B> Common Platforms and Systems:Jointness has the following goals in the Indian context:
1> Clear view of the battle space to all 3 services.
2> Rapid decision making from political executive down to man on the ground (of any service)
3> Elimination of redundant tasks which consume time, money, and effort (common air defense command, logistics command, etc)
4> Cost reduction by using common assets
5> Seamless information sharing across the three services
6> Reduction in hit taken by one service due to coercive action by another on the enemy (example: Indian army soldiers can expect less casualties because of top notch well coordinated CAS operations by IAF during combined ops)
7> Breakup of silos within services....using the three arms of the military to fight like one machine.
8> Rapid mobilisation capabilities of all three services to attack even before the enemy realises what's going on.
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Here are some of my thoughts on this spread out across multiple posts:
A> Common weapons:
Common weapons must be used wherever possible to save costs, improve inter operability, and amass numbers. Some use cases are mentioned below. All are within the grasp of currently available Indian technology or those within 5-7 years from now.
1> Development of a common family of LGB kits for Naval fighters, Air Force fighters, and armed drones. The LGB kit must be centred around the HSLD Bomb. This will be our go to precision guided munition.
2> Development of an AASM-Hammer like kit family for all combat aircraft and armed drones of IAF and Navy that features more exotic tech like GPS/GLONASS/IRNSS, INS, GAGAN, DSMAC, TERCOM etc. This will be also be based on the HSLD and meant for future Balakot type ops.
3> Development of a standard air to ground subsonic cruise missile for airforce and navy in the class of the SCALP missile.
4> Development of a standard air to ground supersonic cruise missile for airforce and navy. (Brahmos-NG is the answer to this I think)
5> Operationalisation of the entire Astra family of missiles across all airforce and navy fighter jets.
6> Nirbhay induction across army, navy, and IAF.
7> Brahmos-2 hypersonic missile induction across army, navy, and IAF.
8> Induction of SANT and Helina en masse across Apaches and LCHs of both Navy and Airforce, as well as all armed UAVs in A2G roles. Cap the import of Hellfires after a certain number as backup. Pay the Americans extra to mount these on the Apache.
9> Introduction of a common infantry borne loitering munition that can be used by regular army and spec ops people from all services.
I am avoiding small arms because that is very service specific.
C> Common Logistics Items:B> Common Platforms and Systems:
1> Induction of a common MALE UAV platform to support various mission payloads of various users. For example a Rustom-2 with a different payload for navy, army, and airforce. Core airframe parts and ground stations should be cheap and made en masse.
2> Induction fo a common HALE UAV platform along the above lines.
3> Induction of a common SDR system across the three services. Basically an FAC infantryman or SF operator of Para, Garuds, or Marcos should be able to call in airstrikes from an IAF or IN aircraft using his standard manpack SDR without any glitch.
4> Development of a common airborne datalink across the three services for intra aircraft comms. An IA Apache should be easily able to share video feed and target location to IAF or IN fighters in the air for example. Or a pair of MWF and another pair of MiG 29K should be able to seamlessly share data and information amongst each other.
5> Development of a large number of military satellites for various purposes. Uses can be SAR, visual images, comms, ELINT, etc. An application can be where say operators in INS Kolkata sitting in the middle of an ocean can control and get data feed from a UAV in Arunachal over a satellite data link.
6> Development of a standard utility helicopter platform for all 3 services, which can be modified by each force. Dhruv and IMRH fulfil this criterion.
7> Development of a common light utility fixed wing platform for applications ranging from light transport to sea patrol near the coast. Currently Dornier fulfils this role between IAF and IN, and later NAL Saras should do so.
D> Common IT hardware and Software Procurement:C> Common Logistics Items:
1> A common truck chassis in 4x4, 6x6, and 8x8 configuration for various applications of the 3 forces with required modifications per service as demanded. This can change, however, on special needs like a TEL for example.
2> Common staff cars, officer cars, for peaceful post areas. That way a large number of cars can be bought for a heavy discount.
3> Common base repair depots for similar items. For example: a> BRD Ozhar to take care of all IAF and IN MiG 29s. Nodal army workshop in each state can maintain own and nearby navy's or IAF's support vehicles like trucks, jeeps, etc.
4> Common orders for food and perishables for the 3 services together, which can then be dispatched to the respective service's area of operations. For example, provisions being ordered for a 45 day sail of INS Vikramaditya's Carrier Battle Group can be ordered together with provisions for the upcoming Pak facing Western Theatre Command. Because a lot of items like meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, spices, cereal, milk, grains, etc will remain common, expect big discount from whole sale businesses.