DRDO AWACS Program

Can you tell me in detail about DRDO Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEWACS) which is a project of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation?

The DRDO Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEWACS) is a project of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation to develop an airborne early warning and control system for the Indian Air Force.

DRDO AEW&CS

Role Airborne early warning and control
Manufacturer DRDO's Bengaluru-based Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) (Early Warning Systems and Radar) Embraer (platform)
First flight 6 December 2011
Introduction 2014–2015
Status Induction (June 2015)
Primary user Indian Air Force
Developed from Embraer ERJ 145


Design

2 radiating planar arrays assembled back-to-back and mounted on top of the fuselage in an active antenna array unit (AAAU) will provide 240° coverage like Erieye.

The AAAU is configured to compactly house 10 × 2 antenna array panels, 160 transmit receive 10 × 2 antenna array panels, 160 transmit receive multi-modules (TRMMs) dividers, beam forming units, beam control units, power supply units and related electronic devices including cables and connectors.

This has been achieved through an innovative and iterative process to arrive at the AAAU with minimal dimensions and optimum mass properties.

A unique feature of this Indian TRMM design is that eight Trans-receive modules are combined compactly to form a single TRMM, thus facilitating high density installation of 160 of them in the AAAU to power the surveillance radar.

Additionally, the aircraft has other mission capabilities like identification friend or foe (IFF), electronic and communication support measures, C-band line-of-sight and Ku-band SATCOM datalinks, etc., similar to those on the AWACS and CAEW systems. The important modes of operation of the primary radar system are the surface surveillance and the air surveillance.

The sensor has the abilities to search, track-while-scan, priority tracking, high performance tracking, etc. In priority tracking, the targets will be placed in full track mode even if these cross the primary surveillance area.

In high performance tracking, additional measurements will be made to improve the tracking accuracy. Utilising active aperture technology, the radar provides a fast-beam agile system that can operate in several modes concurrently.

Inter-operability with AWACS, other AEW&C aircraft, fighters and ground-exploitation stations is ensured using the data-links with voice and data channels.

The aircraft cabin houses five operator work stations to adequately meet requirements of the operational mission tasks.

An air-to-air refuelling system enables extended operations at times of need. The endurance of the platform aircraft is about nine hours with one air-to-air refuelling.

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