Clearing The Mist On the IAF's Airborne EW Suites For Combat Aircraft & Helicopters

The integrated EW suite (shown below) for the Tejas Mk1 MRCA as envisaged by the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and designed by the DRDO’s Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE).

This suite, however, remains unproven, although it has been flight-tested on an HS-748 Avro flying testbed by the DRDO’s Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) since 2007. To certify this EW suite on the Tejas Mk1 MRCA, at least 40 additional test-flights on a PV-1 flying testbed will be required, which in turn will further delay the Tejas Mk1’s operational flight certification by at least 18 months. Making matters further complicated is the sub-optimal performance of the DARE-developed RWR-118 radar warning receiver (see below)—a fact which forced the Indian Air Force (IAF) to reject it for the MiG-29UPG upgrade programme.

The IAF’s MiG-29UPGs, in fact, have the IAF’s most advanced internally-mounted integrated EW suite, which includes Elettronica of Italy’s ELT-568 AESA-based jamming system (see below), which will also go on board the yet-to-be-upgraded Su-30MKIs.

The IAF is now favouring the installation (for both the Tejas Mk1 and Tejas Mk2) of an EW suite that will include SaabTech’s radar warning receiver and laser warning receiver along with the MILDS-F missile approach warning system (MAWS) sourced from EADS/Cassidian. This package has already been selected for both the EMB-145I AEW & CS programme, as well as for the Super Su-30MKI upgrade programme.

SaabTech’s radar warning receiver, laser warning receiver and MAWS have already been selected by the IAF for its Dhruv Mk4 ALH and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), and by the Indian Army for its Rudra helicopter-gunships.

Shown below is the DARE-designed EW suite architecture for the Super Su-30MKI, inclusive of the MAWS, RWR, LWR and CMDS installations. Interestingly, the scale-model is shown equipped with twin wingtip-mounted escort jamming pods and a belly-mounted and DARE-developed SIVA HADF pod. The IAF is expected to select the EL/L-8251 jammers for the SEAD version of the Super Su-30MKI. The DEAD-optimised Super Su-30MKI, on the other hand, will be equipped with the SIVA pod along with four Kh-31P Krypton supersonic anti-radiation missiles.

The SEAD-optimised and DEAD-optimized Super Su-30MKIs will also be equipped with EADS/Cassidian’s Ariel Mk3 towed RF-decoys.

Ukraine-origin EW Suites for the IAF’s Mil family of helicopters are shown below.

The IAF’s 40 upgraded MiG-27UPGs each have an internal EW suite comprising the Chemring-built CMDS, BEL-built ‘indifferent’ Tarang Mk2 RWR and an ELTA Systems-supplied EL/L-8222 ASPJ pod. The upgraded MiG-21 Bisons, on the other hand, have ELTA-supplied CMDS and ‘indifferent’ DARE-developed and BEL-built Tarang Mk2 RWRs, plus the external EL/L-8222 ASPJ pods.

 

 

When it comes to the IAF’s fleet of Jaguar IS/IT fleet of strike aircraft, a total of 17 Jaguar IT tandem-seat aircraft and 20 single-seat Jaguar IS—built by HAL between 2005 and 2009—have been equipped with DARIN 2-standard missions avionics (comprising 30 LRUs in all), Chemring-built CMDS, ‘indifferent’ Tarang Mk2 RWRs, and internally-mounted ELTA Systems-supplied EL/M-8022 self-protection EW suite.

For the DARIN-3 upgrade programme (which was approved in 2008), an initial 58 single-seat Jaguar IS aircraft will be subjected to a ‘deep upgrade’ by HALBIT Avionics along with HAL’s Mission & Combat System Research & Design Centre (MCSRDC), Overhaul Division, and the IAF’s Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) and Software Development Institute (SDI). The first prototype of the DARIN 3-standard Jaguar IS took to the skies on November 28, 2012. Each DARIN 3-standard Jaguar IS will be fitted between 2014 and 2017 with ELTA-supplied EL/M-2032 multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar, HAL-Edgewood’s OSAMC core avionics computer, Elbit Systems’ Targo HMDS, EL/M-8022 jammer, BDL-built CMDS, SaabTech’s RWRs and LWRs, EADS/Cassidian’s MILDS-F MAWS, and Raytheon-supplied munitions control unit (MCU) for making the aircraft’s weapons management system compatible with the 15 different types of munitions that have been specified by the IAF. Following this, the IAF’s seven DARIN 1-standard Jaguar IMs too will be retrofitted with DARIN 3-standard avionics.

 

Self-Protection Suites For An-32RE Transport Aircraft

 

Airborne EW Suite-Related Sub-Systems Developed By

Indian Industry

More Developments On The Naval Front

Vizag-based Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) recently released a global tender (http://www.indiacgny.org/pdf/tender_Technical%20Specifications%20&%20Appendix%20-%20A%20to%20F(1).pdf) for the design, integration, supply and commissioning of the CODAD main propulsion system for what is believed to be a missile-tracking vessel for the DRDO. The vessel will have an overall length of 175.77 metres, draft of 6.45 metres, moulded breadth of 22.7 metres, displacement of 14,700 tonnes, maximum cruise speed of 21 Knots, normal cruise speed of 14 Knots, endurance of 14,000 miles at 14 Knots, or 7,000 miles at 21 Knots, and a crew complement of 300.

This vessel, which has been designed by the Indian Navy’s Naval Design Bureau, will also host an on-board L-band volume-search radar and an X-band active phased-array precision-tracking radar. The vessel will complement the DRDO’s two projected missile test ranges that will come up in future at Rutland Island (part of the Andaman and Nicobar island-chain), and at Nagayalanka in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.

In another development, it has emerged that private-sector shipyards like the Surat-based  ABG Shipyard and the Bhavnagar-based Alcock Ashdown Shipyard Ltd are facing severe liquidity crunches, which in turn will only serve to delay the delivery of vessels already ordered and paid for by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. While ABG has to deliver three training vessels to the Indian Navy, Alcock Ashdown Shipyard Ltd, which was awarded the order to build the six 500-tonne, catamaran-type naval survey vessels based on an Australian design, has so far delivered only one—INS Makar—while delivery schedules for the remaining five vessels are now uncertain.

Also uncertain is the timely availability of the DRDO-developed Varunastra heavyweight torpedo, which was originally due to arm vessels like the three Project 15A and four Project 15B DDGs plus the four Project 28 ASW corvettes and the S-2/S-3/S-4 SSBNs. It is believed that the principal reason for the Varunastra’s unavailability is its sub-optimal performance in the high seas. This is due to the DRDO’s failure thus far to establish its own deep-sea floating underwater weapons testing-cum-calibration range off Rutland Island—a deficiency that should have been overcome two decades ago! Non-availability of such a range has also hindered the DRDO’s ability to develop a network of SOSUS-type seabed-based low-frequency sonars.

Meanwhile, Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) has delivered the first two of 20 fast patrol boats that it was contracted to supply in early 2011 for the Indian Coast Guard. Each such vessel comes equipped with a waterjet-based propulsion system, plus Northrop Grumman-supplied hardware for the bridge.

Lastly, it is appearing increasingly likely that the Indian Navy will defer the issuance of the RFP for six Project 75I AIP-equipped SSKs and will instead issue the RFP for four LPHs. If this happens, then the Indian Navy will most certainly increased its orders of MDL-built Scorpene SSKs from the present six to at least 10 (i.e. through a follow-on order placed with MDL), with the additional four Scorpenes being equipped with an AIP plug-in that is specified by the Navy. What this also means is that such a step will also result in a fair amount of financial savings, which in turn could well be utilised for the LPH procurement programme, and this will also buy the Indian Navy some more time for finalising its projected SSN procurement plans.