Source : The Indian Defence Review, © 1995 by Lancer Publishers & Distributors.
Introduction
The term C cubed I or C³I is an amalgam of four systems and functions. Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence. The value of C³I lies in its ability to provide a nation's executive with the wherewithal to make proper decisions affecting national security. It is also the means by which military operations are carried out in a proper manner, leading to favourable situations to one side in combat.
Definition
In general terms then C³I is everything a government uses in making decisions and ensures that they are carried out. it includes the authority accuring from his or her appointment to a position and involves people, information, procedures, equipment and the chief executive's own mind. A C³I system is a series of functions which includes gathering information, making decisions and monitoring results. A C³I system is a collection of people, processes and equipment which involves support of the overall process. In the military context, C³I is concerned with the control of events and processes through the transmission and receipt of messages. Seen another way C³I is that what brings together the staff of defence. For example, it is necessary for a General to know where his troops are positioned on the battlefield, it is this process which C³I facilitates.
Components of C³I
C³I is important both in the national and military context because it permits the decision makers to take quick decisions and the implementation at all levels is speeded up. For instance, India needs responsive systems for disaster management so that quick relief can be provided to the affected areas. Thus C³I is a system responsive both to the national and military management. Each component of C³I has a different connotation. Each component has different meanings for different people. The best way of examining each component is by studying in its context. In the defence context, command covers a whole range of levels of organisation from the President of India as Supreme Commander down to the platoon commander in charge of a platoon. Thus, the exercise of command can cover a whole range of issues from the declaration of war to deciding how many companies to send to capture a specific military objective. Another way of seeing command is that it is a mixture of example, persuasion and compulsion by which you get men to do what you want them to do, even if they don't want to do it themselves. This is the human aspect of command which is also known as leadership. In the command aspect of C³I there are three integrating elements-the commander, his HQ and staff, and officers and men he commands. Control is a term that describes the channels or 'lines of command' through which a commander orders, advises, admonitions and queries his forces. Such lines reflect responsibility as well as of military force and technicalities of its execution. In many ways, command and control or C² have been in existence since the dawn of warfare. They are inseparable, but not identical. Achieving control varies from mission to mission in C³I.
In the context of modern warfare, C² cannot exist without a third C - Communication. Given the size of the armed forces and the geographical areas in which they operate, the role of communications becomes all the more important. They are the means by which information is carried back and forth between a commander and his forces. The term includes everything from runners, and carrier pigeons to the most sophisticated and secure electronic transmission devices.
Intelligence is the acquisition, analysis and dissemination of information about an enemy or about our forces. Intelligence can be either strategic or tactical. Seen another way, it is the production of information that can give an edge to any government or military forces in peace and war.
Features of C³I
Therefore, the intermeshing of all these systems provides a nation and its forces with C³I a dual systems process involving man and machine. And any C³I system will have both human automatic decision making processes. Increasingly, commanders are being flooded with information, which needs computers to process. Thus the use of electronic systems for communication and processing is making C³I machine-intensive. This does not mean that automatic decision making will take over the command decision of a General- What is important to stress is that in the modern battlefield scenario, the flow of information back and forth has to be of real time value to be effective. The time between manual and automatic decision making in a C³I system is determined by the nature of activity performed. From this point, a nation can have both strategic C³I and tactical C³I. There is little doubt that such systems can be effective force multipliers, but they are not inviolate and therefore require protection by technical and tactical means.
C³I systems possess certain other special features. There occurs a centralised coordination of all resources and activities, which are usually scattered over a huge geographical area. The decision making process is aided by communication technology and an intelligence network. In any C³I system, whether national or military there has to be a constant flow of real time information which will speed up execution of decisions taken. Each component of C³I has its specific relevance. In the case of the exercise of C² by a commander on the battlefield, a number of communication feedback loops are used which exped"te the decision making process and the execution of a task as following.
Two points need noting here. First, the loop provides a dual communication network. Second, the feedback loop can be applied to both national and military systems.
Survey ofC³I Systems in the West
At the national level, most countries took a long time to develop the requisite C³I systems. Due to the prohibitive costs of these systems, countries like India find it difficult to create a satisfactory infrastructure. C³I systems in the West are big and expensive and the United States has one of the best systems, which was amply demonstrated during the Gulf war in 1991 against Iraq. The United States however requires a global C³I system, to serve global interests. It possess C² platforms spread around the world and a wide variety of satellite communication systems provide linkages to various US field forces. Despite the global interest scenario. the US still has C³I problems. The US has a world-wide military command and control system (WWMCCS) whose main constituent is the National Military Command System (NMCS) which provides the American executive with the intelligence for decision making, resource allotment and mission assignment. Apart from this the US Armed Forces have their own C³I systems. For instance, the US Army employs the Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) systems for radio network. Apart from this, the US Air Force and Navy have acquired C³I systems which not only cater for local field operations but are also linked via satellite to the WWMCCS. It is evident that reliable and secure communication systems are an essential prerequisite for the functioning of a C³I system.
Communication systems world-wide use micro-wave links which are based either on the chain- of-command principle or on grid trunk nodes, which are independent of the former. The US MSE, the British Ptarmigan and French Rita make use of the trunk nodes system. A grid of trunk nodes are established within which the HQ and their units are required to move when communication is required. The transfer of information today in both peace and war uses data entry devices and automation has helped to speed up the process. The required data is fed into the device 'off-line' and when the data is to be transmitted, it is done in a very short burst, much faster and secure than mere voice communication. The British use a computer network known as Wavell, an automated system for staffs at various levels. This system though manually fed with information, automatically collates, evaluates and processes information and periodically updates the information. The output is displayed in a series of 'formats'. All major field HQ in 1 (British) Corps are linked to each other over the Ptarmigan communication system.
C³I in India
lndia's experience of national security management since 1947 shows that it has lacked co- ordinated and unified structures which can develop effective C³I systems. Equally, command and control in the past both during peace and war have not worked satisfactorily. A survey of the command profile of the Indian Armed Forces shows that immediately after independence C² was exercised in an ad hoc manner, and it proved effective. Later this system deteriorated further and the 1962 border war with China showed up this fatal weakness. The- 1965 war with Pakistan presented a better showing of C² structures, but the functions of communication and intelligence still remained inadequate. The 1971 war proved that given proper C³I management it was possible to marshal resources for war. Of course, it needs no reminding that no overall system existed as such and there were no unified channels for either communication or intelligence.
It will be worth looking at intelligence specifically. Intelligence in India has always been a scattered and overlapping affair. There exist too many organisations which hold their sources and information in a struggle for power. This has stunted the growth of unifying structures like the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) whose task is to keep the executive informed of all threats to national security. A similar problem is faced by Military Intelligence organisations within the services, as they do not get much help from the RAW in the realm of strategic intelligence. Thus, an effective C³I system still eludes us.
Within the Services though, things are changing. The Army for instance now has ARENS, a command information network which should play a crucial role in future wars and in peace time too. Certain units in the army, like the Armoured Corps are studying and integrating C³I systems which will improve their combat efficiency. Therefore, various C³I sub-systems are being devised to meet the immediate needs of its users. But for overall use, a long-term overall military C³I has yet to emerge. Given the prohibitive cost of C³I equipment, it may be wise to integrate existing civilian and military networks for use in peace and war. For instance, the nation-wide NICNET of computers which provides a comprehensive information network using satellite communication can be upgraded for military uses. This system if integrated with C³I sub-systems, in times of conflict, will provide a national communication system. The system will obviously require considerable upgradation and expansion, but the overall improvement in the availability of information will be of benefit to all users.
One of the major problems the Indian Armed Forces face in terms of Command and Control, is the location of commands in scattered geographical areas. As each service has its forward HQ in a different location, the unity of command is not achieved. This increases reaction time and proves costly in times of conflict. As stated earlier one of the main feature - of employing C³I system is to allow for centralised co-ordination of resources and activities which may be scattered. For instance, the IAF's Eastern Air Command HQ is at Shillong, while the Army's Eastern Command HQ is at Calcutta. This pattern is repeated at various levels. To overcome the problem an alternative could be to install reliable and secure and integrated C³I systems. Major requirements of such a C³I system would be:
The Indian Armed Forces also need to emphasise more on C³I at the training level. Modern warfare is a highly complex affair and the greater number of troops involved means more C³I. Much of this needs constant practice, if actual operations are to be run smoothly. One instance of an attempt to actually integrate available C³I in the case of the Army is provided by Exercise Brasstacks. One of its objectives was to integrate the Army's Radio Engineering Network's (AREN) automatic electronic switching facility with other tactical communication systems. However, each service in India still has its own C³I component, and, there is a lack of overall C³I conceptualisation and usage at various stages. Our command profile shows a clear lack of appreciation, even at the training stage of the usefulness of C³I systems." Moreover none of our extant C³I systems have been tested in hostile EW environment. At times, Indian communication systems have been found prone to interception, e.g. during the initial stage of IPKF operations in Sri Lanka to capture Jaffna in October 1987. This is something that, can prove costly in a future conflict, which may be a battle for the control of the electromagnetic spectrum.
To that extent, the Indian Armed Forces must look ahead and try and find adequate means of acquiring and integrating C³I systems which will be user-friendly. As our armed forces are still manpower intensive, they require a greater amount of C² training at the initial stages of training. Today's young officer is intelligent and given the light kind of training to use C³I as a force multiplier, a balanced system sensitive to change, the existing circumstances and requirements for the future can be developed.
Conclusions
In conclusion, it can be said that the relevance and usefulness of C³I can be considered as a system which 'moulds' together the stuff of defence. In a larger, national context it signifies a system and process whereby an executive makes decisions affecting a nation's security. The above analysis shows that keeping in mind that the components of C³I each have a different meaning to different users, it is possible to create a C³I infrastructure for both national and military purposes. At the same time, in a country- like India, expensive C³I systems cannot be integrated. What needs to be done is to integrate indigenous C³I networks into our armed forces keeping in mind the need to upgradeC³I doctrines at the training level. That this process is already going on as is evident from theefforts at, indigenous production and integration of C³I system, is a good sign for the future.
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