Explained: What blackouts achieve during conflict in era of GPS, precision weapons

With tension between India and Pakistan escalating with each passing day in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, several border towns, from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to Ferozepur in Punjab and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, are witnessing blackouts amid drone attacks by Pak at night.

Indian cities and towns last witnessed a dusk-to-dawn blackout in 1971, the year when India and Pakistan engaged in the last full-scale war. The blackouts were meant to blind the Pakistani fighter pilots. However, with technological advancements taking place at a breakneck speed over the last two decades, the question is what a blackout or camouflaging of installations would achieve in the age of GPS navigation and precision weapons that are fed with the exact position of their targets.

Also read: Punjab residents spend anxious night as lights go off amid Pak strikes

What is a blackout in times of conflict and how exactly does it help?

Blackout is a wartime strategy in which artificial light is minimised to make it difficult for enemy aircraft or submarines to find targets. This practice was mainly prevalent in the 20th century during World War II (1939-1945).

Blackout rules regulated the lighting of homes, factories, shops and vehicles, including covering windows, turning off street lights, and painting or masking vehicle headlights.

The blackout aids in hiding critical infrastructure, industrial sites, and residential areas by contouring vital areas and, at the very least, lowering the odds of missiles or aerial strikes.

The main purpose of the blackout was to make enemy air raids difficult. The blackout measures ensure the elimination of all light sources visible from the open air. They are part of lighting restrictions and are primarily meant to help strengthen civil defence mechanisms.

Blackout trials were also part of the mock drills conducted on May 7 in 244 civil defence districts as part of India’s strategy to ensure citizens are armed with the knowledge of what to do in case of attacks against the country following Operation Sindoor.

A 2003 order of the Directorate General Civil Defence (under the Union Home Ministry), titled “General Principles of Civil Defence in India”, explains that “Lighting restrictions are an important feature of precautionary measures to be taken as a form of security against air attack.”

No light should be visible at a height of 5,000 feet above ground level under normal visibility conditions, says the document.

Also read: Punjab: All-night blackout in Gurdaspur from today as Indo-Pak tension soars

How are lighting restrictions imposed during a blackout?

The order states that it is not practical for all lighting restrictions to be imposed all at once. The best approach is to do so in gradual stages so that civilians can carry out their normal activities with “less and less light”. These include streetlights, those in buildings and vehicles, and larger complexes.

For vehicles: The headlights and tail lights on the vehicle’s exterior are normally set to low beams or blacked out to keep visibility from above to a minimum.

For residences: It is mandatory that homes use curtains or shades that don’t allow light to escape.

For public streetlights: The number of streetlights should be reduced to the absolute minimum. The power of the remaining lights is to be reduced as far as possible, ensuring that no light is reflected on the ground.

For businesses: Shops should ensure that their interiors do not light up the exterior of the building.

Why blackouts may not be as helpful as they were earlier?

People were asked to switch off lights and use lamps or candles below the window level during blackouts in the 1965 and 1971 wars. They were also asked to cover their windows so that no speck of light betrayed it to be a residential area.

“For two fraught weeks that winter when India and Pakistan were at war, Bombay was a dark, high-strung creature that covered its headlights with brown paper, sat glued to the radio through the night, hoarded scarce kerosene, conducted mock drills and held wedding receptions in the afternoon,” according to a report in The Times of India, recounting the events of 1971.

However, now the GPS and self-contained navigation systems like Inertial Navigation System (INS) help pilots fly with minimal visual cues. Systems like the INS come into play if GPS is jammed or is anyhow unavailable. Then there are infrared (IR) cameras that detect heat signatures.

Advanced fighter jets also release weapons in pre-programmed coordinates with great accuracy. The weapons come loaded with pre-fed locations.

What do blackouts achieve in these times of GPS and precision attacks?

Confusing an enemy is a timeless strategy of war. The psychological pressure that a cross-country drill of this magnitude builds is undeniable.

It also prepares the people of a country for a war in which every individual gets affected to some extent. “In an age of GPS tracking and precision targeting, these drills, which also include blackout drills, are more symbolic than substantive in nature,” Col Rajeev Agarwal (retired), senior consultant at Chintan Research Foundation, Delhi, was quoted as saying by India Today.

Also read: Blackouts, war-like emergency exercises: What will Centre’s May 7 mock drill entail?

“However, these drills convey a direct and strong signal to the enemy that something is around the corner and that they cannot let their guard down. They can be a very effective tool towards psychological exhaustion of the enemy before the physical blow is delivered,” he said.

Though the role of darkness has been reduced to a great extent in modern warfare, it still serves a purpose by hindering optical and infrared surveillance, degrading backup navigation methods, and lowering visibility.

Fighter pilots rely on a suite of sensors, GPS-based targeting, thermal imaging, radar, and coordinated intelligence to hit targets with precision at night. The darkness no longer provides the cover it once did. However, total darkness does deny a critical advantage.

The 2003 order of Director General Civil Defence in a way corroborated it by saying: “The anxiety level of the enemy pilot in the cockpit would be more if the area is dark. This holds even with significant changes in the threat perception and technological advancement over time.”