By Praful Kumar Singh

New Delhi, June 12 (ANI): To provide lethal firepower at the right place in the minimum time and to inflict the maximum casualty on the enemy in order to get optimum results in the battlefield, the Indian Army today inducted the Artillery Combat and Control System (ACCCS) Shakti, which is the artillery component of TAC 31.

The Tactical Command and Communication and Intelligence (TAC C31) System in the Army is the first step towards acquiring this tactical capability in network centric warfare.

The capability of rapid acquisition, processing and dissemination of battle field information and delivering crushing blows to enemy’s critical assets even before they make contact with the Indian armed forces will be the deciding factor in any future conflict.

Speaking on the occasion of the dedication of the Shakti to the armed forces, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor said: “Future battles are going to be intense and short with international opinion coming in to end the conflict.”

“Army must be modernised to carry out victory over adversary in the shortest possible time. Integration of technology is needed to get best and optimum results in the battlefield,” he added.

Shakti is one project where a soldier, scientist and technologists have come together to produce a system, which will prove its lethality in the battle, General Kapoor said.

ACCCS, also termed as Project Shakti, is the first among the Tac C31 systems being fielded in the Army. Shakti will give the capability to concentrate the artillery firepower at operational and tactical levels in reduced time frame and deliver a decisive blow to the enemy at the desired point of time and place.

Developed by the Army’s Directorate General of Information Systems, Shakti’s three main electronic devices Enhanced Tactical Computer, Gun Display Unit and Hand Held Computer are produced by the defence public sector undertaking Bharat Electronics Limited.

ACCS would help in five critical functions including ‘Technical Fire Control’ for trajectory computations and ‘Tactical Fire Control’ primarily involving processing of fire requests at battery to corps level and ammunition management.

It also ensure ‘Deployment Management’ for guns and observation posts for defensive and offensive operations, ‘Operational Logistics’ for assisting in timely provisioning of ammunition and logistics support and ‘Fire Planning’ to facilitate production of fire plans, task tables and automatic generation of gun programmes. (ANI)