joey MCA project has not started yet and no funds have been released yet talking about N-MCA is to futuristic about the whole program ,N-lca is real N-MCA is speculation

Dude, My speculation was based on post 2020 scenario.
I heavily doubt IN will go for JSF!

As for N-LCA I hoped they would increase the size a bit but i realised it would took too much time.

It will be interesting to see the arms package navy chooses too.

Which ASM missile do you think LCA can/will carry?

Is it because they have good experiences with DRDO? What kind of indigenous equipment have they bought in significant numbers?

A lot of things, Nick will be able to give you better answer.

A major project i can highlight,

They even funded a indigenous datalink, called the Link II system which after was done (gets upgraded always), the IAF got interested.

What I said is they

1> Puts in the funds.
2> Works in coordination.

A marine gas turbine engine have been developed a derivatiuve of kaveri etc etc.

Which lacked previously in IA, though time has changed and now they all are trying their best (the CABS AWACS project).

**************************************
Look at Arjun, Army has changed specs 5 to 6 times and foreign inteligence funded psy-ops article on against Arjun have flouted whole of media, but one thing be sure when that 120 mm 58 tonne 7 road wheeled, BMS system, large turret 3rd gen CIT, muzzle ref system, 4 crew , lahat capable etc etc faces T90 It wouldnt take a second to take it out ebfore T90 takes it out.

surely there were issues like fuel/power injection/ etc but those have all been sorted out and some goodies added with israeli assistance like lahat etc etc.

Still have not fetched yet more than 124 orders though i firmly believe Ia will order more sooner.
***************************************

EADS to open centre in India for aircraft designs, software

NEW DELHI, APR 3 (PTI)
Major global aviation and defence consortium, European Aviation, Defence and Space company (EADS), will invest in an engineering centre in India to develop aviation softwares and aircraft designs for its planes and other systems.

The centre, for which land has been leased at the upcoming new greenfield Bangalore airport, would house units of major Indian software firms like HCL, Satyam and Infosys as well as some European companies to develop specific software and designs, EADS (India) CEO Yves Guillaume told PTI here.

The software would be produced for defence systems as well as planes like the largest Airbus A-380s and A-350 which is in the pipeline, besides the Airbus military aircraft.

All investments on this centre of EADS, which has aircraft major Airbus Industrie as one of its business units, as well as the purchases over the next 15 years would amount to over two billion Euros.

Airbus recently backed an MoU signed between state-owned airline Indian and Bangalore-based Jupiter Aviation to establish an estimated Rs 300 crore worth Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in India to service the large Airbus fleet being acquired by several Indian carriers.

“The Airbus is roughly delivering one aircraft each week to either private or public sector airlines. It is cheaper for us as well as the airlines to get their fleet repaired here itself,” Guillaume said, adding that the target date for the MRO to start operations was next year.

The MRO could also be used by airlines from the neighbouring regions.

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=108&id=462563

………

I’m very interested in the Naval Tejas and have been watching it’s progress for many years now.

[b]The design changes are not favourable to it especially removing the canards, but who am I to say anything.[b]

Yes Dabolim will be the place all carrier training is to be done, India has for years been trying to set up an in house training facility, now that they have a clear idea about how to do it they are getting along with it. IIRC a report I readf not long ago stated that a special runway was to be built for carrier training only away from the main runways (due to the mains being used by the bigger types such as the Il-22’s and TU-142’s). The new runway is also to have a ski jump with a 12* ramp and four arrestor wires plus an emergency barrier that pops up.

the runway has been designed to look like the deck of a carrier which is also designed to support training on carrier deck movements by both pilots and deck crewn (they even have the lifts marked out).

Most of this info I got from the airshow where I spoke to some reps from National Aerospace Laboratories in Bangalore, they were very proud of the Tejas and all of the aircraft industry in India.

I’ve heard they are putting in levcons for better handling while landing, wont that be enough?

Also, about runaway thingy yes your correct, they even started working on naval kaveri or something and a different derivative of kaveri as kgmt was developed iirc.

The point is in the news articles I posted. The radar system is inadequate.

THE POINT IS after you finished trolling; I have posted 2 AUTENTIC NEWS ARTICLES; One confirmed from their government another A DETAILED REPORT ON WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED.

Again those are in the news articles I posted.

AGAIN THOSE NEWS ARTICLES WERE SPECULATIONS AND WAS BUFFED BY GOVT; WHO ARE YOU TO SAY ABOVE SRILANKAN GOVT?

Again, more than one article said the radar was trouble from day one and on the day when it was most needed it was broken.

AGAIN MORE THAN ONE ARTICLE WAS SPECULATING!!!!
WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

ARE YOU BLIND? CANT YOU SEE THE GOVT THEMSELVES CONFIRMED IN THE LAST TWO REPORTS THAT THE RADAR WASD TURNED OFF??

If a system is turned off in wartime then that is a problem in itself — as the articles suggest.

WRONG! THEN AS PER YOUR IDIOTIC LOGIC IN WARTIME NOTHING NEEDS SERVICE?

1> This is LTTE insurgency not war; insurgency and war are different things.
2> This was a surprise attack.
3> It was ONLY 1 RADAR IN THAT BASE.
4> How do you know LTTE DO NOT HAVE A MOLE PLANTED to give information about the day the radar will go un-operational.

If the Barak system is constantly off then the Israelis would need a new system as well.

Was it constantly OFF NO IT WASNT!

Joey, this thread is not about Indians or Chinese. It’s about the Tamil Tigers air attack that should have been detected but was not. It just so happens that some Sri Lanka newspapers are blaming the radar.

It JUST SO HAPPENS THAT THOSE NEWS PAPERS WERE SPECULATING AND AUTHENTIC REPORTS CAME FROM GOVERNMENT CONFIRMATION.

That is a valid point in this thread. It’s not an Indian thread. No one is “trolling” for Indians in a thread concerning Sri Lanka. The papers report that there are sections in Sri Lanka very unhappy with the Indian radar. And that fact belongs in this thread and should be debated.

YES GOD DAMN YOU ARE TROLLING; It doesnt takes rocket science to see it.
who are the sections srilankan government on official enquire OR THE NEWSPAPER WRITTER WHO DIDNT HAD ANY CLUE ON THE STATUS OF RADAR?

DOES STATUS OF HAPPINESS OF YOU MATTERS MORE THAN CONFIRMATION FROM GOVERNMENT?

You still dont think your not trolling? another challenge start a poll putting if you were trolling or not and see how many people says you were and how many you didnt!

BACK UP YOUR THEORY WITH FACTS

HEWRE ARE MY FACTS NOW BOY GET ON YOUR 2+2 = 5 maths and prove this.

1> SRILANKA AIR RAIDED
2> NEWSPAPERS SPECULATED – RADAR WAS NOT WORKING
3> OFFICIAL GOVT NOTATION CAME RADAR WAS TURNED OFF.
4> TWO REPORTS FOLLOWED ALONG WITH THE MOST DETAILED ONE THIS ONE.
5> PROVE ME THAT THE RADAR WAS

1> NOT WORKING AS PER GOVT CONFIRMATION. (official yes official not “UNCONFIRMED REPORTS” or “pre-govt confirmation reports)
2> RADAR (SINGLULAR) DONT GO FOR SERVICE IN WARTIME; (this is insurgency and mind you surprise attack.
3> HOW CAN YOU DETERMINE STATUS OR QUALITY OF RADAR WHEN IT WAS TURNED OFF.

6> OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION THAT SRILANKA IS UNHAPPY WITH THE RADAR; I WANT POST-CONFIRMATION REPORT OF UNHAPPINESS WHEN THE RADAR WAS TURNED OFF AT ITS BEST.Also how you based your scale of happiness/unhappiness.

Air Tiger thunderbolt jolts nation

Explosive inside stories of midnight attack on the SLAF main base
Not so modern Indian radars were repaired by Sunday but not switched on
Vavuniya STF gave the alert, but SLAF thought it was a Silk Air flight
By Iqbal Athas

The unidentified pilot of the Zlin Z-143 aircraft that carried out the bomb attack on the Air Force base in Katunayake. He poses with LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The locally made 25 kilogramme bomb containing C-4 explosives and razor balls.

The pilot and co-pilot boarding the Czech built Zlin Z-143 light aircraft.

It was close upon midnight last Sunday when commandos on duty at the Police Special Task Force (STF) detachment in Ganeshapuram, between Vavuniya and Mannar, heard the roar of engines overhead. Though visibility was restricted, they figured out that the noise came from two low flying aircraft with no lights. This aroused suspicion.

Chief Inspector Channa Sirimanne, Officer-in-Charge, promptly telephoned the Sri Lanka Air Force base in Vavuniya to give them the news. His telephone call was connected to the Operations Room of SLAF headquarters in Colombo. CI Sirimanne repeated the details. He also alerted the STF Headquarters in Colombo. He was to later record the encounter in the Information Book at the detachment. So did his colleague Chief Inspector Upul Jayawardena, who was also a witness.

SLAF bases in Anuradhapura and Vavuniya went into action. They switched off all lights. So did the Army installations and the Police in Vavuniya. The only exceptions were lights inside the buildings. Additional sentries were moved into guard the outer perimeter and vital points. In Colombo, checks were being made whether any international flights were operating at that time over Wanni skies. It turned out there was one. It was a flight from Silk Air, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. This lulled them into believing there were no threats. They were thus unaware that Tiger guerrillas were only minutes away from a deadly mission.

Some 45 minutes ticked by. At 12.45 am, after Monday had dawned, three loud explosions rocked the SLAF’s main base at Katunayake. This base is separated from the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) only by the runway, used both by military and civilian aircraft. The blasts were heard several kilometers away. In Nugegoda and Mirihana, south of the City, police officers said they heard the explosion. So did residents in Katana, Dankotuwa, Kimbulapitiya and other outlying areas of the BIA. Telephones began to ring and news spread that the air base was under Tiger guerrilla attack. Yet, no one knew how exactly it came about. Some wondered whether a mortar attack was under way. Others thought Tiger guerrillas had infiltrated the air base for a second time. The first was in July 2001.

At the Operations Room of the SLAF headquarters in Colombo, they were trying to piece together a correct picture of what had gone wrong. Air Traffic controllers at the BIA were told to divert all inbound aircraft to other airports in the region. Some were told to proceed to Trivandrum, others to Chennai, and yet others to Male in the Maldives. Colombo flights that had not taken off from foreign capitals were told to stay on ground. At the BIA, passengers were checking in for outbound flights. In fact some of them had boarded Singapore Airlines flight SQ 469, a Boeing 777 due to depart for Singapore 1.10 a.m.. They were told to hurriedly disembark. Passengers were only aware the airbase was under attack but did not know how.

There was panic inside a Cathay Pacific aircraft due to depart to Hong Kong. Crew had seen the sporadic illumination of the night sky. They heard rapid bursts of gunfire. Commandos, Air Force officials said, moved in to evacuate them and assure that the airport was not under attack. Security Forces and Police sealed off the airport preventing those inside from leaving. Similarly, no one was allowed entry until a thorough search was carried out. That took over two hours.

At the SLAF airbase in Katunayake, it became clear there was no guerrilla intrusion through the ground. Some airmen at the Air Defence facility had heard the noise of an aircraft just overhead. Much later, they heard reports of another light aircraft hovering around some three kilometres away. A Corporal began pouring anti aircraft gunfire into the sky. They were unable to see the aircraft overhead due to darkness. There was no night target acquisition capability either. The gunfire was to give rise to rumours, spread through the telephone that gun battles had begun at the BIA. Before long, the noise of the aircraft engine faded away.

The destruction left behind became clear. Three bombs had exploded at the zinc sheet covered building that housed the Aeronautical Engineering Wing. The roof and the walls had crumbled. Nearby, airmen, all members of the Air and Sea Rescue team, were sleeping. They were on call any time of the day or night when there is an emergency rescue mission. Three died and 16 were injured. Air Force officials said helicopters in the adjoining Four Squadron suffered slight damage. The shattering effect of the bombs had led to glass windows breaking. At least five such helicopters were later repaired. They insist there was no damage to any fixed wing aircraft.

The Air Tiger bombs were clearly meant for the Kfir and MiG 27 squadrons that lay not far away from where the bombs fell. Through bombing raids, the guerrillas had wanted to retaliate for the string of air raids conducted by the Air Force both in the North and the East. If guerrilla efforts to procure state-of-the-art Surface to Air Missiles from the United States ended up in a fiasco due to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sting, the LTTE had now demonstrated their air strike capability as some measure to counter the threat. However, the aircraft failed to drop the bombs in the hangars where the fighter jets lay parked.

If it were to fall there, it could have caused unimaginable mayhem and destruction. Some of the fighter jets remained armed with 250 kilogramme bombs and the attack could have triggered off massive secondary explosions. Some Air Force officials believe the pilot of the guerrilla aircraft may have been disoriented after he was unable to locate the hangars. As a standard operational procedure, lights in the fighter bomber hangars are switched off at night.

The intrusion of the Tiger Air Wing light aircraft was made possible because the Indian built air defence radar was not operational. Technicians had sought and obtained permission from the SLAF Directorate of Operations for it to be shut down from March 19 to 23 for servicing and repairs. Thereafter they had sought an extension of two days that was to end on Sunday March 25. Ironically, The Sunday Times learnt that the servicing had been completed by last Sunday evening. It was operational. However, for some unknown reason it had not been switched on. Did information of such a shutdown reach the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)? Did that pave the way for the surprise attack?

Answers to these and a number of other questions are being sought by an investigation that is being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Among other aspects being probed by a team led by Mahes Perera, Senior Superintendent of Police, is whether there was any lapses by any party that led to Monday’s attack. On Friday detectives recorded the statements of Chief Inspectors Channa Sirimanne and Upul Jayawardena of the STF.

Confirmation that the two light aircraft of the Air Tiger Wing were used in the attack came from Air Traffic Controllers at Bandaranaike International Airport. They had spotted on their radar two unidentified aircraft. By then, they were heading in a northwesterly direction towards Wanni. Air Force officials believe the two light aircraft took off from an unknown location in the Wanni and veered westwards past Ganeshapuram. Thereafter, they flew southwards along the coast astride the Wilpattu National Park to veer left towards the SLAF airbase. They had taken the same route to return though not over Ganeshapuram.

SLAF headquarters and its air base in Vavuniya began tracking the fleeing Air Tiger aircraft. The SLAF scoured into the sky a Chinese built K-8 jet trainer, which has night flying capability, to intercept them. But it was more than 20 minutes later. Both SLAF headquarters and its base in Vavuniya found much to their chagrin that the two aircraft had gone off the radar screens somewhere in the skies above Mannar. The K-8 had to be ordered to return to base. The use of Kfirs or the recently acquired MiG 27s to intercept the two light aircraft was not possible due to a number of important reasons. Despite the very heavy investment of public funds, they lacked some features. For obvious reasons they cannot be spelt out.

Later, after sunrise on Monday morning, Kfir jets pounded several areas near Mannar and north of it. This is on the basis of suspicion that the light aircraft landed somewhere in that general area. Air Force officials estimate that the two way journey for the Zlin Z-143 aircraft would have taken not more than 90 minutes. That is with each journey lasting only 45 minutes.

Though the LTTE had constructed a 1.2 kilometre runway in Iranamadu, capable of even landing a C-130 Hercules transport plane, senior Air Force officials are doubtful whether the two light aircraft took off from there. Iranamadu is located in the Kilinochchi district west of the A-9 Jaffna-Kandy highway. One source said, “the use of a large stretch of road both for take off and landing cannot be ruled out.” Photographs released by the LTTE showed the Zlin Z-143 aircraft with a metal frame in the under belly to hold the bombs.

The aircraft used for the bombing has been conclusively identified by the Air Force as a Czech built Zlin Z-143 four-seater light aircraft. This was after the LTTE released photographs of the aircraft as well as a group of light blue uniformed guerrillas of the Air Wing, some sporting flying brevets, posing for photographs with their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Further confirmation of this was obtained by The Sunday Times from foreign aviation experts and intelligence sources.

The Sunday Times made a string of exclusive exposures on the LTTE constructing an airstrip east of the Iranamadu irrigation tank in the Kilinochchi district and acquiring aircraft. On March 6, 2005 this newspaper revealed exclusively how the United States has helped the Government identify an aircraft photographed by a UAV to be the Czech built Zlin Z-143. On March 27, 2005 this newspaper exclusively revealed a top secret report by the Air Force on the air capability developed by the LTTE. There were several other reports during 2005 and 2006.

The Zlin Z-143 is said to have a maximum range of 630 nautical miles (1,170 kilometres). The cost in 2005 is said to be around US $ 259,350 for a basic model. This aircraft, used for training and acrobatic purposes, is capable of carrying an ordinance load of 240 kilogrammes. Experts say such a load could be doubled or made more if only one pilot flies the aircraft as a “flying bomb.” Though there were fears earlier that suicide missions could be carried out with the aircraft, by hindsight it is clear the LTTE will not risk such a move unless they become desperate. This is both in view of the costs of the aircraft as well as the time and money invested to train the pilots abroad. Intelligence sources say the pilots for the guerrilla air wing were trained both in France and in the United Kingdom.

Of the four bombs that fell at the Katunayake SLAF base, one did not explode. The firing mechanism did not trigger. It was broken into large pieces. That gave Air Force the detailed characteristics of the bomb. It contained C-4 explosives and had been mixed with large quantities of steel razor balls. The Sunday Times (Situation Report) revealed last week how over a million such steel balls were seized by the Navy in Kalpitiya on February 16. The new discovery confirms that more stocks of steel balls had been smuggled in earlier.

As confirmed from pictures released by the LTTE, the improvised fin stabilized gravity bombs had been attached to the under belly of the aircraft by a metal frame. According to a senior Air Force official who did not wish to be named, each bomb weighed 25 kilogrammes. He said there was an electrical cable linked from the fuselage to the frame of each bomb that hung at two points. The bombs, he said, had been held electromagnetically until they were dropped.

The Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force, Air Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke, has appointed a three member Court of Inquiry to probe Monday’s attack. This is to identify lapses, if any in the Air Force, and the corrective measures to be taken. The Court is headed by Air Vice Marshal P.B. Premachandra, Chief of Staff and comprises Group Captain Ranil Gurusinghe, Commanding Officer, SLAF base, Ratmalana and Group Captain Clyde Weerakoon, Staff Officer in the Directorate of Training. Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara, Staff Officer in the Directorate of Administration has been named as the Secretary to the Court.

In 2005, when the SLAF received confirmation of the construction of the LTTE airstrip, they were able to discern that the guerrillas had only two aircraft. Thereafter, confirmation that they possessed five came in a briefing note a high level Sri Lanka Air Force team received from their Indian counterparts. The 14 page note, seen by The Sunday Times, revealed that the LTTE had “Up to five light aircraft having 600 nm (nautical miles) range with maximum speed/height of 200 kts (knots) / 15000′, capable to carry 250 kg of explosives.” The briefing note came as India gifted Air Defence radars to Sri Lanka and invited a high level SLAF team to visit their air base in Bangalore to discuss matters relating to it.

The Indian offer prompted the former Government to cancel an order placed with China for 4 Dimensional radars. India was to first install two Dimensional radars and later integrate 4 Ds. Whilst the 2 D radars indicate direction and distance of a target, the 4 D provides the height in addition to the other two factors.

The Indian note observed: “Though an MoU for ceasefire has been signed by the GoSL (Government of Sri Lanka) with insurgent groups, there are confirmed reports of the LTTE developing infrastructure for operating in third dimension. The conflict has been restricted to ground level activity till recently. Acquisition of light twin/four seater aircraft, development of airstrip at Iranamadu and ongoing training of pilots by LTTE has opened the third dimension of war from air. GoSL is exceedingly concerned with this development. GoSL has expressed a desire that GoI (Government of India) help them in assessing their AD (air defence) requirements to enforce her sovereignty in airspace over its territories.”
The note listed the following threats perceived by the Government of Sri Lanka:

Colombo and economic targets in and around Colombo.
National leadership.
Use of aerial route by the LTTE to bring in critical military hardware.
Suicide attacks on centres of gravity.
Parallel attacks on number of VAs (Vulnerable Areas) and VPs (Vulnerable Points) to undermine the morale of the people.
Use the air assets to get their demands accepted and threaten the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.
Based on inputs given by the Government, the Indian Air Force made some deductions. Among them:

The aircraft has adequate range to do a tactical routing from the sea to attack targets in Colombo, Southern Sri Lanka and East Sri Lanka coast. However, the COG (centre of gravity) being located in Colombo, the attack if any to achieve the desired result would be in and around Colombo.
The attack on VA/VPs in Colombo emanating from West (sea) is the most challenging to Air Defence set up of Colombo area.
Runway at Iranamadu can take on operation of C-130 type of aircraft which can carry 10 to 15 ton load.
Jungle around the Iranamadu runway provides good concealment of airborne assets of the LTTE.
This is the second time that the SLAF airbase has come under attack from Tiger guerrillas. The first was on July 24, 2001, when guerrillas infiltrated the area and mounted attacks both on the international airport and the adjoining SLAF base. Civilian and military aircraft were destroyed.

Following top level inquiries into the incident, the Ministry of Defence then decided to shift the Kfir and MiG-27 squadrons to a location near the SLAF base in Sigiriya. The idea was to make sure the international airport was secure. The move drew fierce protests from environmental groups who said this could cause damage to the Sigiriya frescoes and other historical sites. Hence, the moves were suspended.

Most Sri Lankans woke up last Monday morning to realize that the face of the near-two decade long separatist war has changed. During the undeclared Eelam War IV Tiger guerrillas have for the first time demonstrated their air strike capability. It came at a time when the people were made to believe that the LTTE has been badly weakened and 95 per cent of the battles have been won. Until last Monday, wars were fought only on the ground and at sea. Now, the defence and security establishment are forced to cope with a new threat from the air, one that has many ramifications.

Whilst the Ministry of Defence pondered over a long term response, searchlights and communications sets were issued to troops in the front lines of the north. They were told to alert their bases if they sighted any suspicious aircraft. In what seemed a move that bordered on hilarity, Sri Lankans were asked to telephone 116 if they sighted any suspicious aircraft.

Monday’s LTTE demonstration of their air strike capability, even if it sounds primitive to some, means the defence establishment will have to evolve counter measures to secure military installations, naval assets at sea and on land, troop transport ships, VIP residences and a host of others who are now targets. To a nation that is reeling under an economic crisis, such measures would be a costly burden.

Already, foreign suppliers are girding themselves to offer air defence mechanisms and a host of other related hardware to the Government to overcome the threat. Like what has happened in the past, such procurements would lead again to the birth of some more millionaires or billionaires, both in and out of uniform. That is at a time when those who disclose such blatant rip offs and rackets in the media have become the second, (or is it the first), enemy.

Through high-pitched official propaganda they have already been warned of the dubious titles they will qualify for through those exposures – being branded as acolytes of the enemy and even named traitors. They are destined to remain in the graveyard of silence or suffer the consequences for saying the truth. That is Sri Lanka today.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070401/Columns/sitreport.html

I know too much cornflower and azinamoto in food has early effects on eyes but I hope you have a glass to read the bold part CLEARLY AND SHOW ME ANY REPORT AS DETAILED AS THIS.

kid, Next time you troll without backing up WITH NEAT PRE-CONFIRMATIONAL-POST reports , I wont hesitate to use the ignore button from profile. 😀

The only statement that stands here is;

“Srilankan papers initially reported the radar was not working; later it was found out that the radar was turned off; the radar went for service; (I’d rather say radar installations); There might be a mole planted inside SLAF to co-orfinate this attack (not surprising as LTTE has succesful espionage attempts in every govt case); If the radar was turned on the thing could have been detected; however Technologically speaking; They could have bought better radar system than 2D radar from China {doesnt means 2D radar WAS NOT SUFFICIENT TO DETECT THE INSTRUSION HAPPENED} which India is reluctant to provide due to internal reasons – a 3D radar systems would provide better coverage than 2D radar albeit “IF IT WAS TURNED ON.”

harry sir i thought that the indian air force requirements have been changed ,and now new platform will have 360 degrees of search rather then 240 earlier ,drdo claimed it will have to do re-design of the radar to do so ,will the AWA&C will look the same has projected by u ?

I dont think You have checked the aero india threads;

If your basing your opinion on this report;

MISSILE THREAT
IAF seeks more airborne warning systems

The Indian Air Force has projected a need for 5 more Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) to enhance its capability to counter emerging missile threats in the skies and waters around the country.

India has already inked a 1.1 billion dollar deal with Israel to purchase three Phalcon AWACSs mounted on Russian Il-76 aircraft.

Capable of mounting surveillance for up to 14 hours with in-flight refuelling, the AWACS will extend strategic reach beyond Indian airspace.

, IAF officials said. Under the Phalcon deal, New Delhi has an option to acquire three to five more AWCS from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) that would be delivered during 2009-12.

The induction of more Phalcons systems as would help the force create theatre-based airborne command and control posts for airspace surveillance and management tasks, the officials added.

India will receive the first of the three Phalcon systems by September and the remaining two by 2009. The IAF has trained about 250 personnel in Israel for operating the complex systems comprising sophisticated radars and sensors. In addition, 450 personnel have been trained to man ground facilities for the AWACS systems.

DRDO project

The 500 million USD project by DRDO (Defence Research Devolepment Organisation), which envisages mounting an Indian system on a Brazilian Embraer aircraft, has not found much favour with the IAF, as the jet does not have a flight endurance of 10 hours and cannot cruise at altitudes above 40,000 feet.

IAF officials said the new system will only have a range of 300 km and a surveillance arc of only 240 degrees. The force wants the DRDO project, whose delivery schedule has already slipped from 2012 to 2016, to be turned into an “airborne battlefield surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance system”.

They also said the DRDO system would be an additional property for the main Phalcon AWACS system. The DRDO system could thus be used to undertake real-time surveillance of the ground battlespace over a span of 120 km and a depth of 80 km.

“It would provide a network-centric scenario to the army, Navy and IAF,” an official added.

DRDO is using a L-band radar derived from the Rajendra radar developed for the Akash surface-to-air missile

The last part of the report is entirely wrong;

1> IAF asked for 240 degree coverage; 360 degree coverage would require to sacrifice some important surviliance and reconissance instruments that IAF wants in it.

2> The report is wrong as It will be AESA not rajendra based radar.

3> Embrarer has been chosen by IAF only as no such good feasible options as of now available; MTA can be later converted to JSTORS type platform once this is done.

4> The report is a pure copy paste of a old article written by infamous Prasun Sengupta.

Read it as per Latest Aero India

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=66735&page=7

1. Each time 120deg coverage. A/c turns around for 120deg from other side.1280 modules switched over from one side to the other as required with a switching mech
2. 360deg coverage possible, but restricted only by payload constraints – IAF asked for a lot of systems. Including all that meant only this much could be put into arrays. If 360deg coverage required – we can put some antennas at front and back.
3. 65*8*160 watt peak power, 0.07*peakpower = AvgPower (7% duty cycle)

4. Data transfer to 40a/c @ 64kbps VHF/UHF 300km range. LOS. Only info (target coords, speeds etc in a pre-set format), no pictures.
5. Satcom to ground station – no range limitation. No LOS limitations.
6. Array – S band, IFF – L band (250w amplifier) 500km range for IFF at sides(250km range front & back)
7. 5hrs endurance w/o IFR
8. Cooling by natural convection
9. AA, A2G, A2C modes exist. Inter-leaving doesn’t exist. If end user asks – can be done. Needs a simple switching mechanism.
10. 5 operator consoles.. toilets are there

CABS AEW&C project has 10 senior IAF officers working with the CABS/LRDE group to reduce the communicatio/expectation gap between the development agency & enduser.

Aditya post from BR

I talked with him for quite a while too, he said

Quote:
– 120° on either side
– 300 km range against missile-sized targets
– Shorter ranged radar in the nose.
– IFF fitted effective up to 500 kms

Now just go and see the IFF box for Aew, the size and only a single part of it is the IFF rest are many other things :diablo:

Superficially it clearly seems even if F22 is a capable fighter , JSF seems more useful :diablo:

But god knows whats hidden inside the F22 wrap, heard some kind of cruise missile defence system is inbuild as well? also a massively powerful passive radar which is more powerful than many active radars out there today :diablo:

If Israel gets F35, the first thing I’d like to see is as they wanted to replace the Apg 81 with Elm 2052. any reason why they wanted to do it? :confused: