Indian EMB-145 AEW&C

[SATISH]

Is that inside the Embraer or is it a mock up?

 

[Ganesh2691]

Fully-loaded prying plane ready to fly at Aero India | AEW&CS flight trials to commence soon: CABS

Bangalore: After missing two opportunities to fly public for the first time in a span of last four months, India's yet-to-be-named prying plane – the Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEW&CS) – is likely to make its maiden appearance at the Aero India 2013, starting next week. Scientists and engineers at the Centre for Air Borne Systems (CABS), a Bangalore- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab, which has developed home-grown systems for the plane, are currently involved in the ground checks of the aircraft, to ascertain the safe operation of the mission and aircraft systems, together. The Embraer-built (EMB-145 I) AEW&CS platform did not fly during the Indian Air Force Day celebrations at Hindon last October 8, and even during the recent Republic Day parade in Delhi.

Talking to Express on Wednesday, DRDO Chief Controller (Avionics) G Elangovan said that in all probability the prying plane will hit Yelahanka for its first public flying appearance. "It will be a great morale booster for CABS and other aerospace firms who are part of the AEW&CS programme. As of now, the plane will have the company of three Tejas aircraft, which again is subject to changes. It will be flying at the air show with actual radars and mission systems," Elangovan said.

When asked whether any of the features of the plane will be activated during its display flights at the show, Elangovan said that none of the mission-oriented systems will be operational. "We haven't got that clearance yet and it would take some more time. At Aero India all the systems will be switched-off, during the flight. Right now the EMI (electromagnetic interface) and EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) tests are going on," he said.

CABS Director Dr S Christopher confirmed that the AEW&CS will soon be ready for its flight trials. The first aircraft arrived in Bangalore from Brazil in August 2012 followed by the second one in December 2012. "The indigenous mission systems, developed by the various DRDO labs have been installed in the aircraft. The systems have been powered on in ground and their basic functioning ascertained. One set of these systems are undergoing test in the integration rig simultaneously. Once the ground-check mission parameters are established, the next step will be to take up the flight trials of the AEW&CS," Christopher said.

He said that the eye-in-the-sky platform would soon commence its intense phase of flight-testing and system-proving validating compliance, to meet the operational requirements. "On completion of these trials the two aircraft will be handed over to the IAF. The installation of the mission systems in the second aircraft also is being carried out parallelly. It will be a significant moment for us when the plane files during Aero India," Christopher added.

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: Fully-loaded prying plane ready to fly at Aero India | AEW&CS flight trials to commence soon: CABS

 

[sayareakd]

@SATISH this one is real i have seen land mokeup and iit is different.

 

[SATISH]

@SATISH this one is real i have seen land mokeup and iit is different.

Alright...if the EMB 145 flies then it is a really good thing...I want that bunch up and going as soon as possible integrated with GCI and the Phalcons...ASAP...

 

[Coalmine]

 

[prahladh]

I saw this flying over whitefield recently.

 

[rahulrds1]

Indian Airborne Early Warning And Control System [AEWACS] [at Aero India 2013]
Ms Suma Varughese, Scientist-'G', Project Director in the Airborne Early Warning & Control Programme at the Centre for Airborne Systems [CABS], Defence Research & Development Organisation, speaking at the Aero India 2013 Airshow Seminar

 

[rahulrds1]

Integrating India's AEW&CS Onto Its Aircraft Platform - Embraer's Experience [at Aero India 2013]
Diego Mendonca Fonseca, Product Development Engineer at Embraer Defense & Security - Aeronautics Department, speaking at the Aero India 2013 Airshow Seminar

 

[Defcon 1]

IAF to Go in for 10 more AWACS

Rafale Deal hopefully by July
Air Chief releases India Strategic's Aero India edition

Bangalore. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking at 10 AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems Aircraft) on western platforms.

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne told India Strategic that right now, IAF is negotiating for two IL 76-based AWACS with Israel, in addition to the three already acquired. But the future platforms would be western, either the Boeing 767 or Airbus A330. The Air Chief also released the Aero India editions of India Strategic and the Show Daily.
Significantly, he said, the radar systems would be provided by DRDO, either indigenously or through collaboration. The idea is to develop indigenous capability, something the IAF and the other Services, Army and Navy also support.
DRDO is already working on smaller airborne intelligence systems on Brazilian Embraer 145 aircraft. But to fix a radome on a big aircraft would pose two challenges: One, the development of the system and two, its integration on big aircraft like the Boeing 767 or Airbus A 330.
In fact, aircraft technologies are easier to manage than the AWACS systems, which demand futuristic sophistication.
Israelis are among the best in EW and AWACS technologies though, given the fact that they learn a lot from the research done in the United States and some other western countries. But how much they share with India, or other countries, is a matter of both good relations and money.
Air Chief Marshal Browne pointed out that the Air Headquarters was working on the AWACS requirement in consultations with DRDO, and that an RfP (Request for Proposals) for the new platforms should be issued in 2014.
It may be noted that the IL 76 aircraft were made by the Soviet Union with factories in its constituent states. Russia is likely to unveil its own version of IL 76 in 2014 but by the time it comes to the market for exports, it would be a while.
On the acquisition of Rafale MRCA, the Air Chief said that several aspects of the deal had been finalized, and that he expected the discussions between the French Dassault-led Rafale International and the Ministry of Defence to be over by May or so. The file would then go to the Finance Ministry, and once okayed there, then to the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval and sanction.
He was hopeful that this entire process should be over by July
Air Chief Marshal Browne said that IAF was happy with the acquisition of Pilatus trainer as the younger pilots were really in need for an ab initio machine to begin their flying careers. IAF has just got the first lot of the aircraft, 75 of which have been ordered from its Swiss maker.

..:: India Strategic ::. IAF: IAF to Go in for 10 more AWACS Rafale Deal hopefully by July

@Kunal Biswas please change the thread title to India's "AEW&CS and AWACS systems"

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I think its better to make a dedicated thread ..

 

[Rahul Singh]

5 hours is good but not enough for Indian air space
anyway it already has a refueling probe

These CABS AEW are gap fillers which can be quickly send to certain area on very very short notice. In meeting such requirements, a jet engine equipped platform would come of great use than turboprop driven platform which sacrifices speed for endurance.

 

[Twinblade]

http://www.spsaviation.net/exclusive/?id=194&h=IAF-for-more-Embraer-Legacy-jets

The Embraers have served well in IAF service and have proven to be a pleasant surprise for maintenance crew. The Embraers are complemented in the squadron by 3 Boeing 737-based BBJs. Embraer has also got a substantial amount of business from the Indian airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) programme, in which it has been contracted to supply three (one already delivered and in flight test) modified ERJ 145 airframes, with business prospect of supplying 20 more in the medium term as the IAF's requirements fructify.

:thumb:

 

[Ganesh2691]

DRDO Looks For Partner To Build & Maintain The Indigenous AEW&C Systems - AA Me, IN

 

[Twinblade]

An update on AEW&C program.
A couple of years back it was reported in a market study AESA module manufacturer about an AESA radar developed in association with CABS (centre for air borne systems) somewhere around 2010:-
http://crisil.com/capital-markets/CRISIL-Research_ier-report-astra-microwave-2012.pdf

S-band Active Aperture Array of 1244 elements using 100W TR modules

From DRDO Techfocus April issue on Radars, about L-Star program which is the ground based test bed for AEW&C array:-
http://drdo.gov.in/drdo/pub/techfocus/2013/TF_April_2013_WEB.pdf

New technologies for 200 W transmit receive modules, active array antennas, distributed beam steering network and digital receiver/Exciter have been developed and demonstrated.

Looks like the power output has been doubled in three years. Let's hope that the APU and the power system on board was designed keeping these developments in mind.

 

[rohit b3]

Whats the latest official induction date of the 3 AEW&Cs?

 

[Twinblade]

Whats the latest official induction date of the 3 AEW&Cs?

A) Google it.

OR

B) Read a couple of pages in this thread. It won't kill you.

 

[rohit b3]

A) Google it.

OR

B) Read a couple of pages in this thread. It won't kill you.

Wiki says 2014-15, but we know that the ground reality is always different.

And no RECENT update on this page gives the date of induction, but we know trials are on..right?

 

[arnabmit]

Both AWACS and AEW&Cs are the same. As a matter of fact, AWACS was the program name for the E-3 in the US. AEW&C is the proper nomenclature for all aircraft of the type. The DRDO-CABS aircraft is also an AEW&C. Due to a misconception a lot of people still call all these aircraft as AWACS. Only NATO uses AWACS when referring to the E-3. E-2 is an AEW. Even Indian scientists in all their glory are using an American program name for our own program called AWACS-India.

Anyway I got the point you were making.

The Phalcon is simply a much more capable version of the AWACS while the smaller DRDO-CABS AEW&C is simply a smaller, less capable version. The Phalcon is carried on wide body aircraft with massive payloads nearing 40-50 tons while DRDO-CABS radar is carried on smaller aircraft with a payload of 5 tons. The Phalcons carry a massive assortment of ELINT and COMINT equipment other than the radar system and is capable of working as a fully networked command node. Meaning it can function as a flying network server and direct all elements of the battlefield from the air. ELINT is Electronics Intelligence and COMINT is Communications intelligence. ELINT can compose of all signals that have nothing to do with communications, like aircraft Microwave signals, satellite signals etc. COMINT can include mobile signals, datalink signals etc. With this the Phalcon is even capable of listening in to enemy communications while at the same time the supercomputers on the aircraft are processing other electronic signals on the move.

This is something DRDO-CABS, Erieye, KJ-200, ZDK-03, E-2C and Erieye cannot do. The smaller aircraft do carry SIGINT(ELINT + COMINT = Signals Intelligence) receivers, but the data is stored and processed on land. It is not real time. Smaller aircraft also have a lesser number of workstations, 5 or 6 in number. Phalcon has 11 workstations. So, Phalcon can handle a lot more air traffic and the battlespace management capability is much greater due to the larger crew.

The radar signals processing capability is higher on the Phalcons and also the power delivered by the radar. The radar alone is larger than on the smaller aircraft. It can also provide consistent 360[SUP]o[/SUP] capability. So, even if you have more of the smaller aircraft, the detection and tracking capability of Phalcon is greater.

So, you tell me if Phalcon can be replaced by a a larger number of DRDO-CABS aircraft?

A very noob question...

Could a few of the DRDO AEW&C be slaved to a Phalcon to cover a massive area? This way the Phalcon could process the DRDO AEW&C input in real time...

(Similar to how Wi-Fi repeaters are used to extend the range of Wi-Fi routers)

 

[arnabmit]

Is DRDO looking at improving the coverage of the radar?

The TR modules have a 60° azimuth electronic scanning capability, so i all comes down o the shape of the structure...

 

[arnabmit]

To improve coverage... Make it 300° or more...

Might be a good fit...