Air force wants two more warning and control system aircrafts

Recognising the importance of having force multipliers, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has evinced keen interest in acquiring two more Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft.

The aircraft, which is the IAF’s “eye in the sky”, is based on the Russian IL-76 platform and the Israeli Phalcon AWACS Radar and is primarily used for reconnaissance purposes.

The decision to add two more Awacs aircraft in addition to the existing three comes in the wake of the Pakistan Air Force recently raising the Chinese made ZDK-03, also known as the Karakoram Eagles.

Pakistan also has Swedish SAAB 2000 AWACS. In all, the PAF will have eight AWACS in the near future (three AWACS aircraft each of the ZDK-03 and SAAB 2000 will be inducted in the near future).

India is also developing indigenous Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEW&C) which is being built on a modified Embraer EMB-145 aircraft in Brazil.

The aircraft is expected to be flown to India in a few months, and it will be integrated with Active-Array Antenna Unit, mission systems, radar etc by Bangalore- based Centre for Airborne Systems.

Defence experts feel AEW&C will redefine battle surveillance capabilities as armed forces can neutralise attacks from adversaries in advance. AEW&C can detect enemy aircraft or UAVs and relay information to the ground bases.