New Delhi: From its initial mission of integrating diverse equipment on naval ships to refining indigenous combat management systems, the Indian Navy’s Center for Systems Engineers has come a long way in 45 years and is shaping the force’s entry into the next generation of war-fighting tactics.
In the mid-1960s, the Indian Navy began warship-building projects at state-run shipyards. However, while the platforms remained indigenous, a large number of weapons and sensors were imported from various countries.
This resulted in the establishment of a project management group, the Weapons and Electronics Systems Organization (WESO), in July 1978, with the aim of creating a hub of systems engineers tasked with integrating a variety of equipment on ships.
Started with a group of 20 naval officers, scientists and staff, the organization initially operated from a rented house in Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi and later shifted to Civil Lines.
Now known as the Indian Navy’s Weapons and Electronic Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE), it is working on the next generation version of its indigenous Combat Management System which is fitted on all Indian Navy ships including the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
CMS acts as the nerve center on warships as it integrates sensors like radar, sonar. electronic warfare (EW) System, automatic identification system (AIS) with weapons that can include guns, missiles and torpedoes as well as rockets.
The organization is managed by a Board of Management, headed by the Secretary, Department of Defense (R&D) and consisting of senior officials from DRDO, MoD, MoD (Finance), Chief of Materiel (Com), Chief of the Indian Navy and Director General WESEE.
We see Working to replace the existing Software Defined Radio (SDR) onboard Navy indigenous and latest version ships software-defined radio (SDR). a sdr It acts as an enabler of seamless communication at sea with other Indian ships and naval aircraft. In 2009, for the first time, preparatory work was initiated in association with laboratories for the development of indigenous SDRs. Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO),
Initially WESO was tasked with the system integration for the Project-16 (Godavari Class) frigates. The Godavari-class ships carried a mix of Soviet weapons, Western and Indian sensors and communications equipment. The task of systems integration for Godavari required the creation of expertise in communication protocols, embedded systems and software development.
currently, WESEE operates in the four core domains of Combat System Integration, Combat Management System, Networking and Data Link, and Cyber Security.
The naval organization is credited with the development of Project-16A (Brahmaputra Class), Project-15 (Delhi Class), Project-25A (Kora Class) and Project-1241RE (Veer Class) ships for system integration, integration of Modular Data Bus (MDB) and Modular Interface for Ship-borne Systems (MISS Box).
With an eye on cyber security, WESEE’s Cryptography Development Laboratory is one of the few laboratories in India authorized by the National Cipher Policy Committee for development of cryptographic systems in government.
In 2014, WESEE was designated as the Integration Authority of the Indian Navy. “Today, we are experimenting with every latest technology available in the market. Industry has the technologies and uses them only when it has users. Therefore, we partner with industry. We are into the latest, high tech technologies like quantum, autonomous ships, AI big data, laser communication as well as block chain. We are either working in house with our own team or partnering with Indian industry. It also motivates the industry to take forward its technologies,” said a WESEE official.
“The domain expertise and experience available at WESEE bridges the gap in identifying the necessary interfaces so that the new tools can ensure optimum utilization of the capability commensurate with the role of the specified platform,” the official added.
(Edited by Tony Rae)
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