The use of airborne early warning systems will play a key role in future air combat, especially in India's Eastern Sector. Airborne early warning platforms are divided into Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) and Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AEW&C), with the latter being far more capable but much more expensive to procure, operate and maintain. AWACS and AEW&C systems perform as a command and control station in the air for control and directing the fighters during large fleet engagements and carry the battle management functions or alternatively act like a network-centric node in the Integrated Air Command and Control of the IAF and interfaces the data over the datalinks to contribute for the air situation picture of the Integrated Command and Control Station (IACCS).
However, with the IAF already having inducted 36 Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets and soon to induct the Tejas Mk-1A, it urgently requires airborne early warning assets, to ensure complete battlespace awareness for these fighter aircraft. The presence of AEW&C and AWACS aircraft will also dramatically enhance the combat capability of the IAF's older generation fighter aircraft, such as the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, MiG-29 UPG, Mirage 2000 I/TI and Sepecat Jaguar.
AEW&C and AWACS platforms have also been in the news recently, with Ukraine announcing the shootdown of a Russian Air Force A-50 AWACS platform and an IL-22 airborne command post. The A-50s are a vital asset within the Russian military due to their ability to look deep into enemy territory and provide airborne command and control. The destruction of these two aircraft is said to have significantly impacted the operational effectiveness of Russian air power over Ukrainian airspace.
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POSITIVE STEPS TOWARDS POTENTIAL REGIONAL COOPERATION
It has been a whirlwind of diplomatic activity for India recently. India participated in both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO) summit that took place in Islamabad on October 15-16, and the 16th BRICS Summit was held in Kazan, Russia, from October 2224, 2024. These back-to-back summits within a short span of time underscore India's active role in shaping regional and global diplomacy, balancing national interests with multilateral cooperation
THE EAGLE'S EYE TEJAS MK-II RADAR PIERCES VEIL OF THE SKY
The Tejas Mk-II, featuring DRDO's GaN-based Uttam AESA radar, marks a major leap in India's defence, enhancing range, precision, and multi-target tracking capabilities, highlights GIRISH LINGANNA
LESSONS FROM GAZA AND LEBANON
The ongoing war, loosely called the Gaza War, is actually being fought in two different loosely connected segments; against the Hamas with a spill off in the West Bank and East Jerusalem areas against Palestinian factions and against the Hezbollah in Lebanon with a spill off in Syria. Treating Israel-Hamas War and the Lebanon War as separate entities, RAJ MEHTA explains the lessons from these wars
PRIME MOVER
The indigenously developed Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhAP) has received a boost with its first export order from the Kingdom of Morocco
TRANSFORMATIONAL INDUCTION
The GA-ASI MQ-9B will dramatically enhance the ISR and precision strike capabilities of the Indian armed forces
TACAN PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
Navigation systems have evolved significantly since the Viking era, with Tactical Air Navigation TACAN) now widely used for air and sea travel. Post-World War Il, reliable systems became essential for safety and efficiency, as highlighted by DR. SUJAN KUMAR SARASWATI, in this article on TACAN’s operational principles.
AIRBORNE TRACKER
Indigenous efforts towards AEW&C and AWACS platforms need to be stepped up even as international programmes extend the current state-of-the-art for such aircraft, highlights
AFFORDABLE LETHALITY THE INDIAN DILEMMA
India's defence dilemma is now being complicated by the lessons learnt in the Ukraine and Gaza wars because these conflicts are reshaping the way wars are fought in the modern world.
FROM IMPORTS TO SELF-RELIANCE IN ARMS
Self-reliance in Defence Production needs new ideas, new definitions _es and an appropriate methodology, argues AMIT COWSHISH
"THE INDIAN AIR FORCE IS WORKING HARD TO REMAIN A CREDIBLE AIR FORCE"
Commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on December 21, 1984, Air Chief Marshal AMAR PREET SINGH PVSM AVSM took over as the 28th Air Chief of India on September 30, 2024.
