Army Aims to Become 100 Percent Digital With New Cloud Storage System

The Indian Army is aiming for a highly encrypted cloud storage system for itself, similar to that of Google, to store data as it is working towards becoming a "100 percent digital" force.

Army sources, however, said the infrastructure for a cloud storage system already exists but has not been made operational because of the present policy. "A policy review is under consideration".

Once cloud system becomes operational, it would store all non-classified information of every Indian soldier which can be accessed by authorised personnel as and when needed, they added.

The Army has already initiated a full-fledged digitalisation programme under which every unit and each soldier would become digitally savvy. Each Indian Army unit will have data capability with high bandwidth connectivity.

Apart from these, the Army is also working on a data-radio set that can transmit video from a border post in LoC or the Line of Actual Control to the headquarters in New Delhi live, they said.

"The Army has already initiated programmes to connect every soldier to its secluded central data bank through hard-wired links," sources said, adding that a digital literacy programme has been initiated.

Presently, all Army battalion headquarters are connected through the Wide Area Network (WAN) which provides secure communications between units through a desktop-to-desktop messaging application.

Asked if Chinese equipment would be used in the digitalisation programme, sources said, most were being done indigenously.

"Any foreign component undergoes strict security checks," they said, adding that while Indian Army is already digital to a large extent, it is aiming for being "100 percent digital".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in October told the Combined Commanders' Conference: "When we speak of Digital India, we would also like to see a Digital Armed Force".

He had asked the Services to give serious thought to upgrade technological skills for effective projection of power by men.

Another key project of the Army is Mobile Cellular Communication System (MCCS) which was introduced in 2007 on a trial basis in Jammu, under the 16 Corps headquarters.

It is currently being spread across the Kashmir sector under 15 Corps and sources say 70 percent of the work has been completed.

The plan is to spread it to other Corps, sources said.

MCCS is a CDMA-based system and offers more secrecy, besides better protection against hacking.

As per the Army's latest plan, the sets, built by state-run Bharat Electronics Limited, will have faster data capability and would be able to relay videos and pictures faster than the regular mobile phones.

"MCCS uses a captive army network and is limited to Army usages. It will prove very effective in tactical and operational scenarios," the sources said.

The approximate cost of setting up the system in each Corps is about Rs. 200-250 croress, but the amount can go up depending on the geography of the area. There are in total 14 Corps in the country.