DRDO Develops Mobile Electronic Warfare System
Financial Express, Mumbai, April 7, 2004

New Delhi: A state-of-the-art mobile electronic warfare system, “Samyukta,” developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was handed over to the Indian Army recently.

The integrated electronic warfare system Samyukta Communication and Control block is uniquely configured for frequencies from high frequency (HF) to millimetre wave for reconnaissance, direction finding, and position fixing, listing, prioritising and jamming adversaries’ emissions.

According to VK Atre, scientific adviser to the defence minister and the brain behind Samyukta, “this system will ensure dominance over electro-magnetic spectrum which basically means it will jam enemy surveillance signals and voice and radar signals while ensuring its own signals are not jammed by the enemy. It is described as a force multiplier.”

Samyukta, the largest electronic warfare project so far in the country, has been built jointly by DRDO, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd and Corps of Signals of the Indian Army. It will be moved to the forward areas in a few months for field testing and the entire system will be deployed by 2005, Mr Atre said.

Chief of the Army Staff General NC Vij has described the development of Samyukta as a dream come true for the Indian Army. In the fully deployed situation, Samyukta will comprise 145 vehicles carrying sophisticated systems with a coverage of 7,000 km range.

The defence minister George Fernandes said Samyukta was a “weapon” that could be used not only during times of war but in peace too for the defence of the country. He hoped the guns that had fallen silent on the border with Pakistan in the last few weeks would never boom again.

Other partners in building Samyukta included CMC and Tata Power Company Ltd (TPCL). Together, they met the challenge of developing integrated real time command and control software having 10 million lines of code even though financially it was not as attractive as conventional business software. In fact, 40 small industries enabled the quick realisation of the goal by developing and producing the super components indigenously that had been denied by the advanced countries.

At the handing over a “block” of 26 Samyukta vehicles in the first phase of the programme, President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam congratulated all those involved in the building of Samyukta. Dr Kalam emphasised the need to create a dedicated Electronic Warfare Quality Assurance agency for the three defence services.

Dr Kalam said the creation of a national electronic warfare test range at Hyderabad will be appropriate for faster evaluation and delivery of high performance systems. “In view of our Nuclear Doctrine of ’no first use,’ it is essential to study how synchronised action between electronic warfare system of the army - Samyukta, naval electronic warfare system Sangraha and air force electronic warfare system Tempest - which can prevent the entry of special warheads in our territory,” he added.