The first-ever military-technical/military-industrial cooperation projects between India and Japan have now entered the negotiations stage, after being green-lighted by the second Japan-India 2 + 2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on September 8, 2022 (held between Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Defense of Japan, Yasukazu Hamada, Minister of Defence of India, Rajnath Singh and Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr S Jaishankar), with the Sixth India-Japan Joint Working Group on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation also being held concurrently.
The principal cooperating agencies from the two sides will be India’s Defence R & D Organisation (DRDO), the Indian Navy’s (IN) Weapons & Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE) and Japan’s Japan's Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA). Together, the two will mentor and handhold the concerned military-industrial entities of both countries that will cooperate in developing two customised products: an integrated mast for the IN’s future principal surface combatants; and a new-generation Combat Information Centre (CIC) making widespread use of augmented reality technologies.
These two end-products will find application on board the IN’s projected seven Project17AU upgraded FFGs worth Rs.25,000 crore, five projected NG-DDGs worth Rs.50,000 crore and eight NGCs worth Rs.33,000 crore. The NORA-50 UNIted COmbined Radio aNtenna (UNICORN) integrated mast, which is already on board the 30FFM FFGs (22 to be procured) of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, features a bar-shaped dome that houses the antennae for tactical data-links, tactical air navigation system (TACAN), communications suites and ESM/EW/ELINT suites. The UNICORN has a shape designed to reduce the radar cross section (RCS), which makes it stealthy.
The ‘Advanced Integrated CIC’, developed by Mitsubishi Electric Co (MELCO), contains the OYQ-1 combat management system (CMS) and OYX-1-29 information display & processing system (IDPS). It features a circular arrangement and comprises an outer rim, with 14 multifunction consoles (plus two extra seats), all facing the wall; and three rows at the centre of the circular arrangement comprising a central helm station, four additional multifunction consoles (likely for the commanding officer and his XO), and two large horizontal tactical tables likely for cooperative mission planning and navigation purposes. According to MELCO, the 360° giant screen can be used to display the direct surroundings of the FFG by fusing the feed and data from the many on-board optronic and radar sensors.
Such augmented reality technology will greatly assist the crew in the field of navigation, asymmetric warfare and even in the phase of launch and recovery of unmanned surface vehicles. In addition, the ‘video wall’ can display any and all information typically displayed on multifunction consoles. For instance, information from the engine control room, and typically displayed as part of the integrated platform management system (IPMS), can now be displayed in the CIC thanks to the video wall. Also, tasks such as engine control, damage control and fire-fighting control can now be undertaken from inside the CIC. The two large tables with built-in monitors and touch-screen controls will prove useful for examining digitised navigational charts (ECDIS) and other situational awareness data collaboratively.
From Japan’s side, the principal military-industrial players will be Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and its MELCO subsidiary, and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding. From the Indian side, the principal military-industrial players will include the MoD-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (which has to date built integrated masts for the IN’s three Project 15A DDGs and four Project 15B DDGs and is building four more for the under-construction Project 17A FFGs), and the MoD-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd.
