NEW DELHI: India’s indigenous Netra Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system on Thursday received Final Operational Clearance (FOC), capping a development journey of over two decades and giving the IAF a fully certified airborne surveillance platform, even as its fleet of “eyes in the sky” remains well short of operational requirements.
The clearance was awarded at DRDO’s Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) in Bengaluru, nearly eight years after Netra got Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) in October 2017.
The three aircraft, flown by the IAF’s No. 200 Squadron out of Bhisiana in Punjab, have already been operationally deployed, including during Operation Sindoor, where they were used for airborne surveillance and battle management. The FOC formally completes all user trials and system validation, clearing the platform in its full operational configuration.
The programme dates back to 2003, when the IAF and DRDO jointly studied the case for an indigenous “eye in the sky” to reduce India’s dependence on imported airborne surveillance systems. Government approval followed in 2004, with CABS as the nodal laboratory.
Three Embraer EMB-145 jets were procured from Brazil in 2008 to serve as the airborne platform. The first, fitted with an indigenous Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar housed in a dorsal radome, made its maiden flight in 2011 and was handed over to the IAF at Aero India 2017. The second and third followed in 2019 and 2023.
Mounted on the EMB-145, Netra’s AESA radar provides roughly 240-degree coverage with a detection range of up to 375 km. It is backed by electronic and communication intelligence systems, satellite communications, a self-protection suite and beyond-line-of-sight datalinks.
The aircraft can detect hostile aircraft, cruise missiles and other aerial threats, fuse data from multiple sensors and provide a real-time air picture to fighters and ground command centres, extending surveillance well beyond the reach of ground-based radars.
Netra is, however, an AEW&C platform rather than a full-fledged Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Its smaller Embraer airframe limits radar coverage, endurance, operating altitude and onboard mission crew.
By comparison, the IAF’s three Israeli-origin Phalcon AWACS, mounted on larger IL-76 aircraft, provide near-360-degree coverage, longer endurance and significantly greater battle management capability, enabling them to simultaneously direct larger fighter packages over extended distances.
Such platforms have become indispensable as air warfare turns increasingly network-centric, knitting together fighters, airborne refuellers, drones, ground-based air defence systems and command centres into a single operational picture, allowing threats to be detected earlier and air operations coordinated hundreds of kilometres away. Lessons from Operation Sindoor have only reinforced that requirement.
Six aircraft, requirement for at least 18
That, in turn, underlines the IAF’s persistent shortage. Its airborne early warning fleet currently comprises just six aircraft: three Netra AEW&C systems and three Phalcon AWACS.
Sources said the service requires at least 18 such platforms to sustain operations on both the western and northern fronts while accounting for maintenance and training requirements.
Pakistan, by some estimates, already operates a larger AWACS fleet than India while China fields several dozen airborne early warning aircraft across multiple variants. The shortfall is compounded by the IAF’s fleet of just six ageing IL-78 aerial refuellers, another critical force multiplier.
Two indigenous programmes are intended to bridge the gap. Six upgraded Netra Mk-1A aircraft, also based on the EMB-145 platform, will feature improved electronic warfare systems, longer-range radar capable of detecting drones and low-observable targets, and deeper integration with the IAF’s Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS).
The more ambitious programme is the Netra Mk-2, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) last year at an estimated cost of Rs 19,000 crore. Based on six Airbus A321 aircraft acquired from Air India, it will carry a much more powerful indigenous radar with a detection range exceeding 500 km, additional radar arrays for wider coverage, greater endurance and significantly higher onboard processing capability, narrowing the gap with dedicated AWACS platforms.
Further ahead, the IAF is understood to be examining an A330-based “AWACS Mk-3” for the next decade, with a fixed AESA radar housed inside a conventional rotodome to provide true 360-degree coverage and substantially greater surveillance capability.