Govt okays purchase of two Airbus-330 planes

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 28

Moving towards the target of having at least 12 aircraft-mounted radars for early warning against incoming enemy missiles and aircraft, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) today approved the purchase of two more such planes called the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS).
Radars will be mounted on two French-made Airbus-330s, worth Rs 5,100 crore (approx US $840 million), by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, also  approved the purchase of 30 weapon-locating radars from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a public sector company under the MoD,  for Rs 1,605 crore and 151 “mine ploughs” for T-90 tanks for Rs 710 crore.
With these approvals, the Air Force will have three planes for surveillance with varying endurance and needs.
The AWACS is like an “eye in the sky” that monitors huge swathes of Indian airspace, intercepts communications and logs on to radar frequencies, does ground surveillance and detects enemy airborne threats. An airborne plane carrying the radar can detect a missile the moment it's fired from enemy territory and send its pictures and videos to ground-based controllers allowing a faster response.
At present, the Air Force has three operational AWACS mounted on Russian-origin IL-76. Three smaller ones mounted on a Brazilian Embraer jets are set to join service over the next 12 months while two more of the IL-76 with radars have been approved. Today's decision will take the number of  AWACS to 10.