India’s first integrated Defence Communication Network launched

India’s first integrated Defence Communication Network (DCN) was launched by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in South Block, Delhi 

The network will enable India Army, Air force, Navy and the Special Forces Command to share situational awareness for a faster decision-making process.

Key Facts 

• DCN is the largest single satellite network in the Indian Defence Forces, spread across the country. It is a strategic, highly secure and scalable system. It has has a pan-India reach from Ladakh to the North East to island territories. 
• The tri-communication network makes voice data and video data accessible to the three services over a secured network.
•  It has been designed, developed and deployed by the information technology services, distribution and digital solutions firm HCL Infosystems. 
• It is capable of working on both terrestrial as well as satellite mode of communication and has also been fixed onboard different military vehicles. 
• HCL Infosystems has had a long association with the Indian Defence sector. The company has closely worked with the Indian Air Force (IAF) to deploy AFCEL (Air Force Cellular Network) and Air Force Network (AFNet). 
• AFNet: It is the first network of its kind for Indian armed forces which interlinks major installations throughout the country on a high bandwidth network and incorporates latest traffic transportation technology in the form of Internet Protocol.

Indian Air Force successfully test fires Brahmos missile at Pokaran

 

The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test-fired a land-attack version of the supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos at the Pokaran field firing range in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. 

Test: During the flight trial, the missile met its mission goals and destroyed a designated target. 

Two squadrons of IAF already have been equipped with the land-attack version of the missile version (One squadron has about 70 to 80 missiles). IAF is deploying this version of the missile in the border areas to take out the enemy’s communication towers, runways, and radar in case of a conflict.

About Brahmos missile 

• BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has been designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia.
•  It has derived its name from the names of two rivers, India’s Brahmaputra River and Russia’s Moskva River. 
• It operates on fire and forget principal and is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against sea and land targets.
•  Features: It is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kilogram and has top supersonic speed of Mach 3 (that is, three times the speed of sound). 
• It can strike a target at maximum range of 290-km. It is two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant. 
• BrahMos missile already has been inducted into the Indian Army and Navy.