological, and geological oceanography) to increased investment,
research effort and importantly to
integration. Twentieth-century oceanography was fundamentally a security-based endeavor to reduce the opacity of the oceans to antisubmarine warfare in WWI,
WWII and the Cold War, and harness that opacity for offensive submarine
operations, along with a host of other security based naval concerns.
Fundamental
progress in basic knowledge of the ocean sciences has occurred due to advances
in sensor technologies. Understanding of plate
tectonics and sea floor spreading was discovered during large-scale mapping of
the sea floor after the World War II. This led
to the revamping of theories of evolution and structure of the earth.
Subsequently, the investigation of mid-ocean ridges carried out by submersibles
and towed deep sea vehicles led to detection of many unknown forms of life in
the hydrothermal vents and microbes below the seabed at great depths. In the
past Ocean geologists, physicists, biologists, and chemists, have used an array
of tools, from deep-sea drilling to instrumented buoys, to improve their understanding
of role the ocean plays in controlling longer-term climate change and weather.
Scientists
have now commenced a long term exploration of the chronological variations in
ocean systems both for very short and prolonged time periods. Advances in
technologies that have spurred this study are primarily based upon:-
-Availability of new sensors which can
be placed and report upon chemical, biological and physical characteristics.
-Advances in computers and software
that has enabled storing, retrieving and manipulating large volumes of sensor
data. Real time data is available to large number of research communities for
interpretation, modelling, simulation and prediction.
-Advances in telecommunications
through undersea cables and satellites allowing real time control of sea based
sensors and transmission of bulky sensor data.
Technologies
(e.g., robust sensors and infrastructure, autonomous vehicles) need to be
developed to enhance data collection in all weather conditions to support
high-spatial resolution and near-real-time forecasting throughout the Open
Ocean and coastal zone. Providing accurate and comprehensive environmental
information will require expanding observational networks to monitor, record,
and present real-time, surface-monitoring data (e.g., high-frequency,
coastal-based radars).
This expansion will require advancing sensor
and technology development, particularly for autonomous and persistent
observations, as well as for long-term observing systems; expanding real-time
or near-real-time data collection on environmental variables by incorporating
observational capabilities of crafts of opportunity (e.g., fishing, cargo, and
passenger vessels); and enhancing automated and autonomous bottom-mapping
capabilities for change detection to improve rapid, full-scale survey
scheduling.
Data
collected by the observing systems must be accessible through a comprehensive
national data network, either through a single system or a distributed network.
Developing this data network will require new methodologies that address gaps
in data collection, sharing, and interoperability of technologies, and should
permit integration of existing research into operational systems (e.g., systems
providing real-time navigation data to vessels). This data network should be
able to link with other databases, such as those focusing on ecosystem data,
and developed in accordance with international standards for data exchange. The
national data network will also provide the data needed for models simulating
multiple scenarios to better understand potential impacts, weather events or
man-made disruptions on marine operations, and to support operations
restoration plans.
The
coast and open ocean are critical domains for the security of a nation with sea
as boundaries, both at home and abroad. National-security operations in the
ocean take place globally and often require continuous, near-real-time
monitoring of environmental conditions using tools such as autonomous sensors,
targeted observations, and adaptive modelling. These capabilities, combined
with improved understanding of the ocean environment enabled by other ocean
science research activities, will support accurate ocean-state assessments ‘and allow future forces to conduct joint and
combined operations in near shore and deep-ocean operating environments,
anywhere and at anytime’.
The
differentiating aspects between MDA and ODA need recapitulating. The MDA
focuses upon the maritime security environment specific to naval operations;
the ODA focuses upon the overarching oceanic environment. Both are technology
intensive and require sophisticated sensors and computational capabilities. MDA
has tactical, regional and strategic components whereas the ODA is strategic
knowledge based architecture. Both require elaborate data and information
fusing interface with myriad of interconnected agencies. The MDA primarily
needing vast inputs from commercial, intelligence and security agencies and the
ODA from advanced research, academic and scientific communities.
In
view of the above, it can be appreciated that the MDA needs to be integrated
within oceanic domain awareness for completeness of maritime knowledge, the
lack of which can lead to serious consequences. This has been reflected in a recent assessment of naval exercises and
weapon firings in the US, where it was found that over 90% of them were
affected adversely due to imperfectly assessed or little known environmental
factors. In an actual conflict, these
would have led to mission failures. This along with the sinking of HMS Bounty (
a fifty year old replica of the 18th century square rigger HMS
Bounty) due to the hurricane Sandy when it was 160 miles away from the eye of
the storm, off North Carolina, only under-pins the gaps in oceanic knowledge
that need to be bridged and fact that Oceanic Domain Awareness is an enabler
for the future and an ‘imperative’ for a nation like India.
Publication
Details:
Kulshrestha,
Sanatan. "Aircraft Developing a Concept of Oceanic Domain Awareness for
India by Dr. S. Kulshrestha (Retd.), INDIAN NAVY" IndraStra Global 01, no.
06 (2015): JUNE-19.
http://www.indrastra.com/2015/06/FEATURED-Developing-Concept-of-Oceanic-Domain-Awareness-for-India-by-Rear-Admiral-Dr-S-Kulshrestha-Retd-INDIAN-NAVY.html.
|ISSN 2381-3652| https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.2065290
