Pune airfield to get modern defence system - The Times of India
Pune airfield to get modern defence system
PUNE: The Indian Air Force's (IAF) premier airbase at Lohegaon here will soon get a network-centric all-weather air defence weapon system called 'Akash' , which will protect the airfield from enemy air strikes.
"From the ground, the Akash weapon system can shoot down fighter aircraft , choppers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or cruise missiles up to a range of 30 km," said Wg Cdr Piyush Gupta, a senior officer at the Air Force Station (AFS), Pune.
"This is an indigenous weapon system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation in partnership with Bharat Electronics and is currently in the induction phase. The first Akash squadron is in the final stages of induction at the IAF's Gwalior airbase while the second will soon be inducted at AFS, Pune. A few more Akash squadrons will be inducted at IAF airbases in the eastern sector," Gupta said.
Air Commodore Vivek R Chaudhari, Air Officer Commanding , AFS, Pune, said, "We expect the Akash squadron to be inducted here in a few months from now. In fact, some of the equipment has already landed here while some more equipment is going through integration trials ."
An officer at the AFS, Pune, said, "The Akash weapon system has been developed under the integrated guided missile development programme and comes as a highly sophisticated amalgam of systems that work in concert ."
Most IAF airbases have been using Russian systems considered age-old in terms of attacking air targets.
"The Akash system uses a mobile 'Rohini' radar for detecting an aircraft even from 120-odd km away. A coded electronic interrogator ascertains the identity of the aircraft. The radar then relays an alert to the Akash squadron headquarters , which controls the engagement," the officer said.
"The task of shooting down the target is allocated through a secure digital link to the squadron's two missile flights, which are normally about 25 km away, to cover the maximum area. The designated flight control centre locks its sophisticated 3D phased-array radar onto the enemy fighter and calculates the launch parameters for an Akash missile to shoot down the target at its maximum range of 30 km," the officer said. Meanwhile, the Modernisation of Air Field Infrastructure (MAFI) project will commence at the Lohegaon airfield towards the end of November or December, depending upon the feedback received from the IAF's Bhatinda airbase where the MAFI works were carried out first on a pilot basis, Air Commodore Chaudhari said.
"MAFI is an ambitious project to be implemented by a Tata group company for the modernization of 30 airfields including one naval airbase. The IAF started with Bhatinda , where the project was completed recently. We are now waiting for it to stabilize so that the project can start in Pune," Chaudhari said.
"Installing the runway central line in a phased manner entails digging up the runway . Usually, the installation process takes two to three months. We have assured the airport authorities and airlines that we will not reduce any of the existing civilian flights," Chaudhari added.
