Now, IAF Embraer can fly longer

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 30

The “eye in the sky” of the Indian Air Force (IAF) can now stay airborne for extended periods. The IAF has successfully tested air-to-air refuelling on Embraer transport aircraft specialised to conduct Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) functions.

A mere 10-minute in-flight refuelling can generate additional four hours of flying endurance for the plane. “This achievement has given a tremendous boost to IAF’s operational capability,” the IAF said in a statement.

This will enable the aircraft to fly for longer durations beyond its stated endurance. It is also the first time that air-to-air refuelling has been carried out on the Embraer platform.

The technique requires exceptional flying skills from the pilot. Most fighter jets in the IAF already have the facility of mid-flight refuelling by an oil-carrying plane, the IL 78 sourced from Russia.

The AEW&C has state-of-the art Active Electronically Scanned Radar, Secondary Surveillance Radar, Electronic and Communication Counter Measures, data link, voice communication system and self protection suite.

A complex software has been developed for fusion of information from the sensors to provide the air situation picture along with intelligence to handle identification of threat assessment.

It is mated with the integrated air command, control and communications system (IACCCS), which gets direct real-time feeds from existing space-based overhead reconnaissance satellites, ground-based and aerostat-mounted ballistic missile early warning radars and high-altitude-long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles, and manned AEW&C platforms.