Electronic Weapons: India Layers The Pakistan Border

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May 3, 2016: India has decided to expand and upgrade its electronic security fence in the northwest (Kashmir) to cover its entire 2,900 kilometer border with Pakistan. The new fence design is called five layer because it uses multiple sensors (vidcams, night vision cameras, thermal imagers, ground surveillance radar, seismic sensors and laser barriers) to provide layers of surveillance that intruders have to penetrate to get into India undetected. All the sensors are linked to control centers which can deploy rapid reaction forces or aerial surveillance as needed.

The new five layer fence began in the 1990s when India, using some of the new Israeli sensor technology, began building a 580 kilometer electrified fence along the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir. This was finally completed in 2004. At that point India bought more radars, and special jamming equipment (to shut down radios used by Islamic radicals trying to cross the border) for along the new LOC fence. The use of ground radars, thermal imaging and other electronic gear along the LOC greatly reduced illegal movements into Indian controlled Kashmir. When this was all completed the number of Islamic terrorists getting past the LOC and into India was down over 80 percent. At that point it was decided to expand and upgrade the fence.

India is not the only country to adopt the Israeli concepts. In 2014 Saudi Arabia decided to upgrade a 2006 fence along the 900 kilometer border with Iraq. The Saudi implementation of the original Israeli design used lots of sensors, supported by 1,450 kilometers of fiber optic cables. The high-speed fiber optic lines allowed for real time monitoring of fifty radars (able to detect vehicles, pack animals and individual people) along with 78 monitoring towers equipped with optical day and night sensors (digital cameras) with zoom. The monitoring was done from eight command centers. From these centers sensor operators could quickly determine if someone was attempting to breach the border barrier and where. They could then order armed men to the trouble spot from 32 rapid response centers. There are ten vehicles equipped with surveillance equipment that can be sent to areas where trouble is expected, to make sure the trouble, if it shows up, is spotted and identified sooner.

 

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