Indian Air Force to get ‘Eye in the Sky’

Bengaluru: Indian Air Force will shortly induct an entirely indigenous ‘Airborne Early Warning and Control System’ (AEW&C), technology that immediately alerts the intrusion of enemy planes, cruise missiles and radars into the Indian airspace. This system has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and has been named as the ‘Eye in the Sky’. The first plane equipped with this system will be handed over to the Indian Air Force at the ‘Aero India 2017’ event to be held in Bengaluru on 14th February. India becomes the fifth country in the world to possess such an indigenously developed system.

The ‘Eye in the Sky’ was included in this year’s Republic day parade held at Rajpath, which has signalled its early induction into the Indian Air Force. The 11th International Air Show ‘Aero India’ has been organised in Bengaluru between the 14^th and 18^th February. More than 750 companies from all across the globe with delegations from 109 countries are expected at ‘Aero India’. Also, approximately 1.5 lakh business professionals and over 3 lakh general visitors are expected.

Defence representatives from the US, Britain, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Brunei, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE, Ireland, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Thailand, Uzbekistan are to arrive in India to attend ‘Aero India’. Defence heads of some countries are also expected at the event.

This international air show which is being organised in India has become extremely successful over the past few years. Considering India’s defence market, many international companies are eager to be a part of the ‘Aero India’ show. Also, many Indian companies from this sector would be getting the opportunity to exhibit their technology and to sign big deals due to ‘Aero India’. Deals are expected to be signed on a large scale during ‘Aero India’ this year as well.

‘DRDO’ is expected to use this opportunity to highlight and establish India’s leap in technological advancement by handing over the ‘Eye in the Sky’ to the Indian Air Force during ‘Aero India’ show, which has now gained significant international recognition. It is also being informed that ‘DRDO’ plans to hand over another aircraft equipped with the same technology in the next two months to the Indian Air Force.

The ‘Eye in the Sky’ is capable of detecting any intrusion in the Indian airspace under any weather condition. This system can track any movement in the sky up upto 400 kms within a range of 250 degreesat any given point in time. Soon other aircraft of the Indian Air Force will also be equipped with this technology.

The Indian Air Force is currently using the Phalcon system for air surveillance. Apart from this, the AWACS system purchased from Israel, has been mounted onto Russian-made aircraft. India had also signed a deal with Brazil for research and development on a similar system. However, this deal has been delayed due to some reason. Even though India is purchasing this technology from other countries, it has also started developing this technology indigenously all the same. The DRDO is currently also working on ‘AEWACS’ along with ‘AEW&C’ system which is essentially AWACS system. AWACS is expected to be more advanced than the ‘Eye in the Sky’.