Develop AWACS in seven years: DRDO told

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Develop AWACS in seven years: DRDO told

September 09, 2004 17:22 IST

Five years after a setback to its indigenous Airbrone Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) programme, the Cabinet Committee on Security on gave the go ahead for the revival of the project setting a timeframe of seven years for its development at a cost of Rs 1800 crore.

Apparently buoyed by the recent breakthroughs in radar technology by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the CCS cleared the project for an indigenous AWACS at an hour-long meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Air Force will jointly cooperate in the development of the system," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

He also said the CCS accorded an ex-post facto approval to a wide-ranging defence agreement between India and Brazil.

The revival of the AWACS project comes after five years DRDO's HS-748 technology demonstrator aircraft crashed killing some DRDO scientists and technicians in Tamil Nadu in 1999.

Though the minister did not not spell out the aircraft on which the new AWACS would be mounted, his announcement of ratification of a defence agreement with Brazil assumes significance as Brazilian aviation company Embraer is one of the few countries to have the AWACS technology.

India recently concluded an agreement with a company for the purchase of five Embraer executive jets, four for the VVIP squadron of the IAF and one for the Union home ministry.

The announcement also comes in the wake of recent comments by former DRDO Secretary V K Atre that India has developed expertise to produce an indigenous AWACS.

The decision to produce the AWACS within the country follows a recent multi-million dollar trilateral deal signed to mount Israeli Phalcon 'aireye' radars on a Russian IL-76 transport aircraft with Indian avionics spinoffs.

The first of the three AWACS was likely to be delivered by early 2007.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/sep/09awacs.htm

I wonder if they will get technical assistance from Isreal :finger2

 

[arjun]

hey why not india can get technical support from any country who want to hepl india no any project in defence totaly self depend every where copy if u see all around defence world :nonsense :smokingc:

 

[P.A.F]

definately Brahmos. i think india have had help from isreal. no doubt about it.

 

[ajay_ijn]

It would be a waste of money I think if India is developing on its own.

I fear it would be like another LCA or Arjun ,i mean another delayed project,may be that is why India is starting the development now itself.
If its is developed in jointly developed with russia or isreal,it might be completed early.

 

[aaaditya]

india is developing it on its own but with brazililian assiatance(platform) and israeli or some western expertise in terms of radar.india successfully tested airawat (indigenous awacs)before it crashed so india has got a base.i beleive brazil will supply the embraer erj-145 platform while elta will be the consultant for the active phased array radar.india already has a deal with israel to jointly develop an entire family of radars.(bel and hal with elta of israel).overall i would think that this awacs will turn out to be a scaled down and low cost version of the phalcon in terms of performance and capability but with tremendous growth capability.

 

[gf0012-aust]

\successfully tested airawat (indigenous awacs)before it crashed so india has got a base.

That's not my understanding. I've been informed by people in IAF quite clearly that the reason for fast tracking to Phalcon was that the Indian AWACs programme was losing traction and was deemed unsuccessful. The loss of the HS748's were seen as a tactical blessing.

 

[ajay_ijn]

That's not my understanding. I've been informed by people in IAF quite clearly that the reason for fast tracking to Phalcon was that the Indian AWACs programme was losing traction and was deemed unsuccessful. The loss of the HS748's were seen as a tactical blessing.

oh my god ,gf why did u reveal such classified info given by IAF.
IAF trusted u and u cheated them ,i was just joking.
However it is expected,AWACS is not such an easy thing to develop.

Even if it is developed it will heavily depend on foreign tech and equipment.
one doubt Aussies got wedgetail AWACS,but they are not having such serious conflicts to use an AWACS.They do participate in a US war but they can take help of an US AWACS.

 

[gf0012-aust]

oh my god ,gf why did u reveal such classified info given by IAF.

IAF trusted u and u cheated them ,i was just joking.
However it is expected,AWACS is not such an easy thing to develop.

If it was classified I wouldn't have said it.

Even if it is developed it will heavily depend on foreign tech and equipment. one doubt Aussies got wedgetail AWACS,but they are not having such serious conflicts to use an AWACS.They do participate in a US war but they can take help of an US AWACS.

You've lost me on this one - We work on interoperability with our allies - so we can datlink with American/NATO/Euro/FPDA/ANZUK/ANZUS forces with a minimum of grief - thats one of the cornerstones of interoperability. We also use AWACS as an ABMS - so I'm not sure what you're on about.

Also, there is australian EW equipment on the wedgetails that isn't in use by the US. In some respects the US regards the Wedgetail as a platform as having superior equipment combinations. The base design is what the Turks are getting.

 

[ajay_ijn]

However Aussies doesn't participate so much in the US war and they don't have conflicts with anyother countries.
Don't know for what reason Aus buyed so much costly platform.
They could have buyed E2C-Hawkeye which might be cheaper or some Naval surveillance aircraft which might be more useful for them.
AWACS has so much of strategic value and can start arms race.
Even pakistan was very angry with india for signing Phalcon deal.

 

[Aussie Digger]

ajay, just because we're not at war with anyone or even likely to be in a war with anyone soon, you do not (or should not) base your defence planning on that basis... Australia has greater (in terms of size) maritime and aerial approaches than just about any other country in the world. How do you expect us to maintain these without a proper surveillance and control capability?

Our Jindalee over the horizon radar gives us great early warning capbilities and our P-3C's give us great maritime surveillance capabilites, but until the Wedgetail arrives we have a significant defiency in aerial surveillance and command and control capabilities. GCI capability is all well and good, but it means you've got to fight a battle over your own territory. AWACS extends your defensive range and options...

We're not overly concerned about causing an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region either. There is arguably one already underway. Look at Malaysia and Singapores massive defence purchases in recent years? China and India's acquisitions... Indonesia's stated intentions of acquiring new defence equipment including SU-30 fighter aircraft. We're not the ones causing this...

 

[funtz]

Dumping every thing on drdo will only result in a total failure on all fronts, we need to breakup drdo into separate organization with seperate management and leadership get some competition going, increase there pay to attract human resources, an organization that researches food preservatives to army gear(boots, jackets, tents etc. etc) to tanks, radars, combat aircraft, now awacs, guns, etc.

The following link shows some of what i am trying to convey.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/17spec1.htm