NEW DELHI: The long-delayed project to give the IAF six new “eyes in the sky” has finally begun to move, with the DRDO inking two major contracts with industry partners for the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) Mk-II programme.
The Centre for Air Borne Systems (CABS), the DRDO’s Bengaluru-based lab spearheading the project, has signed a contract with AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), New Delhi, for the conversion of six Airbus A321 aircraft from commercial to “green” configuration. The stripping down of the airliners is the first step before they can be rebuilt as military surveillance platforms.
A second contract has been awarded to Adani Defence Systems and Technologies Limited (ADSTL), Ahmedabad, which comes on board as the development-cum-production partner (DcPP) for the mission systems of the AEW&C Mk-II.
The contracts are the first concrete industry tie-ups since the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the Rs 19,000 crore project in July last year. The A321s themselves were acquired earlier from Air India and are currently being operated by the Air Headquarters Communication Squadron.
Once ready, the Mk-II aircraft will mount indigenous active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars offering over 300-degree coverage and detection ranges in excess of 500 km, a significant jump over the existing Netra Mk-I fleet. They will be able to detect hostile aircraft, missiles and ground-based threats deep inside enemy territory, while also directing IAF fighters during combat.
The numbers game
The urgency stems from a stark capability gap. The IAF today operates just six AEW&C platforms, three Israeli Phalcon systems mounted on Russian IL-76 airframes and three indigenous Netra Mk-I aircraft on Embraer jets. The projected requirement is at least 18 such force multipliers to sustain round-the-clock coverage on both the western and northern fronts.
The asymmetry is sharp. Pakistan fields roughly 10 to 12 platforms, including Saab 2000 Erieye and Chinese ZDK-03 systems, while China operates a fleet exceeding 40 aircraft, among them the KJ-500.
To close the gap, the IAF is pursuing 12 additional aircraft, six Netra Mk-1A on Embraer platforms and six Mk-II on the larger A321s, which would take the fleet to 18 by the early 2030s.
The operational necessity was underlined during Operation Sindoor, when the limited AEW&C fleet was stretched thin and the IAF had to lean more heavily on ground-based radars.