IAF has begun to build up a case for procurement of more sophisticated Aerostat radars and airborne early warning systems to secure the southern coasts.
NEW DELHI: The LTTE’s aerial attack on Colombo has come to the aid of the Indian Air Force, which has begun to build up a case for procurement of more sophisticated Aerostat radars and airborne early warning systems to secure the southern coasts.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy has rushed several patrol boats to the Palk Strait and put in place a round-the-clock surveillance involving unmanned aerial vehicles and long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft. Navy sources said there has been at least a 100 per cent increase in the surveillance of the waters dividing Sri Lanka and India since Monday’s attack.
The IAF believes that its existing capabilities to monitor the southern coasts are “good” but not enough to counter the threat from “low flying aircraft” that can avoid the traditional radars in operation. The existing radars operate at an angle and do not form a continuous and stringent monitoring network to ensure that a plane of the kind of Zlin-143 Czech plane, a single-engine plane with four seats that could cross over into Indian mainland.
Leveraging the LTTE’s aerial power, IAF is believed to be preparing a case for procurement of more sophisticated radar systems, both on land and airborne, to tighten the capabilities along the southern shores. The Air Force is pointing to the success of the two Israeli Aerostat radars that were procured a few months ago from Israel and are deployed along the Pakistan border. The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is most noticeable for their helium filled balloons that float in the sky.
IAF sources say that deploying Aerostat radar would be an effective measure. Or else, India should look at a permanent deployment of Airborne Early Warning Systems, like Phalcon-a sophisticated radar system and other peripherals mounted on a Russian IL-76 transport plane. Three Phalcons are set to join the IAF starting early 2008. However, the three would only provide “strategic cover for the northern borders,” sources insist.
Whatever the final form of the IAF proposal to the ministry for further procurement of surveillance systems, it is clear that the military’s stepped up monitoring of Palk Strait would continue for sometime to come.
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