Test before having BECA at our call

Context: The India-US 2+2 (foreign and defence) ministerial meeting to be held in New Delhi is going to explore the India-US foundational agreements, including BECA.

US India Major Agreements

• General Security Of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA): First foundational agreement with India in 2002.

• Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) 

• Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) 

• Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA): It will allow the countries to share geospatial data and imagery to identify the military hardware of their adversaries.

• Benefits:

• India can utilise data from US’s geospatial intelligence-gathering satellites.

• Precise weather forecasting for India’s cities is vital for disaster management.

Drawbacks of BECA:

• Over-focus on geolocating adversarial hardware: will prove to be limiting due to entry of weapons of fourth-generation warfare and technological challenges into cyber and electronic realms.

• Neglects the likelihood of weather warfare: When extended to military operations, deliberate electromagnetic interference can be considered an act of electronic warfare.

• Neglects the criticality of meteorological intelligence:

• In daily weather- monitoring and disaster management, it can become an act of criminal and economic negligence. 

• Issues of interference with the 5G networks: 5G networks working at 24Ghz frequency might interfere with the weather monitoring instruments.

• Apprehensions raised by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) about the clash of the telecom and meteorological technologies.

Way Ahead: 

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India must study the impact of 5G transmission on the 24-GHz band on localised urban weather monitoring.

• Ministry of Earth Sciences and the department of space can collaborate with NOAA and Nasa, respectively to analyse meteorological data of those US cities that have implemented 24-GHz 5G.

• Sharing of data: 

• Microwave Analysis and Detection of Rain and Atmospheric Structures (MADRAS): India can share data from the precipitation-measuring instrument on board the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Megha-Tropiques weather monitoring satellite.
• Advanced Microwave Imager: The US can employ its counterpart on board its Joint Altimetry Satellite Oceanography Network-3 satellite.