India's homegrown light combat aircraft, the Tejas Mk-II, is set to take a major step forward by featuring a gallium nitride (GaN)based fire control radar, the Uttam Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA). This development is a significant achievement for India's aerospace sector and demonstrates the country's increasing independence in defence technology.
The Uttam AESA radar, developed by the DRDO, will be the first GaN-based fire control radar to be used on an Indian fighter jet. Compared to older gallium arsenide (GaAs) radars, GaN technology offers better performance, including longer range, greater accuracy and stronger resistance to electronic interference. This gives the Tejas Mk-II a major edge in aerial combat, allowing it to detect, and track, multiple targets at once, even in tough conditions.
The Uttam AESA radar is typically installed in the nose cone of the aircraft, also commonly called the radome-a combination of 'radar' and 'dome'―which is a protective, aerodynamic cover that shields the radar system from weather and environmental damage while allowing radar signals to pass through without interference.
This location, that is, the radome, provides the radar with an optimal forwardfacing position, allowing it to scan, and track, targets over a wide area in front of the aircraft. The radome is being developed by National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL)
TEJAS MK-II'S Cutting-edge Radar Capabilities
The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), in its latest annual report, announced a major achievement in the development of India's light combat aircraft (LCA), the Tejas Mk-II. According to the report, NAL has successfully completed the structural design and analysis of the radome's composite structure and its related components for the Mk-II's AESA radar. This accomplishment has passed the critical design review (CDR), marking an important step forward in the project.
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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.
