“The flight is a major milestone towards realizing the dream of Indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System, which will put India into a Select Club of Countries” said SA to RM congratulating DRDO Scientists and M/s Embraer Engineers on this achievement.
While this Aircraft will now undergo full certification process over next two year period, India will receive two aircrafts by middle of next year. Here, the Mission Systems developed by Various DRDO Labs will be integrated with these aircrafts. Currently , these systems are undergoing ground integration and evaluation at CABS (Centre for Airborne Systems), Bangalore.
More photos by a Brazilian photographer/planespotter here (thanks Anon in comments for flagging this!).
Photo / DRDO & Embraer
Awesome picture Shiv. Its a beauty… Thanks for sharing… Good job guyz.
Awesome. That's a mean bird indeed. Considering that the AEW systems were already under development for long, this flight is supposedly a major milestone and now only few more hurdles, before it enters service.
Awesome. Congratulations to DRDO,
especially for AESA.
http://i43.tinypic.com/kakcax.jpg
Zoomed in from your post above.
Great news ! Been waiting for this for a long time
congrats DRDO. AESA ix excellent.
Very happy to hear about the DRDO's AESA Radar…Congratz…
Superb!Hope for early induction and of many examples.
Best of luck to DRDO.
Congratulations to DRDO and thanks Shiv for this long awaiting good news
What a beauty!!! Thanks for sharing Shiv, lets hope it enters service soon.
It is really great, awesome and bruhhaa moment. But any line that states … 'will be functional in 2-3 years' or will be inducted by 2017 clearly makes like some scientific project grant application.
Scientists often make claims in grant applications that we will change the world in next 5 years.
Reality is what we are talking about is securing our sovereignty and economic interests.
i cant beleive that drdo developed
AESA RADAR DRDO STATEMENT ARE FAKE
Wow! Look at the sheer number of antennas and other thingamajigs sticking out of that thing!
It is going to give the IAF a major shot in the arm.
A real good news.
Pity they didn't go for an Israeli CAEW-style conformal fuselage antennas instead. That way they'd have 360-deg coverage whereas with the balance beam approach above forward and backward sectors are not covered by the radar.
Hopefully DRDO will implement nose and tail-mounted radar arrays(like the Chinese KJ-200 AWACS) before long. The IAF should insist on that.
While it is a beautiful bird we should not forget that is has not been manufactured by us. The most difficult and delay prone work of getting the sensors and electronic subsystems to integrate with the aircraft and function right has not been done as yet. Now that the foreign vendor has finished his work, not it is time to do our part of the project.
This aircraft really looks great with Indian spying devices installed on it.Really gr8 pics.
This aircraft really looks great with Indian spying devices installed on it.Really gr8 pics.
Congrats to DRDO and to all my Indian brothers and sisters. But the big question is that is DRDO really developed AESA on its own.
More photos from a brazilian spotter, yesterday:
http://economia.terra.com.br/herramientas/fotos/fotos.aspx?id=179850
With so many things jutting out of it, it looks more like a one stop shop for all of India's surveillance needs..all!
isnt the Radar just a dummy ..its just dummy electronics?
Whats that black rectangle on the front section, underneath the "Bharateey"? Is that something on the aircraft or is that a modification to the picture to hide something? Curious…
OMG..it looks so beautiful..wonder if u can bring out any comparison between phalcon erieye (pakistan one) chinese awacs and this system…
I hate to break this to you, but that radome and all the antennae are dummies. All that is being tested now is the aerodynamics and structural stability of these attachments. Given DRDO's overpromising and underdelivering, we may see some semblance of an underrated AEWCS platform (AESA — yeah right!!!, just like the Tejas being 4+ gen) sometime in 2017 to 2020 timeframe. So, don't keep your hopes up. This is typical DRDO trumpeting to squeeze out more taxpayer funds from the "Govrmint".
We in Brazil are very happy with that joint with Embraer and DRDO because the success of that project could be a first of many Hindu-Brazilian projects.
IF this endeavor proves it is possible effective work two almost opposite tech cultures, Brazil and India could do much help to each other.
India is much more advance in military technologies in general than Brazil and spend so much more but in some areas despite the monetary inferiority Brazil have some to present as a partner.
Must because that lack and continuity of funding Brazilian military and their engineers must be much more careful and conservative in their projects to nail it precisely…
If we can work the cultural tech differences, the result could be very good if both countries manage to increase projects just when Brazil could finally raise the military investments due the near waited oil commercial exploitation in the pre-salt area in the next 5 years.
IF the MMRCA contest and the Brazilian FX-2 goes goes both to the French Rafale it will open a large avenue to many military projects may be target to possible collaboration between Brazil and India…
I hope will be the case…
Lead by this pilot project…
@Anon8:02,
LOL Taxpayer is back!!!
As the aircraft supplier what else is EMB supposed to do!
Actually,Radars are one area where DRDO has done very well,developing and seeing a range of 2d,3d,low -level,short-range,BSFR,WLRs etc.DRDO has developed good electronic packages and the AEWC will be just one more step.
Radars and EW are very critical techs and even with money,almost noe is willing to part with their core tech and this is one area where DRDO had had to develop fron scratch and done well.
hey shiv…..
there is a video of iaf awacs on youtube….
could u plz clarify that that were the both aircraft being built or one was tested….as there the aircraft in the video in one scene is without its final coat of paint and the next scene has it in iaf colour scheme. As per my belife an aircraft cannot be painted in a day.
Avi
[email protected]: Fact that the Brazil flights are with dummy electronics is common knowledge. Have mentioned in this in many previous posts, like this one:
http://livefist.blogspot.com/2011/11/first-flight-of-indias-aew-aircraft.html
Actual sensors and electronics, along with avionics racks etc will only be installed in India. There are sensitivities involved, you understand. 🙂
Why is RM congratulating DRDO? This maiden flight is entirely the handiwork of Embraer. They have done all the modifications and mounted the dummy radar. DRDO has hardly touched the plane. Now is DRDO's turn to do their part. Lets see if they can earn their congratulations.
if those radars and all built desi and only few countries possess these technos then why are we letting it on Brazilian soil?
wouldnt they try to sneak into our technos while fittin our equips on their planes?
8:02 Replying to Shiv's 11:44 AM MSG: 🙂
Exactly my point Shiv. Even though you have made it abundantly clear, somehow the announcement from DRDO and the posts of people congratulating DRDO are misleading the general populace. Look at all the press and you would think that we actually are testing a live AEWC platform which is simply not the case.
@2:30 PM: Exactly my point. Kudos to Embraer engineers. Let DRDO earn their now!!
@11:28 AM: Are you not paying ur taxes!!! You must be one of our aam aadmi types who just votes for cash doles and freebies and could care less what our netas and Defence PSUs babus in the "Govrmint" do with our country.
@Anon 2:30,
Because,the 'dummy' structures are not the figment of imagination of Embraer.They mimic in detail,dimensions and weight the 'actual DRDO system packages' that will be installed.You do not test-flight on non-specified parameters as virtually every gram and centimeter has a bearing on the aero-stability and performance of the aircraft.It is very expensive to rectify design mistakes in aircraft
This flight means that the basic DRDO systems,by way of actual electronics,mountings etc stands crystallized and finalized.
That by itself is a very big achievement.
That by itself is indeed fit for congratulations.
@anon 4:23,
The structures,pods,,antennas etc on the Embraer jet are not fancy embellishments 'stuck'on as decoration because they look 'sexy'.These are structures fabricated,designed as per requirement and by DRDO scientists.We are not talking about building of pre-planned ports/panels prepared by Embraer where DRDO will later conveniently fit it its radar like an after-market car audio system!!!
These are customized fitting,developed in co-ordination with the DRDO for their radar system.Embraer will have no idea about the Indian radars to be fitted in without Indian/DRDO consultation,advice and co-ordination.On its part DRDO can give such advice only after its own system stands finalized.That is what the RM is congratulating.
How many DRDO projects are even reaching finalization phases as fast as this AEWC project has done post the tragic crash of the HS-748 mounted radar.
As I know here in Brazil there are 2 planes in test fligth since last week. One already in IAF colors and one with industrial scheme pre-delivery.
The third unit is under final step of construction.
The unit painted with IAF colors is supposed to be send to India in the beggining of 2012 and the other will remain on test in Brasil til the end of the next year.
The AEW E-99 brazilian model that uses the same base plane and a swedish Erieye Erricson radar, but the company was sold to SAAB and the radar is only for teir planes (Pakistany SAAB 2000 AEW) and is not avaible anymore to Embraer to make new units.
The only two options possible to Brazil to make our needed new units of E-99 is to buy Hindu hardware if this program be in good end (if you guys agree to sell it) or try to develop our own AEW hardware with (possible) South African Denel parnership…
Our partners in the A-Darter Air-Air missile project…
@Gilberto: Interesting information, thanks! Do tell us more about the AEW programme.
Hi Shiv, as I explained in the last post currently Embraer has no hardware to put on top our AEW because the sell of Erricson Microwave to SAAB in 2006.
This year Embraer (encourage by the Brazilian government) make various moves to became a Defense Company.
They bought a company called Orbisat that produces 3D ground defense pulse Doppler radar developed with partnership with our Army tech center (CTEX) for 60 km(operational) and 200 km(final development) and has also a mapping radar product in a huge project with the air force to map vast Amazon areas of Brazil with a very special dual band technology (X and P band) used to do aerial mapping that could penetrated under the trees tops and even has a certain scan capability about 4 to 5 m under ground to search for water flows. This radar operational for civilian use and is current being base to a military smaller unit intended to use in a UAV specialized on SAR (Search and rescue) name SARVANT (VANT is equal to UAV in portuguese terminology) and later as a key radar on in a future cruise missile project.
With this company Embraer wants to be capable to use indigenous hardware for our military planes and an option to foreign buyers.
But as an Brazilian AEW system is very far from reach now, the information we have is that beside in this project Embraer is a mere contracted company by India (Brazilian military and government are not direct involve) was said that Embraer will send a team of engineers and technicians to support any need in the final integration of the DRDO hardware and the work may be target to a negotiation to buy this Indian Hardware and/or a partnership to new project.
Brazil has a very strong partnership with South Africa with Danel in the A-Darter 5ª generation super agility short range air-air missile project. This year I was caught by surprise to reed in a article in 4 may on Jane´s Defense weekly magazine (with the India flag and dogfight MMRCA in the cover) an article (page 22) about the Brazilian-South Africa eye on industrial potential military collaboration.
http://sharingcentre.net/93354-janes-defence-weekly-4-may-2011-uk/
The interview on the South African part of the text a Denel CEO said there are negotiations with Brazilian military and Embraer to develop a AEW radar because they have much more expertise than Brazil in this area but they don't where to install their hardware (basically the same problem to India).
A very interesting reading this one…
@Gilberto Rezende… I like "Hindu Hardware" too 😉