India's new Weapons Systems Branch: Key facts & figures and what's special about it

India's armed forces are set to get a major operational boost following the approval to set up a separate service — a Weapons Systems Branch (WSB) for the officers of the IAF.

This is the first time since Independence that a new operational branch is being set up.

The WSB will bring different weapons systems operators under one entity. It will streamline the operational employment of all specialist airborne and ground-based weapons systems.


According to a statement by Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari, the new branch will essentially "man the specialised streams of surface- to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, remotely piloted aircraft, and weapon system operators in twin and multi-crew aircraft."

New era in warfighting
The new development comes amid a steady emphasis on enhancing 'jointness' among the three services as no single arm of the military can win wars on its own now. Today's warfare is mostly multi-domain, which calls for a flexible and more streamlined command & control centre. The emergence of drones & swarm drones, hypersonic weapons, and space-based Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) system has added a whole new dimension to warfighting. In this respect, the WSB is expected to help the forces establish dominance across multiple domains.

Besides, the upcoming system is also likely to create the conditions to make that India has access to cutting-edge technology that meets its emerging needs.

The new branch will make for a significant diversion from India's current military operations system. While the army has deployed drones for surveillance for quite some time, the IAF has been using airborne and precision strike missiles.

Saving on costs
Experts term this system as "fragmented and resource-inefficient". In the cases of both the army and the IAF, the task is assigned to human resources with training as pilots. However, operating the weapon systems doesn't require flying training.

Flying training entails major expenses. So basically, the current system leads to significant wastage of resources as personnel trained for flying are used for a task where flying training is not even needed.

As per current calculations, the new system is likely to help save more than Rs 3,400 crore on account of reduced cost on flying training.

Streamlining operations
The WSB will bring the requirements of different branches of the forces under one head. This will make India's defence and strategic systems more efficient.

As instances of duplication come down, it will help forces circulate information in a better way, leading to better defence outcomes.

The new system is expected to plug a big gap in defence preparedness amid warfare's changing nature in the wake of the emergence of unmanned armed systems like drones and missiles.