Indian AWACS in next month

Tehelka

The indigenous airborne early warning and control system (AWACS), integrated on board a Brazilian aircraft, which will give the Indian Air Force (IAF) a capability beyond conventional ground-based radars and tethered electromagnetic radars, will roll out next month.

The system, being developed by Bangalore-based Centre for Airborne Systems a laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation would give the IAF the capability to “see” beyond enemy lines and detect incoming, airborne threats.

A senior defence official said: “The AWACS has been integrated with the Brazilian aircraft Embraer according to IAF’s specifications. The first indigenous system would roll out in February and the flight trials would begin by this year-end.”

India and Brazil had inked a deal in 2008 under which aircraft manufacturer Embraer had to modify its EMB145 aircraft to carry an active array antenna unit on its fuselage. Termed to be “very cost-effective” and “probably the cheapest in the world,” the system is expected to be a potent force-multiplier for the IAF.

The home-grown AWACS, beyond its ability to detect aircraft, cruise missiles and other flying objects at ranges far greater than what is possible through existing systems, can also collate surface information about troop movements and missile launches even while “listening in” to highly confidential communications between the enemy’s front line units.

When inducted in the IAF, it would supplement the fleet of three AWACS purchased from Israel. The current AWACS operational in the IAF is a Phalcon airborne radar integrated with the Russian IL-76 heavy-lift aircraft.

India is in a select club of nations — along with the US, Russia, Britain, Japan, Australia and Turkey — that operate such a sophisticated system. Other countries — notably Pakistan, Brazil and Greece — too operate AWACS but at a much lower end of the scale in terms of capability.