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

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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.

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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.

https://www.aninews.in/news/nationa...lt-by-drdo-on-air-india-planes20201216144608/
 
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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.

View attachment 696974
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.

https://www.aninews.in/news/nationa...lt-by-drdo-on-air-india-planes20201216144608/
PL15 and PL21 Zindabad
 
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IMHO converting commercially available jets into AEW&C is a great option. These planes are so readily available that they are almost sanction proof and well tested as well.

As I have heard on this forum the Y-8F600 platform (ZDK-03) is a maintenance extensive plane. Pakistan should also look into this option. Get a good Chinese/Turkish radar and install it on Boeing or Airbus and that can work great for Pakistan.
 
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IMHO converting commercially available jets into AEW&C is a great option. These planes are so readily available that they are almost sanction proof and well tested as well.

As I have heard on this forum the Y-8F600 platform (ZDK-03) is a maintenance extensive plane. Pakistan should also look into this option. Get a good Chinese/Turkish radar and install it on Boeing or Airbus and that can work great for Pakistan.
No this not possible, we should look for indigenous recent Chinese Regional jets like Comac C-919
Comac C919 - Wikipedia
 
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IMHO converting commercially available jets into AEW&C is a great option. These planes are so readily available that they are almost sanction proof and well tested as well.

As I have heard on this forum the Y-8F600 platform (ZDK-03) is a maintenance extensive plane. Pakistan should also look into this option. Get a good Chinese/Turkish radar and install it on Boeing or Airbus and that can work great for Pakistan.
yup! they have finally learnt from Pakistan, who has recently brought commercial Saab 2Ks and installed Erieye AESA radars on them taking our fleet to 11 AWACS in total.

Pak is gonna produce M700 chinese commercial regional jetliner soon, that can be converted for MPA duties for Navy as well as future AWACS platform and transporter for all services in future too.
 
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Pak is gonna produce M700 chinese commercial regional jetliner soon, that can be converted for MPA duties for Navy
No Pakistan already start to buying Embraer linage 1000 series of commercial regional jet for MPA conversion, First Embraer linage 1000 commercial jet is already in Pakistan ,go to the Navy section please
 
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No Pakistan already start to buying Embraer linage 1000 series of commercial regional jet for MPA conversion, First Embraer linage 1000 commercial jet is already in Pakistan ,go to the Navy section please
dont buy too much into navy....they havnt fought a war in generations. They have a long way to go to be matured up!
 
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dont buy too much into navy....they havnt fought a war in generations. They have a long way to go to be matured up!
Your Navy has better history of performing in wars then Army. It's our Air Force then Navy then Army in conventional wars.
yup! they have finally learnt from Pakistan, who has recently brought commercial Saab 2Ks and installed Erieye AESA radars on them taking our fleet to 11 AWACS in total.

Pak is gonna produce M700 chinese commercial regional jetliner soon, that can be converted for MPA duties for Navy as well as future AWACS platform and transporter for all services in future too.
Also as for AWAC. Getting a transport plane from any where and turning into an AWAC is not the issue. The main question is do we have the capacity to build a radar for an AWAC or not.
 
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Your Navy has better history of performing in wars then Army. It's our Air Force then Navy then Army in conventional wars.

Also as for AWAC. Getting a transport plane from any where and turning into an AWAC is not the issue. The main question is do we have the capacity to build a radar for an AWAC or not.
im saying in future replacing of Erieye, transporters, MPAs can be done by inhouse commercial jetliners.

As for Navy, they havnt fought wars buddy nor have airforce since seventy one............they dont know how to save resources by relying on inhouse production. They havnt been tested to their limits yet in a bloody long war like Army has been. Hence why indigenization and saving money in the process is not appreciated in their psyche. Had Navy been intelligent, they would have waited for M 700 production to start @ PAC for their MPA. That would have been far far more cheaper!
 
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dont buy too much into navy....they havnt fought a war in generations. They have a long way to go to be matured up!
No Navy preparing to protect our sea lane EEZ
And our Navy was the MOST neglected department of our armed forces
im saying in future replacing of Erieye, transporters, MPAs can be done by inhouse commercial jetliners.

As for Navy, they havnt fought wars buddy nor have airforce since seventy one............they dont know how to save resources by relying on inhouse production. They havnt been tested to their limits yet in a bloody long war like Army has been. Hence why indigenization and saving money in the process is not appreciated in their psyche. Had Navy been intelligent, they would have waited for M 700 production to start @ PAC for their MPA. That would have been far far more cheaper!
What do you mean Sir,do we have the capability to do in-house development of indigenous AWACS/ cargo plane MPA Sir

I don't think so Sir
Cargo a bit little easier for us but what about sensors and electronic equipment of MPA and AWACS ( their AESA/ sonars/sonobouys/ ECM/EW/MAD etc etc)

Can we develop INDIGENOUSLY these kind of complex hardware and software and will do system integration mate these complex piece of hardware with INDIGENOUS fuselage

I don't think so Sir

And most of the world navies and Air Force bought commercial jetliner for their special mission requirements like Boeing P-8 ( MODIFIED BOEING 737/E-3 MODIFIED 707/E-8 JAYSTAR MODIFIED BOEING 707 AND WILL DEVELOPING MODIFIED 767 FOR THEIR REPLACEMENT OF E-8 ETC ETC)
 
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No Navy preparing to protect our sea lane EEZ
And our Navy was the MOST neglected department of our armed forces

What do you mean Sir,do we have the capability to do in-house development of indigenous AWACS/ cargo plane MPA Sir

I don't think so Sir
Cargo a bit little easier for us but what about sensors and electronic equipment of MPA and AWACS ( their AESA/ sonars/sonobouys/ ECM/EW/MAD etc etc)

Can we develop INDIGENOUSLY these kind of complex hardware and software and will do system integration mate these complex piece of hardware with INDIGENOUS fuselage

I don't think so Sir

And most of the world navies and Air Force bought commercial jetliner for their special mission requirements like Boeing P-8 ( MODIFIED BOEING 737/E-3 MODIFIED 707/E-8 JAYSTAR MODIFIED BOEING 707 AND WILL DEVELOPING MODIFIED 767 FOR THEIR REPLACEMENT OF E-8 ETC ETC)
What im saying is that because of the experience of repairing those saab erieye we can do a lot of things now @ home.

In future in the shape of that chinese commercial jetliner we have got a platform aircraft which we can send to lets say germany for MPA conversion like we did with ATRs, and same way we can buy AWACS radars from foreign and fit them inhouse in our commercial jetliners just like what india is doing and we did with our Saab 2ks recently.

What it looks like what navy is doing is that they r buying brazilian jetliner and fitting it as MPA inhouse as well. What they can do is simply replace the brazilian jetliner with PAC made commercial jetliner of chinese origin, whom PAC can itself refit as a MPA{yes navy can buy those all electronics internationally but they all can be fitted at PAC}.

Saving tons of cash in the process.
 
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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.

View attachment 696974
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.

https://www.aninews.in/news/nationa...lt-by-drdo-on-air-india-planes20201216144608/

great news for defence of india .
 
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Good idea as long as DRDO completes the work on time but they should not go for old planes rather get new ones.
 
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Can be successful. One of the few sensible projects from India lately.
 
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yup! they have finally learnt from Pakistan, who has recently brought commercial Saab 2Ks and installed Erieye AESA radars on them taking our fleet to 11 AWACS in total.

They got the idea from Brazil and Embraer
Your Navy has better history of performing in wars then Army. It's our Air Force then Navy then Army in conventional wars.

Also as for AWAC. Getting a transport plane from any where and turning into an AWAC is not the issue. The main question is do we have the capacity to build a radar for an AWAC or not.

radar is the first issue. the signal processing computers are the second one. The algorithms and software are kinda black magic
 
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