BENGALURU: In the push to equip india’s combat fighter fleet with an indigenous radar, DRDO plans to configure all fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy with indigenously designed and developed Uttam Radar system active electronically scanned array (AESA) in next two years.
In the process, Light Combat Aircraft, which is manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), will be the first set of fighter jets to be fitted with this system in next six months. Talking to TNIE, Director General - Electronics & Communication Systems (ECS) at DRDO BK Das said: “All around the country we were having imported radar systems.
When we talk about the fighters without a radar the fighter is aimless. So we are totally dependent on a system which is imported. Today, our lab LRDE has come up to an extent that we have developed our own radar system that is Uttam.” The Defence Ministry has placed import of radar system in the negative list.
Post the LCA Tejas MK1, the advance fighter jets like Sukhoi-30MKI and Mig-29 will be integrated with the radar system. The process of integration of Uttam on these platforms would begin by 2025. As far as the timeline is concerned, he said: “Another six months to one year we are going to map it with the LCA Mk1.”