Dedicated Command Cyber Operations for the Indian Army

April 28, 2023

Why in News?

The Indian Army will now raise dedicated specialized agencies in each of its six operational or regional commands across the country to handle the cyberspace domain.

What’s in today’s article?

Background (Context):

Between April 17 and April 23, the Army Commanders Conference was held.
The conference saw deliberations over wide-ranging Strategic, Training, Human Resource Development, and Administrative aspects and took key decisions in shaping the Army for the future.
A number of welfare measures and initiatives were decided to be implemented for troops as well as veterans during the conference.
One of these measures is the Command Cyber Operations and Support Wings.

About Command Cyber Operations and Support Wings (CCOSW):

The Indian Army is rapidly migrating towards internet centricity, which entails an increased reliance on modern communication systems at all levels.
The CCOSWs will assist the Indian Army’s formations in taking up cyberspace security challenges posed by the growing warfare capabilities of adversaries.

Need & Significance of the CCOSW:

This is an urgent necessity in the backdrop of China developing a wide array of cyberweapons to degrade or destroy an adversary’s military assets and strategic networks even before the actual conventional war kicks off.
China also regularly engages in malicious cyber activities as well as exploits cyberspace for its “grey zone warfare”.
- Grey zone warfare basically revolves around exploitation of the operational space between peace and war to change the status quo or coerce an adversary.
The Army believes the CCOSWs will help to safeguard its networks and increase the preparedness levels in this fifth dimension of warfare after land, sea, air and space.
This step will lead to an overall strengthening of the cyber-security posture of the force for both conventional operations as well as grey zone warfare.

Comparing India’s Cyberwarfare Capabilities with Other Countries:

India has so far lagged behind in developing cyberwarfare capabilities.
It was only in 2019 that the Union government approved the creation of a small tri-service Defence Cyber Agency (DCA) at the apex level.
China, in contrast, has a major strategic support force to oversee the People’s Liberation Army’s space, cyber and electronic warfare operations.
The US, too, has a huge Cyber Command, led by a four-star general, to launch a “full spectrum” war if required as well as protect over 15,000 American military networks from attacks round-the-clock.

Other Key Decisions Taken in the Army Commanders Conference:

TES Entry Scheme –
- Training initiatives to optimize on infrastructure, time and resources to maintain an effective and lethal fighting force were widely deliberated upon.
- In the TES entry scheme for entry of officers, it was decided to transit from the existing 1+3+1 years Technical Entry Scheme (TES) model for to 3 + 1 TES model from Jan 2024 onwards.
  - TES is a model for recruitment into the Indian Army for technical positions.
- Four-year training model will ensure that young officers are available to serve the Army for one additional year.
Lead Directorates and Test-Bed Formations –
- The 12-lakh strong Army has also earmarked lead directorates and test-bed formations to handle the ongoing induction as well as evolve operational philosophies for niche technologies.
Niche Tech-enabled Equipments –
- The Army is inducting a large number and variety of niche tech-enabled equipment.
- These include cross-section of tactical, mini, micro, and logistics drones, UAVs, drone swarms, loiter weapon systems, electronic warfare, and anti-drone apparatus.
- These equipments are intended to enhance the fighting potential of the field formations.
Training for Paralympic Events –
- It was decided to identify and train selected motivated soldiers for Paralympic Events by training them at Army Sports and Mission Olympic Nodes in nine sporting events.