Centre nods Rs 11,000 cr air surveillance project of DRDO for IAF

13 Sep 2021 CW Team

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved a nearly Rs 11,000 crore project of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to develop six new Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

It is in addition to the nearly $3 billion agreement for acquiring 56 C-295MW transport aircraft for the IAF, which was also approved by the Committee, to replace the ageing fleet of Avro 748 transport aircraft that first flew in 1961.

According to the media, while the CCS decision on the C-295 was the budgetary clearance for the actual signing of the agreement, the Committee has approved the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the DRDO project.

It implies that the DRDO will now be able to launch a Request for Proposal (RFP) for further work on the aircraft. As per the plan, the six will be taken from the Air India fleet, which suggests they will be A-319s and A-321 variants.

The original plan, which had also obtained an AON approval, was to acquire two larger A-330 jets, which were then to be revised and fitted with the AEW&C systems.

The six Airbus aircraft will be modified now, and the indigenous Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar will be installed on them.

The DRDO will issue RFP floating tenders for modification for the six-passenger aircraft. As Airbus is the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), the company is the frontrunner to win the contract.

Majority share of the Rs 11,000 crore will go in for modification and installing of the systems.

The actual cost of the aircraft is lower and would come to around Rs 1,100 crore for the six as this is a book transfer within the government itself.

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Also read: Indian Air Force gets advanced chaff technology developed by DRDO
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