The National Security Guard (NSG), learning from its experiences and hindrances it faced during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has now got a state-of-the-art "radio gateway" gadget that can bring both mobile phones and wireless sets of police forces and the striking NSG squad on one frequency, thereby ensuring continuous flow of information between them.
"You will see a vast change in the way NSG works in the coming years. We have cut down all the extraneous procedures (during operations) and the whole idea is to have a lean and mean fighting commando," NSG chief Rajan K Medhekar told PTI at the forces` garrison in Manesar here.
Medhekar said the elite counter-terror and counter-hijack forces` capability "in terms of communication has vastly increased an has progressed into digital communication totally".
"The first problem (during commando strikes) which we used to face was communication...they (local police) used some different frequencies and what we used to do was to exchange wireless sets. Now, what we have got is a radio gateway," the NSG Director General said.
The communication that we have now is encrypted and secure and we can do texting and video transfer to our commando deep inside the strike zone and we can even remote kill our lost radio sets during such operations, the DG said.
We have also worked out modalities with the states and their police forces for providing logistics, vehicles and provision of few men capable of speaking the local language of the area under operation, he said.
"NSG is quite capable of looking after itself for first 48 hours at least, if not more. But there has to be replenishment if engagement extends. We have worked out the modalities with regard to food, water, medical aid (to commandos)," he said.
Talking about quick mobility for the commandos, Medhekar said they have got in place similar arrangements for vehicles.
"Although we carry some vehicles in the aircraft we travel in, we do not have every type of vehicle. We can now immediately get any kind of vehicle according to our requirement," he said.
Also, to help our strike squads, we will have a few people who have the knowledge of both the languages (local police and the commando squad), he said.
The NSG chief said a huge emphasis is being given to train the commandos in tackling stress and producing their best reflexes during an operation.
"The commando, mentally, has to be very tenacious and stable. We are providing him with so much fire power and training in destructive mode that he has to be mentally a very stable person," he said.
While the effort is to equip the commandos with the latest technology and gadgets, we are also making them knowledgeable by training them at all those security vulnerable locations where he may may have to operate some day, he said.