RM Manohar Parrikar conveys DAC : A Detailed view

RM Manohar Parrikar conveys DAC : A Detailed view

   Working towards its promised modernized military, the man in command RM Manohar Parrikar chaired the all crucial Defense Acquit ion Council (DAC) meeting yesterday. The RM assisted by the defense secretary and the three chief of staff met in South Block, New Delhi to discuss the future course and held discussions regarding the future acquisition for the strengthening of the forces.  DAC has cleared several important acquisitions which promise to keep the nation ready to face any atrocities it may face from its unstable and unreliable neighbours. Even though the DAC meet was conveyed on Friday, it remained inconclusive on several issues and had to be cut short owing to the unplanned departure of RM Parrikar to Goa on a undisclosed emergency.

    The highlight of the DAC is undoubtedly the clearance for the acquisition of nearly 48 Mi-17V-5 medium lift helicopters for the IAF. These Mi 17V-5s are slated to replace the aging Mi-8 helicopter fleet, which is currently the air force mainstay lift copter force. IAF currently operates nearly 150 Mi-8 copters and relies on its lift capabilities for all operations across the nation. The Mil Mi-8 copters were acquired from the Russians to mainly supplement the forward operating forces. With these airframes aging and unable to serve at higher altitudes the IAF acquired the latest Mi-17V-5 medium lift copters from Russia in 2008 under a speculated US $ 1.4 billion deal.

   The air force currently operates a 70-strong Mi-17V-5 fleet and has placed an order for nearly 199 copters which were placed in 80+71+48 phased manner. DAC has now cleared another 48 Mi-17V-5 copters to be acquired from the Russian firm. In support to NDA’s ambitious, Make in India campaign the deal will mandate the Russian firm to team up with an Indian private aerospace partner to manufacture the copters indigenously in India.

   DAC has also addressed the needs for Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars raised by the Air Force. IAF will now get the ‘ATCR-33S SRE’, all weather ATC radar manufactured by BEL. The ‘ATCR-33S SRE’ is an S band Air Traffic Control. Radar which is suitable for Terminal Control Applications (TCA). The radar is extremely accurate and versatile thus guaranteeing hinder free operations across IAF bases. The radar works has two beam riders, with the S Band beam rider acting as the primary rider and the L Band beam rider acting as the auxiliary beam rider. The radar enjoys an operational range of 130 kilometres.

   The Air defense squadrons of the IAF have received a shot in the arm with the DAC clearing the induction of 7 additional Akash SAM batteries under a US $700 million   deal. IAF is currently operating 8 squadrons of Akash missiles, with each squadron comprising of 8 Akash missile launchers plus the support systems consisting the radar ground control and resupply wagon. The L&T facility in Coimbatore is currently capable of manufacturing nearly 360 missiles per year. The government is also considering of ramping up the production with more than 3000 missiles under order and with the product lining for export to other friendly nations the production sure needs a boost.   

  The Navy has received a lesser share of the pie as against the trend this time around. DAC has approved navy’s plan for operating harbour tugs in an estimated 300 crore deal. DAC has cleared the path for acquiring 8 Chetak helicopters for the navy. Even though these platforms were introduced in the late 60’s, these are still in at the HAL line for the armed forces. The plans to acquire the multi-role helicopters have been stalled after scam charges were made against the bidders.

   With the P 75 project nearing completion the government is venturing all options to open up the bids for the P 75I tender at the earliest. DAC has in principle accepted to speed up the process and has demanded to be briefed in the following meetings.

   DAC has also cleared Army’s proposal for the construction of multiple short span reinforced steel bridges in collaboration with L&T across Kashmir. These bridges once completed will guarantee faster movement of the forces, hence enhancing the response time. The proposal for acquiring UAV raised by the Army has been left untouched and is to be addressed in the coming meetings.

Edit - Karthik Kakoor

Indian Airforce Surveillance Radar

 Indian Airforce Surveillance Radar

     Radar is the key for watching the airspace and allows the Fighters to correct Direction, India operates number of Ground Based Radar's for Tracking and detecting friendly and enemy airborne targets.

     Those Stationary Radars have Huge power plus long tracking ranges. those Radar can be classified as per it's power and Range.

Aerostats

       Aerostat Radars is the one of the key Radar which can detect and track enemy airborne targets. IAF operates two or more Aerostats which was built by IAI Israel. those Radars act as a AEWCS, where the Radar is also placed in the heights of some 100meters for better detection for even low flying Targets. which is very helpful for mountain terrains.

      The EL/M 2083 is an aerostat AESA radar, the tracking and surveillance data's can be sent through command or field stations in real time for  quick reactions. the EL/M 2083 can track targets at the around 400km radius.

High Power Radar.

Usually Stationary, Long range Radar, Basically built in Tower, can track targets in 3 dimensional, which means it can provide exact informations about the Target range, bearings, elevation and Azimuth.  High power radar can work  round a clock all day include monitoring the weather.

India operates more than six High power THD 1955 Radars, they can track targets nearly 1000 Kilometers, for stable and controlled watch IAF down powered the Radar to track targets upto some 500 kilometers, Those are all developed by Indian owned BEL company with foreign Assistance. those Radar's gone massive upgrades for improved survivability in dense EMP and Electronic Jamming. the upgrades were done by French firm Thales, the THD 1955 uses the S band for communication for faster refresh and data Transfer.

DRDO also in works to design a modern more powerful Radar, which is High power Long Range with 4D view.

Medium Powered Radar

    The Second layer of Air surveillance can be achieved by Medium powered AESA radar's, this can be mobile allows it can be transported quickly based on possible infiltration area's, such as Deep valley's blind zones,etc. India uses the Israeli made EL/M 2084 Multi mode radar, which is medium powered. this one not only works as a Surveillance but can Guide the Interceptor missiles to the detected Threat.

     It's also a 3D AESA radar which can be used for both Air surveillance and Weapon locating, the Radar can rotate at the rate of  30 rounds per minutes allows them to view entire 360 degree of view, the reported range of the radar is 250 kilometers,

   The same can be work with Modern surface to air missiles like SpyDer and Barak 8, can guide those missile if it detects and identified it's a Hostile threat. it can also be assigned to eliminate Ballistic missile too

   Israel transfered the Technical data's to DRDO to build such Radars in Home, while they already built and deployed some unknown numbers of the Radar's all over India.

    There is another Radar in the making known as Arudhra MPR, which is based on the Thompson Master T, a 4D MPR radar.

LLTR ( Low Level Transportable Radar )

   The common battlefield Radar, mostly fitted on the wheels, Most IAF battlefield Radars uses the ural and tatra Trucks which currently being replaced with Indian made TATA vehicles. thus can be used mostly for combined with short range SAM systems, like S 125 and other old soviet Radars, currently those old systems are replaced by newer Thales GM 200 AESA radar along with Indian made Ashwini Radar which is developed with the Help of Thales.

the Thales GM 200 is an medium range multi mission radar with the Range of upto  200kilometer. with the Rotating Radar it can search targets in all sides ( 360 degree). the Radar even detects Hovering Helicopters, low level battlefield UAV's,other informations are not available for Public release.

LLLWR- Low level Light weight Radar

This is the low range for combat deployment, mostly carried by foots and deployed quickly for detecting low flying airborne threats like UAV's and Helicopters it can aslo search and track Fighter jets and Transport planes.

BEL designed a Ashlesha LLLWR for the IAF and IA to use in all terrian conditions, with the inbuilt IFF ( Identification of Friend or Foe ) the ground unit can get extra informations about Airborne Targets nearby their operational area's.