India To Open Competition for New Aerostats

[Gabbar]

India To Open Competition for New Aerostats​

NEW DELHI - India, which bought three radar-equipped aerostats from Rafael in 2005, has thrown open the competition for a new batch of three to the global market.

Last month, Indian Air Force officials asked the Defence Ministry to prepare a request for information, which is to be issued in the next two to three months to BAE Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rosoboronexport and Thales, ministry sources said. The aerostats must be able to carry a payload of 2,400 kilograms to 15,000 feet for 28 days at a stretch, including radars that can spot aircraft and missiles up to 30,000 feet and out to 300 kilometers.
The Air Force intends to integrate the aerostat radars with the three Airborne Warning and Control System AWACS being purchased from Israel.

The balloon-borne radars can virtually act as AWACS themselves, an Air Force official said.

India has deployed its three aerostats along the Pakistani border in the state of Punjab.

The country eventually seeks to own 13, the Air Force official, said.

The payload would consist of air and surface surveillance radars, electronic intelligence and communication intelligence gear, and V/UHF radio telephony equipment and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system.

The Navy also wants to buy aerostats for coastal security.

The new batch will be bought at a competitive price, said analyst Mahindra Singh.
India To Open Competition for New Aerostats - Defense News

 

[navtrek]

India has recently acquired Aerostat radars. The entire system is divided in major parts. Firstly, the aerostat balloon which has been acquired from Israel and second part is the payload on board the balloon which consists, advanced programmable radar (APR), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and V/UHF radio telephony equipment and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF). It has the capability to be integrated with AWACS and ground air defence environment and funtion as a command and control centre. Depending upon the payload the theethered balloon can be raised to the height between 10000 feet to 16000 feet. The system gives a seamless radar cover of 300 km plus at low level along with good RT range and requisite ELINT. The system could be termed as static AWACS. Off course it comes with some vulnerabilities and limitations, like weather, wind speeds, lightning & thunder, launch & recovery periods are vulnerabilities. Its virtues also make it a prime target for enemy therfore it needs to be protected by exclusive air defence weapons. But we hope that the advantages of such system would outlast the limitations.

http://kuku.sawf.org/Photo+Gallery/31958.aspx

 

[SpArK]

Looks like a good concept. please somebody shed some light on various aerostats and the number of them deployed by various countries.!!

 

[Lankan Ranger]

India To Open Competition for New Aerostats

India, which bought three radar-equipped aerostats from Rafael in 2005, has thrown open the competition for a new batch of three to the global market.

Last month, Indian Air Force officials asked the Defence Ministry to prepare a request for information, which is to be issued in the next two to three months to BAE Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rosoboronexport and Thales, ministry sources said.

The aerostats must be able to carry a payload of 2,400 kilograms to 15,000 feet for 28 days at a stretch, including radars that can spot aircraft and missiles up to 30,000 feet and out to 300 kilometers.

The Air Force intends to integrate the aerostat radars with the three Airborne Warning and Control System AWACS being purchased from Israel.

The balloon-borne radars can virtually act as AWACS themselves, an Air Force official said.

India has deployed its three aerostats along the Pakistani border in the state of Punjab.

The country eventually seeks to own 13, the Air Force official, said.

The payload would consist of air and surface surveillance radars, electronic intelligence and communication intelligence gear, and V/UHF radio telephony equipment and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system.

The Navy also wants to buy aerostats for coastal security.

The new batch will be bought at a competitive price, said analyst Mahindra Singh.

India To Open Competition for New Aerostats - Defense News

 

[Justin Joseph]

India opts for more aerostats


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (UPI) India looks set to open competition for three radar-equipped aerostats, the Defense News Web periodical reported this week.

The move comes after India's air force advised the defense ministry to prepare a request for information to BAE Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rosoboronexport and Thales.

Defense News said that the request would be issued within the next three months. India has already purchased three similar aerostats from France's Rafale since 2005.

The Defense News report said India's air force was requesting specifications that allow the aerostats to carry a payload of 5,280 pounds to 15,000 feet for just under a period of a month. The request says the floating balloons should also include radars capable of spotting aircraft and incoming missiles of up to 30,000 feet from a range of 180 miles.

Aviation experts say the use of balloons for military operations dates to the earliest days of flight. Although quickly replaced by fixed wing aircraft, balloons are being used by several nations' militaries to assist in reconnaissance operations.

In recent years, aerostats and other lighter-than-air systems have come to include radar and other surveillance systems mounted on the balloon. Experts say that a permanently deployed aerostat surveillance system can afford a low-cost long-endurance capability not possible with a fixed-wing aircraft.

In February 2004, the British Spyflight Web site reported, that Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to provide two 56,000-cubic-foot tethered aerostat surveillance systems for deployment in Iraq.

Crews of two people can deploy and operate helium-filled aerostats that are tethered to the ground with a single cable.

In India, the air force plans to integrate aerostat radars with the three Airborne Warning and Control System planes being purchased from Israel, Defense News reported.

"The balloon-borne radars can virtually act as (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) themselves," an unnamed air force official was quoted saying in the report.

By some accounts, India would like to own a fleet of 13 aerostats, deploying many of them along the Pakistani border in the state of Punjab.

"The payload would consist of air and surface surveillance radars, electronic intelligence and communication intelligence gear, and V/UHF radio telephony equipment and Identification Friend or Foe system," Defense News reported.

Indian military officials have yet to disclose funding details but analyst Mahindra Singh has said that the new batch of aerostats would be purchase at "a competitive price."

The Indian navy has also expressed interest in aerostats to boost coastal security. No details, however, have been disclosed.

India has been pumping increasing its defense spending in recent years. Still, it has fallen well short of goals to upgrade its defenses quickly and effectively.

India opts for more aerostats

 

[Kinetic]

Aerostat, AWACS and satellites are the best way to track low flying cruise missiles at long ranges. India already bought 6 Aerostat from Israel. I think they should go for higher altitude larger AWACS.

 

[KEETARP]

What I read and Know is that L-Band Radar based AWACS is not good at detecting Cruise missile ,
And station Altitude has to be adjusted very precisely and accordingly wrt to sea-surface to detect cruise missile and that too not always successful ,
while an S-Band AWACS performs better at this task

Sancho,Kinetic any solid reasoning behind it

 

[ARCHON]

3 threads running on the same news. hope mods merge it.

 

[Kinetic]

What I read and Know is that L-Band Radar based AWACS is not good at detecting Cruise missile ,
And station Altitude has to be adjusted very precisely and accordingly wrt to sea-surface to detect cruise missile and that too not always successful ,
while an S-Band AWACS performs better at this task

Sancho,Kinetic any solid reasoning behind it

As far as I know, all the frequencies mainly used for radars ie L-band, S-band and X-band has their own advantages and disadvantages.

Its generally believed that the lower frequencies means better radar due to higher resolution in longer ranges but lower frequency AESA sensors need higher power (specially S-band) and better technology (specially X- band). Higher frequency means more power to gain equivalent range, but makes it possible to get the same resolution within a smaller aperture. This could be the reason that X-band or S-band perform better than L-band detecting cruise missiles but I am not sure about it.

But as far as AWACS are concerned its definitely better to have L-band than S-band for certain reasons. The few advantages of S-band over the L-band can be overcome when there is a large size radar (active array) like the one onboard Phalcon AWACS. L-band also has better capabilities in long range operation and defeating stealthy targets. In sea surface area due to wavelength characteristics I guess S-band should perform better while L-band performs well in adverse weather condition. Thats why S-band are mainly used in sea-surface search, meteorological and air traffic controls while L-band for AWACS. About station altitude of L-band AESA, I don't have any idea.


So the best way to go is having dual band radar.