Eyeing automated firing against enemy missiles, IAF to integrate all radars

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, June 17

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is all set to integrate all radars —its own, Army’s and civilian — to bring about a system that will entail an automated firing response from ground-based air defence units for shooting down incoming enemy missiles, jets and UAVs.

instant response

• An integrated picture of the western front and the boundary with China will emerge
• Any threat will be processed in milliseconds by a software
• The system will then decide which defence weapon will be the best to tackle the threat

As a result, an integrated picture of the western front and the boundary with China will emerge. The threat will be processed in milliseconds by a software that will then decide which air defence weapon will be best to counter it.

All air-defence weapons are basically missiles of short and medium range, and sophisticated ones that can hit multiple targets. These can bring down enemy missiles, jets and UAVs.

The nationwide integration of radars is being done as part of a plan to create a centralised control centre under the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) of the IAF. A secure optic fibre of Air Force Network (AFNet) connects various nodes of the IACCS. Each of the nodes is further connected through optic fibre laid down by the Department of Telecom and the Ministry of Defence.

The IACCS is also capable of using data from space-based platforms, fighter aircraft sensors, video from UAVs, pictures from airborne warning and control systems (AWACS), which will provide an even more accurate picture.

The new centralised control centre will integrate missiles which can be programmed to react automatically to specific threats. “Reaction time to incoming threats is now down to seconds and it’s not possible for a human to do this. Hence the automation,” said a source.

DG Air Operations Air Marshal Surat Singh briefly mentioned about the new system at a seminar on air-defence organised by think-tank Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS) on Friday. “All radars are being integrated…a centralised control centre through IAACS is being created,” he said. Director General of CAPS, Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), said at the seminar “clarity of the battlefield reduces decision making time and is perhaps the most important thing in next generational warfare”.

Sources told The Tribune that the integration of Army network into the IACCS would be done using the Indian Army’s own air defence control and reporting system (called Akash Teer) manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd.

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