India’s ‘eye in the sky’ Netra AEW&C system gets Final Operational Clearance
The indigenous Netra Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system, which played a pivotal role as a force multiplier for the Indian Air Force in
The indigenous Netra Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system, which played a pivotal role as a force multiplier for the Indian Air Force in the 2019 Balakot strikes and Operation Sindoor last year, was accorded Final Operational Clearance (FOC) on Thursday. Developed indigenously by the Bengaluru-based Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), the Netra AEW&C is integrated on the Brazilian Embraer EMB-145I aircraft platform. The system encompasses a sophisticated suite of mission equipment, including an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF), mission computer, secure communication networks, electronic support measures (ESM) and communication support measures. India is the fifth country in the world to develop this capability, as the Netra can detect, track, identify and monitor airborne and maritime targets enhancing the network-centric operations capabilities of the IAF. At an event to mark the occasion, scientists and IAF officers dedicated the achievement to colleagues killed in a tragic air crash in 1999. The seeds of India’s airborne situational awareness and battle management capability were sown in the early 1980s. However, the tragic crash of a modified HS-748 Avro aircraft near Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu, with eight people aboard, including four IAF personnel and four scientists, on January 11, 1999 resulted in the programme being abandoned temporarily.
The programme took off again after being sanctioned afresh in 2004. During this intervening period, scientists kept their perseverance and hoped for the best. “On January 11, 1999, the ill-fated aircraft had a crash. I salute personnel who were on board, who made their supreme sacrifice. Today we have shown that their sacrifice has not gone in vain. This FOC is dedicated to them,” said Director-General of Aeronautics Cluster of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), K. Rajalakshmi Menon. She said that the IAF’s pursuit of an indigenous AEW&C began in 1983 and got a partial nod from then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when she gave the go-ahead for the formation of a project office under the DRDO called the Aerospace Surveillance Monitoring and Control in Bengaluru, with its headquarters in Delhi. “The initial studies on all aspects of AEW&C were carried out under the aegis of Project Guardian. A small team of scientists and IAF officers took up the challenge to design and develop an airborne surveillance platform on an HS-748 Avro aircraft. The Airborne Surveillance Platform (ASP) was the pride of India with a rotodome and it took off for its maiden modified platform flight on November 5, 1990,” she said.
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