India to build ‘eyes in the sky’ to match Pakistan, China

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

The Indian government on Saturday cleared the DRDO project to build advanced “eyes in the sky” or next-generation AWACS (airborne warning and control systems), which can detect incoming aerial threats like hostile fighters, drones and cruise missiles from 400-km away.

The Manohar Parrikar-led defence acquisitions council (DAC) approved the building of two Awacs, which will involve mounting indigenous 360-degree coverage AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars on Airbus A-330 wide-body jets, at a cost of Rs 5,113 crore.

The eventual plan is to induct eight such aircraft under the “Awacs-India” project since both China and Pakistan are well ahead of India in this critical area in modern-day warfare, Times of India said on Sunday.

“It will take at least 5-7 years to build the first two Awacs . Six more Awacs will be ordered when the project is mid-way,” said a source. The decision, incidentally, comes ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to France and Germany, which primarily house the European Airbus consortium, in early-April.

The DAC also approved the Army’s Rs 1,605 crore acquisition of 30 weapon-locating radars from defence PSU Bharat Electronics and the Rs 710 crore order for 1,512 mine-ploughs for the T-90S main-battle tanks from Bharat Earth Movers Ltd.

But the controversial Ravi Rishi-owned Vectra Group, which acted as the go-between in the supply of all-terrain heavy Tatra trucks to India, was “dropped” from the list of five vendors in contention to supply 220 truck-mounted lifting devices (TMLD) for Rs 24 crore.

India to build ‘eyes in the sky’ to match Pakistan, China | Pakistan Today

 

[hkdas]

The eventual plan is to induct eight such aircraft under the “Awacs-India” project since both China and Pakistan are well ahead of India in this critical area in modern-day warfare

how is pakistan well ahead of indian in this?? IAF phalcone is much powerful than any pakistani AEWAC. india is building the AEWAC ingeniously, while pakistani si importing one.

 

[sathya]

how is pakistan well ahead of indian in this?? IAF phalcone is much powerful than any pakistani AEWAC. india is building the AEWAC ingeniously, while pakistani si importing one.

Numbers... Per square territory..

 

[UKBengali]

LOL - India can match Pakistan but has no chance against the Chinese.

China so far has 5 KJ-2000 AWACs and 11 KJ-200 AWACS. It is just inducting the KJ-500 AWACs and we should see at least 12 of these come on-line before the end of this decade.

In comparison India has 3 Phalcon AWACs and is yet to induct the indigenous Embraer based AWACs.

 

[waz]

how is pakistan well ahead of indian in this?? IAF phalcone is much powerful than any pakistani AEWAC. india is building the AEWAC ingeniously, while pakistani si importing one.

What do you mean much more powerful? Both are competent systems, with the Phalcon having a slight edge. This isn't Pokemon.....
Yes, Pakistan imported both. Now it has greater than needed coverage for its landmass.

 

[#hydra#]

how is pakistan well ahead of indian in this?? IAF phalcone is much powerful than any pakistani AEWAC. india is building the AEWAC ingeniously, while pakistani si importing one.

Quantity....

 

[Srinivas]

India is placing order for 2 more phalcon AWACS from Israel.

3 Drdo embraer based Awacs are being inducted.

Plus India has P8i which will be 8 in number.

India needs to speed up the R&D

 

[jaiind]

iaf needs atleat 2 dozens awacs platforms in this decade.

 

[Abingdonboy]

What do you mean much more powerful? Both are competent systems, with the Phalcon having a slight edge. This isn't Pokemon.....
Yes, Pakistan imported both. Now it has greater than needed coverage for its landmass.

To be fair sir, the EL/W-2090 Phalcon AWACS is incredibly powerful and perhaps the finest AWACS in service anywhere in the world and holds a considerable edge on the Erieye (that the IAF's ERJ-145 is much more comparable with) and ZDK-03. The only issue is the colossal cost of this system making it cost prohibitive even for the IAF.

However, looking at raw specs of the respective systems is entirely useless in this conversation because it is not like an AWACS is an offensive asset that would be facing off with another AWACS (let's put aside the possibility of jamming each other). Instead one needs to factor in each side's NCW capabilities, how the AWACS are integrated with this and with the other assets in the AFs as well as many other variables.

There is no doubt that the PAF is in pretty decent shape on the AEW front considering the number of platforms they have (officially) and a far smaller land mass to cover, the IAF is in a far more precarious position with just 3 (5 more on the way but still) to cover the entire Indian land mass right down to the far flung A&N islands.

 

[UKBengali]

So what is Bangldesh getting out of this?

Containment by China of any Indian ambitions to dominate South Asia.

 

[xyxmt]

how is pakistan well ahead of indian in this?? IAF phalcone is much powerful than any pakistani AEWAC. india is building the AEWAC ingeniously, while pakistani si importing one.

one of these days you people will realize that a weapon doesnt need to be built locally in order to hurt enemy.

 

[The_Sidewinder]

With new inductions gap will be closed in No time. Its not PAF I am worried about as 1 dedicated Phalcon is enough for that section of boarder. But question is, how to constantly monitor other sides of the boarders. Jeez, we got huge requirement of AEWACs.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

To be fair sir, the EL/W-2090 Phalcon AWACS is incredibly powerful and perhaps the finest AWACS in service anywhere in the world and holds a considerable edge on the Erieye (that the IAF's ERJ-145 is much more comparable with) and ZDK-03. The only issue is the colossal cost of this system making it cost prohibitive even for the IAF.

However, looking at raw specs of the respective systems is entirely useless in this conversation because it is not like an AWACS is an offensive asset that would be facing off with another AWACS (let's put aside the possibility of jamming each other). Instead one needs to factor in each side's NCW capabilities, how the AWACS are integrated with this and with the other assets in the AFs as well as many other variables.

There is no doubt that the PAF is in pretty decent shape on the AEW front considering the number of platforms they have (officially) and a far smaller land mass to cover, the IAF is in a far more precarious position with just 3 (5 more on the way but still) to cover the entire Indian land mass right down to the far flung A&N islands.

how u know?

 

[Agent Smith]

Containment by China of any Indian ambitions to dominate South Asia.

containment? LOL we will dominate south asia, china cant do $hit. btw its a funny idea that we need ti match "pakistan". we are way ahead of them in terms of air force quantity and quality

 

[manishmaithani]

containment? LOL we will dominate south asia, china cant do $hit. btw its a funny idea that we need ti match "pakistan". we are way ahead of them in terms of air force quantity and quality

@smith..We will dominate or we are already dominating the South Asia ?