India Radar, Sensors and Electronic Warfare Archive

[Indos]

Six new 'eyes in the sky' for Indian Air Force to be built by DRDO on Air India planes

BCCL
An Indian Air Force (IAF) IL-76 aircraft mounted with an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) flies past during the IAF Day Parade at The Air Force Station at Hindon in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, on October 8, 2009
Synopsis
Government sources said that as per the discussions on the AEW&C Block 2 aircraft to be developed by the DRDO under a Rs 10,500 crore project, the six aircraft would be acquired from the Air India fleet and modified to fly with a radar that will g...
By ANILast Updated: Dec 16, 2020, 03:47 PM IST
NEW DELHI: In a major boost for the indigenous defence industry, India is going to make six new Airborne Early Warning and Control planes to be developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on aircraft from Air India to further improve Air Force's surveillance capabilities along borders with China and Pakistan.

Government sources said that as per the discussions on the AEW&C Block 2 aircraft to be developed by the DRDO under a Rs 10,500 crore project, the six aircraft would be acquired from the Air India fleet and modified to fly with a radar that will give 360-degree surveillance capability to the defence forces.



"The six AEW&C block two planes would be highly capable than their predecessor NETRA plane and provide 360-degree coverage deep inside the enemy territory during missions. The government is expected to clear the project soon," government sources told ANI.

The project to build the AEW&C system on existing aircraft from the Air India fleet may also mean that India may not buy the six Airbus 330 transport aircraft planned to be acquired earlier from the European firm, the sources said.


The Defence Research and Development Organisation had earlier planned to build six Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) on the Airbus 330 aircraft for which some facilities were planned to be created in Bengaluru.

As per plans, the six new aircraft would be sent to a European destination to the original equipment manufacturer for modification of the planes for installing the radar, the sources said.


Sources said the project has been planned in a way to promote Make in India in defense and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Block-I of the project was delayed beyond the scheduled timelines but with the prior experience under its belt, the Centre for Airborne Studies lab of DRDO is planning to complete it in a shorter timeframe.



The IAF has three PHALCON AWACS systems bought by it from Israel and Russia under which the radar is provided by the Israelis whereas the platform used is the Russian Ilyushin-76 transport aircraft.

The two NETRA aircraft provided by the DRDO have also performed very well in the recent conflicts where they have flown extensively to keep an eye on the enemy activity.

The six new 'eyes in the sky' would be stationed at different places in the countries for effective surveillance long both the borders, the sources said

Six new 'eyes in the sky' for Indian Air Force to be built by DRDO on Air India planes

Government sources said that as per the discussions on the AEW&C Block 2 aircraft to be developed by the DRDO under a Rs 10,500 crore project, the six aircraft would be acquired from the Air India fleet and modified to fly with a radar that will give 360-degree surveillance capability to the...

www.google.com

DRDO will only do the sensor integration with the sensors like radar and others will be provided by Western sources or the sensors will be indegeous ???

I think Indonesia can follow similar path as well with its aging Garuda fleet and let PT Dirgantara Indonesia do the sensor integration on 10 years old Garuda Indonesia fleet that could also get refurbished in DI MRO or GMF facility........ @Madokafc

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1292018375061725184

This will be a cheaper solution while still give work to our local industry

 

[Madokafc]

DRDO will only do the sensor integration with the sensors like radar and others will be provided by Western sources or the sensors will be indegeous ???

I think Indonesia can follow similar part as well with its aging Garuda fleet and let PT Dirgantara Indonesia do the sensor integration on 10 years old Garuda Indonesia fleet that could also get refurbished in DI MRO or GMF facility........ @Madokafc

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1292018375061725184

This will be a cheaper solution while still give work to our local industry

BEL is quite advance at radar and sensor system, they had provided indigenous solution for many Indian made aircraft navigation and electronic equipment along with Naval system.

Since 80's decade Indonesia procure Deccan radar system sparepart from BEL

 

[Raptor]

DRDO will only do the sensor integration with the sensors like radar and others will be provided by Western sources or the sensors will be indegeous ???

I think Indonesia can follow similar path as well with its aging Garuda fleet and let PT Dirgantara Indonesia do the sensor integration on 10 years old Garuda Indonesia fleet that could also get refurbished in DI MRO or GMF facility........ @Madokafc

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1292018375061725184

This will be a cheaper solution while still give work to our local industry

It would be based on NETRA but on A320 aircraft.
With 240-300° coverage.
There was a separate program for 6×360° based on A330 MRTT too,radars on both will be indigenous.

 

[Paro]

It would be based on NETRA but on A320 aircraft.
With 240-300° coverage.
There was a separate program for 6×360° based on A330 MRTT too,radars on both will be indigenous.

I think this contract is the 6x360.

 

[Nilgiri]

DRDO will only do the sensor integration with the sensors like radar and others will be provided by Western sources or the sensors will be indegeous ???

DRDO (specifically LRDE) has developed and deployed lot of the fundamental technology needed for all kind of radars incl. AESA:

Technologies | Defence Research and Development Organisation - DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Government of India

www.drdo.gov.in

A summary presentation relevant here (especially 13 minute mark, but whole presentation gives good overall idea):

The first deployed project with DRDO AESA (AWACS) was:

DRDO AEW&CS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This project has been going on quite a while, and followed by international circles. Back in 2014:

https://www.avascent.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Digital-Battlespace_MarApr14_webmag_Avascent-Pages.pdf

India, meanwhile, elected to develop its own indigenous AEW&C solution based on an Embraer ERJ 145 regional jet. The country’s Defence Research & Development Organisation is currently testing an S-band (2.3- 2.5/2.7-3.7GHz) AESA radar with range of 300km, according to DRDO representatives speaking to Digital Battlespace at the October 2013 ADEX event in Seoul. The officials added that the organisation currently has three airframes undergoing radar installation, with the first expected to be delivered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) by the end of this year.

Currently, the IAF has several (the exact number is uncertain, but reports suggest between three and six) Beriev A-50I AEW&C aircraft based on the Ilyushin Il-76 strategic airlifter which are equipped with the IAI Elta Systems EL/W-2090 radar.

However, beyond the three ERJ 145s that it will induct into service, the IAF has a long-term requirement for up to six long-range AEW&C aircraft, with the DRDO representatives saying that the organisation has been tasked with development of a new radar to equip these platforms, which would be mounted in a circular radome rather than the oblong box housing found on the ERJ 145s.

No platform for this new radar has yet been selected, although the DRDO said the turbofanpowered Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) currently under co-development by Russia and India could be one candidate, with an in-service date of 2020 expected for the AEW&C system.


It is this last two paragraphs that are now being operationalised now concretely (finally).

LRDE is one of the better DRDO labs:

http://www.radarindia.com/Proceedings%20Archive/IRSI-15/15-FP-131.pdf

Is LRDE Developing An Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB) AESA Radar For AMCA?

AESA radars are becoming the centrepiece of next-generation sensors suites. This new type of radar has greatly enhanced the situationa...

www.indiandefensenews.in

It would be based on NETRA but on A320 aircraft.
With 240-300° coverage.
There was a separate program for 6×360° based on A330 MRTT too,radars on both will be indigenous.

Its 360 coverage this time, there is no point to do a 240/300 erieye like one on platform as big as A320.

Either they will radome it with 3 aperture (triangle array) or they will do a wedgetail kind of thing. Another option is what the israelis do with their gulfstream platform...but space is not really a constraint on A320 to go for cheeks and nose+tail kind of split.

Simply each platform will use 50% more material than NETRA. 3 aperture instead of 2...and the computational power added to handle this etc.

 

[Nilgiri]

It will at least take 6 years to do so considering IST clock runs anti clockwise. In the interim IAF needs something to fill the gap on the Chinese front.

Maybe lease something. Depends how urgent this is compared to other gaps in eyes of babus.

 

[Zapper]

Maybe lease something. Depends how urgent this is compared to other gaps in eyes of babus.

Feb-26th showed how PAF effectively used EW and AWACS. They have over twice the number of AWACS with 7 times smaller in land mass. It was evident that Abhi's Mig-21 was blinded which is why he didn't know that he crossed into enemy airspace despite ground controller trying to contact him. Their strike package of 24 fighter jets were effectively supported by multiple AWACS units while we countered em with 8 jets (2x Su-30MKI while the others were Mirage 2ks' and Mig-21s) with only one AWAC in the air.

 

[Nilgiri]

Feb-26th showed how PAF effectively used EW and AWACS. They have over twice the number of AWACS with 7 times smaller in land mass. It was evident that Abhi's Mig-21 was blinded which is why he didn't know that he crossed into enemy airspace despite ground controller trying to contact him. Their strike package of 24 fighter jets were effectively supported by multiple AWACS units while we countered em with 8 jets (2x Su-30MKI while the others were Mirage 2ks' and Mig-21s) with only one AWAC in the air.

Well in non-mobilised environment, it is always lot easier to plan and execute pitching compared to receiving, as you hold the initiation envelope etc. Hence India also conducting Balakot in first place.

i.e Mailed fist stuff you can ramp up to suitable intensity as you know your vector, whereas defender has CAPs and such spread out watching everywhere for all vectors.

But Indian military (and militaries in general) are made for all out mobilised theatre first thing....and that will remain the primary focus (and get augmented over time this decade for this new envelope that has been explored and opened up, but within reason we can hope ofc).

Specific strike envelope in certain domains only grow when you hold huge intense advantage over an adversary (which was and is dulled by Pakistan's nuclear deterrent big time to begin with).

So it is very babu+intel reliant on response parameters to begin with and you are right it needs appropriate sensor saturation aerially (or maritime wise in case of mumbai 08) to best coordinate that, which has been lacking given Indian fiscal, planning and commitment lapses (for this new augmented doctrine taking shape). Taking highest political will completely out of picture for argument sake of course.

Thus babudom inertia (tactical operation design or program dev + management) is big factor and both you and Paro are correct to bring it up in the separate but linked domains.

It would make sense for India to heavily invest in AWACs just like underwater craft (and drones in all envelopes too) I brought up earlier, but this again depend how Indian defence establishment prioritises with other things (given finite resources in the end and wieldy inertia) and where they see the headings there...what to sharpen vs bulk up etc.

 

[Raptor]

Technologies | Defence Research and Development Organisation - DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Government of India

www.drdo.gov.in

A summary presentation relevant here (especially 13 minute mark, but whole presentation gives good overall idea):

The first deployed project with DRDO AESA (AWACS) was:

DRDO AEW&CS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This project has been going on quite a while, and followed by international circles. Back in 2014:

https://www.avascent.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Digital-Battlespace_MarApr14_webmag_Avascent-Pages.pdf

India, meanwhile, elected to develop its own indigenous AEW&C solution based on an Embraer ERJ 145 regional jet. The country’s Defence Research & Development Organisation is currently testing an S-band (2.3- 2.5/2.7-3.7GHz) AESA radar with range of 300km, according to DRDO representatives speaking to Digital Battlespace at the October 2013 ADEX event in Seoul. The officials added that the organisation currently has three airframes undergoing radar installation, with the first expected to be delivered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) by the end of this year.

Currently, the IAF has several (the exact number is uncertain, but reports suggest between three and six) Beriev A-50I AEW&C aircraft based on the Ilyushin Il-76 strategic airlifter which are equipped with the IAI Elta Systems EL/W-2090 radar.

However, beyond the three ERJ 145s that it will induct into service, the IAF has a long-term requirement for up to six long-range AEW&C aircraft, with the DRDO representatives saying that the organisation has been tasked with development of a new radar to equip these platforms, which would be mounted in a circular radome rather than the oblong box housing found on the ERJ 145s.

No platform for this new radar has yet been selected, although the DRDO said the turbofanpowered Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) currently under co-development by Russia and India could be one candidate, with an in-service date of 2020 expected for the AEW&C system.


It is this last two paragraphs that are now being operationalised now concretely (finally).

LRDE is one of the better DRDO labs:

http://www.radarindia.com/Proceedings%20Archive/IRSI-15/15-FP-131.pdf

Is LRDE Developing An Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB) AESA Radar For AMCA?

AESA radars are becoming the centrepiece of next-generation sensors suites. This new type of radar has greatly enhanced the situationa...

www.indiandefensenews.in

Its 360 coverage this time, there is no point to do a 240/300 erieye like one on platform as big as A320.

Either they will radome it with 3 aperture (triangle array) or they will do a wedgetail kind of thing. Another option is what the israelis do with their gulfstream platform...but space is not really a constraint on A320 to go for cheeks and nose+tail kind of split.

Simply each platform will use 50% more material than NETRA. 3 aperture instead of 2...and the computational power added to handle this etc.

Some are saying different,some saying another thing,so much confusion lmao.

 

[Paro]

Maybe lease something. Depends how urgent this is compared to other gaps in eyes of babus.

Awacs cant be leased. They are kind of designed specifically to meet individual requirements i guess. P8a and p8i are miles apart on their user capabilities even though they are based on the same core platform. Only option would be to go with more netras in the interim.

 

[Nilgiri]

Some are saying different,some saying another thing,so much confusion lmao.

Literally there is wasted capacity if we just trading up embraer for a320 and using same netra array. It would make next to no sense to me.

Awacs cant be leased. They are kind of designed specifically to meet individual requirements i guess. P8a and p8i are miles apart on their user capabilities even though they are based on the same core platform. Only option would be to go with more netras in the interim.

Well its not impossible, I am thinking a legacy platform nearing its way out of service kind of thing (like say sentry or hawkeye) but it would be fairly stupid overall given the restrictions and issues in play for that like you mention that need workarounds. It is a far stretch....but not totally impossible if the impetus is there for it this decade. Other (newer) systems there is just not enough to go around to spare with their respective militaries, so thats dead end on those for sure.

The best would have indeed been to continue netra (and not halt at just 3). Get like a whole bunch more of those steadily....but babus like fits and stops so much.

I just don't see them going with more netra "as is" as embraer is blacklisted..and they have to integrate into a whole different a/c anyway basically (or remove embraer from the blacklist which I don't see happening), so they might as well go upwards like they have now with A320.

 

[Nilgiri]

@Paro it's going off topic a bit, but interesting read regardless about this kind of issue from earlier throwback period...with shekhar gupta writing it even:

Pak scales down its quest to the twin-engined Hawkeye instead of the E-3A sentry AWACS

The result: a fresh outcry against the Soviet intimidation of Pakistan and a much needed plug for the Pakistani quest of an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.

www.indiatoday.in

 

[Raptor]

Literally there is wasted capacity if we just trading up embraer for a320 and using same netra array. It would make next to no sense to me.




Well its not impossible, I am thinking a legacy platform nearing its way out of service kind of thing (like say sentry or hawkeye) but it would be fairly stupid overall given the restrictions and issues in play for that like you mention that need workarounds. It is a far stretch....but not totally impossible if the impetus is there for it this decade. Other (newer) systems there is just not enough to go around to spare with their respective militaries, so thats dead end on those for sure.

The best would have indeed been to continue netra (and not halt at just 3). Get like a whole bunch more of those steadily....but babus like fits and stops so much.

I just don't see them going with more netra "as is" as embraer is blacklisted..and they have to integrate into a whole different a/c anyway basically (or remove embraer from the blacklist which I don't see happening), so they might as well go upwards like they have now with A320.

The NETRA thing's radar's coverage will be upgraded from what i heard.

 

[crixus]

 

[Milspec]

There are also two more Phalcons on order iirc.

 

[Nilgiri]

The NETRA thing's radar's coverage will be upgraded from what i heard.

I dont know what they mean then heh. There is only so much you can do with 2 plate design given edge effects (thats why each only has 120 degree, or 150 degree on erieye....and not 180 each).

Its solved easily by adding one more plate, 120*3 = 360.

 

[Nilgiri]

There are also two more Phalcons on order iirc.

Yeah:

Indian Air Force

For all the aviation lovers of the Indian Sky.

defencehub.live

 

[MASA]

India Dumps Russian IL-76A-50EI AEW&C And Opt-in European Options

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), a state-run defence company, will convert six unspecified aircraft operated by Air India (AI, Mumbai Int’l) into airbo…

www.globaldefensecorp.com

 

[Raptor]

INDIA'S AESA RADAR UTTAM IS NEARING COMPLETION​

SUNDAY,
DECEMBER 27, 2020 BY INDIAN DEFENCE NEWS​

Update on UTTAM AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Radar


According to Delhi Defence Review UTTAM AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Radar is nearing completion. It's air to air mode has been validated on TEJAS. These tests where conducted using advanced algorithms. Air to ground and Air to sea mode validation is pending, most probably these tests will be completed in near future.

UTTAM will be production ready by end 2021. UTTAM will be closely integrated with RWR and jamming system. LRDE and DARE are working together to improve its effectiveness.

An upscaled version of UTTAM will be integrated with the Sukhoi Su-30MKI air superiority fighter. The Sukhoi variant of UTTAM will have twice the performance to that of the current version. There are chances that variants of UTTAM would also be integrated on MiG-29 and MiG-29K fighters.

It was also reported that work is progressing fast on the AMCA Radar also. AMCA radar will use GaN technology. MWF will use GaAs based Radar first and will upgrade to GaN .

India's AESA Radar UTTAM Is Nearing Completion

Update on UTTAM AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Radar According to Delhi Defence Review UTTAM AESA (Active Electronically Scanned...

www.indiandefensenews.in

 

[Zapper]

Uttam AESA on the LCA Tejas