Early next month, India’s own AEW&C platform makes its debut flight. The first of three modified EMB-145 platforms will begin a schedule of flights to validate performance and handling. As reported on Livefist earlier, the start-up flight tests will be carried out in Brazil by Embraer and a team from the Indian Air Force’s Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) in association with Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil and India’s CEMILAC.
The first flight test aircraft, scheduled to make its first flight next month (sources say there have been unspecified delays of ), is complete with Dorsal Unit (DoU) containing dummy electronics, ECS, IFR, auxiliary power units, internal fuel tanks, SATCOMs and antennae. India’s Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) — the laboratory spearheading the programme — supplied Embraer with the dorsal unit (with dummy electronics) and the Ku-band SATCOM dome, while the Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), CABS and the Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) supplied in antennae for ESM, CSM and U/VHF.
While the EMB-145 with the configuration above will undergo flight tests in Brazil, the configuration for ferry to India a few months later will be the aircraft with only the dorsal pylon (minus the actual unit), ECS, IFR, APUs and internal fuel tanks.
Once the first aircraft reaches India sometime next year, it will undergo a rigorous flight testing schedule by CABS, ASTE and CEMILAC in association with Embraer. After a few flights in India, the aircraft will be integrated with a dorsal unit with real electronics and other mission system equipment, including operator workstations (five), avionics racks, rest crew seating, seats and cabling.
On June 23 last year, EADS Defence & Security (now Cassidian) announced that it had been awarded a contract to supply consultancy services to CABS for developing the AEW&C’s system architecture with particular regard to certification and mission equipment optimisation.
Sir should you be putting up potential radar frequencies of soon to be tested indigenous AEW&C system? To a layman it means little, to a trained eye, it may mean much more. What's the point?
tr modules imported and the plane is from brazil and brazil is doing all the fixing work so tell me what drdo cabs achieved how can u say it is indigenous and it covers 240 degress so it is very poor in comparission with other awacs
If all goes according to schedule then by 2013-2014 this AEW will be fully operational. By that time Pakistan will be having a dozen of SAAB AEW.
Why wont India go with the Erieye system aswell? The Saab system already has a great cooperation with Brazil and Embraer and the system has proven itself many times.
if SAAB is supplying pakistan AEW why was India invited Gripen for MMRCA?
Does it make any sense?
To Anon 8:08 pm This Awacs covers 360 deg (Wikipeida).
But I'm not very sure that this information is correct or incorrect.
Hi fellow indians,
Pakistan bought already a half dozens of AEW from Sweden. India has three of phalcon aew from Israel. What part is of DRDO? it says always indigeniouse. has DRDO ever designed anything indigeniously( except buying components or the whole product from abroad and assembled in DRDO " labs", with help of russian, israel,french or american engineers)so as it always boosts? AEW " indigenious" are persumably from EAD and Embraer. If Russians boycot india, will be there any agni missile? what is indigenous? what does DRDO do? eating huge amount of indian money? come on.. i dont believe any nonsense anymore. our enemies are at the door. india and its DRDO are messing around by fooling Indians. one has to know the fact, that any weapon procurement means billions of dollar flows to the swissbank on the accounts of ministers or their big bosses, Takurs who donated their party fund. crazy!!! Our enemies are not only pakistan and China. our biggest enemies are inside india like blood suckers.
For the uninformed:
Our DRDO AWACS/AEW&C is not as powerful or comparable to IAI Phalcon, Russian Beriev A-50, Boeing E3 Sentry or even the Chinese KJ series.
Infact this is similar to the Saab system which the Swedish are selling to Pakistan or UAE and are meant for medium sized forces armed with 3+ or early 4th gen combat aircraft.
This is a low cost system which will be made and deployed in larger numbers and will complement our other advanced systems.
Also, this will provide a big learning experience for DRDO.
Is there a need to give such a detailed sketch of the various antennae fitted on the AEW EMB-145?