DRDO to develop more capable mission suite for IAF’s six additional AWACS

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, January 19

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing a new mission suite for six additional early Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) that would have enhanced operational capabilities than the one presently being utilised by the IAF.

The new suites would be integrated on Embraer-145 aircraft, which are being procured from the secondary market. The IAF already has two such aircrafts in service, christened Netra, which were inducted in February 2017 and September 2019.

According to DRDO scientists, the technical requirements for the new mission suite, termed Mark-1A, have been drawn up. It would be developed in collaboration with the industry for which an expression of interest was issued by the Ministry of Defence last week.

The mission suite would consist of about 15 aerial sub-systems and components in addition to several ground-based elements. These include an active electronically scanned array-based primary radar, a secondary surveillance radar, radomes, mission communication system, electronic support measures, radar warning receiver, missile approach warning system, satellite communication, defensive countermeasures, work stations, and identification of friend and foe system.

As was in the case of the existing Nerta AWACS, the six additional aircrafts would be structurally modified by Embraer, the Brazilian manufacturer of the executive jet platform, while the mission suite would be integrated into it and tested indigenously by DRDO in collaboration with other laboratories and industrial partners.

Referred to as ‘an eye in the sky’, the AWACS is a system of systems and an effective force multiplier covering a wide swath of airspace in a networked environment, tracking and identifying multiple airborne platforms, collecting electronic and intelligence signals, and directing airborne and ground-based weapon platforms. AWACS are different from electronic warfare and reconnaissance platforms.

A Netra aircraft was deployed in a combat situation for the first time during the Balakote operations in 2019. In addition, the IAF also has Russian origin three Beriev A-50 AWACS, which are based on the IL-76 airframe. These were modified for the IAF by Israel by incorporating the Phalon radar system.

Recently, the IAF also procured six Airbus A320 and one A319 passenger liners from Air India. These would be modified to integrate the Netra’s Mark-2 version and for intelligence gathering operations and electronic warfare.

The IAF’s present fleet of five AWACS is relatively small as compared to its two hostile neighbours. China has a fleet of 20 Shaanxi KJ-500 20, four Shaanxi KJ-200 and four KJ-2000, while Pakistan has four Chinese ZDK-03 Karakoram Eagle and eight Swedish Saab 2000 Erieye platforms.