AWACS - India Projects as Force Multiplier

India is modernising its defence forces especially in terms of force projection, network centric warfare capability, information and cyber warfare, and intelligence capabilities. AWACS too are a part of this process to bridge the gaps in our defence vulnerabilities. During the 1960s the idea of full-fledged usage of airborne radar systems for surveillance, battle space management and C3I purposes came into existence. These systems were known as Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AEWCS). AEWCS systems mounted on an aircraft together are known as Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) which is the non lethal but decisive arm of modern air forces round the world. AWACS allow long range surveillance with ranges of 240/350/400 Kms. The requirement for India is to have around 15-18 fully functional AWACS at any point in time so the whole Indian region can be covered with no windows of exploitation both on land and in sea.

These ranges allow collection, interpretation and analysis of data which is critical for decision makers to make timely decisions regarding defence of homeland as well as offensive pre-emptive actions against enemy forces.One of the often feared nightmares of any security official is the idea of being caught unawares by an enemy action. AWACS compliment our already existing array of ground radars to provide enough latitude in our response times. The need of the hour is to have an ‘eye in the sky’ system at both our eastern and western borders as well as maritime surveillance. AWACS are a cost effective solution as satellites cost a lot more, as well as the technology and infrastructure required to maintain a fully functional satellite system is complex and fraught with risks.

India’s foray into AWACS began in 2004 with the signing of a tripartite agreement between India, Israel and Russia. Russia was to provide the IL-70 aircrafts and Israel the Phalcon radar systems. Integration was to be done in India. Three such Phalcon AWACS are already in service and three will be operational by 2014. The delays have caused a great deal of unease in our security establishment,as a vulnerability window has been provided to our adversaries for exploitation. The procurement of eight P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft by India from US is also another example to extend our safety net to our maritime borders and coastlines. AWACS systems are the state of art of technology which provide an extended safety net to our homeland and provide crucial battlefield information well in advance to our decision makers.

AWACS India project by DRDO is India’s domestic effort to boost our C4ISR capabilities to achieve a level of parity with not just our immediate neighborhood adversaries but advanced global powers around the world.The project was based upon procurement of EmbraerERJ 145 jet from Brazil with indigenous development of the 360-degree AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar system.The militarised EMB-145 comes in several variants, including maritime surveillance and electronic intelligence planes.A September 2005 ACIG report claimed that the radar would be similar to Saab’s Erieye, and the Center for Airborne Systems (CABS) an arm of DRDO, illustration certainly looks very similar. The radar can look 240 degrees within a short time and has a range of 350 km. It can track more than 500 targets simultaneously. The project has however run into cost over runs and time delays and needs a serious look into by the defence ministry. Pakistan already has four Swedish Saab-2000 AEW&C aircraft, with four more Chinese ZDK-03 AWACS in the pipeline and is currently ahead of India in this field.This needs to be rectified on priority.

China already has 20 functional AWACS and is way ahead of India.As the US has already removed DRDO and its sister organisations from the Entity List, DRDO needs to make faster progress in enhancing our domestic AWACS capability through technology transfers and licensed production of American AWACS equipment.In the last decade, US has provided the basis of a strategic partnership with India in form of Civil Nuclear Deal, Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) waiver etc. India should use this opportunity to develop cutting edge technology in fields of surveillance, communication, IT and aerospace with US help and expertise-sharing. AWACS should figure at the top of this exercise as AWACS are a non lethal weapon which US should be willing to share with India. Other countries which can form reliable partners are UK, France, Sweden and Japan and thus, intensive efforts are needed by our diplomatic, political and military staff to explore these latent opportunities. 

AWACS can also complement and enhance our existing Air Defence (AD) Systems which form the bedrock of any nation’s security in the 21st century. Post Gulf War 1 (Op Desert Storm) the theme of battles have revolved around effective AD systems which protect a nation from enemy’s initial assault of fighter and bomber aircrafts as well as missiles both ballistic and cruise in nature. AD systems prevent an enemy from laying the ground for invasion by land forces after the initial aerial assaults have been successful in destroying the nation’s infrastructure, military installations and troop morale. AWACS have a longer range of visibility, larger data collection, big picture analysis capability and command-control ability as compared to their ground based counterparts. AWACS can help in detecting incoming enemy aircraft, identification of friendly and hostile forces, reconnaissance of larger tracts of land and sea, command-control of own forces, information sharing and interoperability with friendly nations during times of crisis and conflict. As already pointed out by our previous Army Chief, nearly 97 per cent of India’s AD equipment is either outdated or obsolete and this state of affairs poses a grave threat to our national security. Procurement of ground based radars, AD guns and fighters will go a long way in fulfilling the goal of comprehensive defence preparedness. AWACS will complement and act as force multipliers of our AD force by providing the right information at the right time to the right person for timely neutralisation of threats. AWACS can detect troop buildups, surface naval movements and aerial challenges posed by an adversary’s forces; provide the same geospatial information in real time to military and civilian commanders well in advance for them to make accurate, timely and sensitive decisions. The utility of AWACS is unquestionable and India needs to wake up to this reality and fast track both its indigenous programme of AWACS-India by DRDO and its foreign off the shelf procurement deals before it’s too late or too little.

Raveen Janu is an Associate Fellow at Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS)

Views expressed are personal