Airliners-India.com

vivekman · Member Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 1897 Location: BOM

AWACS are essentially airborne warning and control systems to be used during war time. They are IAF assets used for communication between various IAF platforms during combat operations.

During peacetime, AWACS are used for training and occasional surveillance flights. Also, IAF AWACS mounted on IL-76s are large, bulky and "relatively" slower.

The RAW ELINT aircraft are small, swift and nimble, and are purpose-built for routine intelligence duties. Being unmarked, they are un-conspicious and hardly raise an eyebrow. They also have a significantly smaller radar signature as compared to the huge IL-76s.
_________________
Boeing makes planes. Airbus makes videogames!

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Vivek, a slow aircraft for recee isn't quite a bad idea, for taking in certain signals. Second, an aircraft with a large radar signature is hardly an issue as for many missions, it will fly inside Indian territory. We have a large airspace around our borders. The different aircraft will complement each other quite well. Further, more, the merrier.
Cheers, Sumantra.

Aseem · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 2841 Location: YYZ

A couple of questions here

1)Doesn't it lead to duplication of data and other resources among various organizations?

2)Do AWACS have limited use in peace time? Vivek has stated that it helps in communication between various platforms. How about reconnaissance in peace time.

3)Is there a difference in the amount of detail big and small radars offer? Say bigger radar covers greater area, and smaller radar covers small area in greater detail?

4)What exact use does RAW have for these?

rgds
VT-ASJ
_________________
[url=http://openflights.org/user/aseemsjohri]

[/url]

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Aseem, a duplication of data and resources is all fine given that there is a proper chain of command, which is all the more important since India is a nuclear power. We civilians do not have access to the nitty-gritty of this. The IAF has the AEW&C (as the type is called now-a-days) in the Beriev A-50 `Mainstay', the RAW borrows aircraft from the IAF at times, and has a few of its own, while the ISRO gives satellite information.
AEW&C platforms are extremely important in peacetime to scan beyond our large borders into enemy territory, and pick up movements of enemy forces on the land, in water, and in the air. AEW&C aircraft have not just many different types of radars (which come in many different sizes and shapes), they have numerous other sensors which operate in various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. These, and the computational resources often need fairly large aircraft - which account for the large planes we see around - the 707 platforms, the 767 platforms, and the Il-76 ones. The others have various types of sensors, and often suit different roles (the Hawkeye is a carrier-based plane, for instance), so having a good mix of aircraft of different types is a boon. RAW collects and analyses intelligence information, and acts on it.
Cheers, Sumantra.

sabya99 · Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 4:45 am Post subject:

Yes, AWACS are bulky, but they scan horizon with a 400 miles radius. They fly with fighter cover 200-300 miles ahead of them. Before Pak aircrafts could take off from Sargodha airbase, IL-76 AWACS from over Ludhiana could spot them and direct friendly fighter cover. No A to A missile could touch them. Perhaps some have jammers too. So bulky size is immaterial.
_________________
Sabya99

shivendrashukla · Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 8:40 pm Post subject:

In layman terms if I can describe, RAW jets are for civilian use and far less sophisticated than IAF AWACS and AWE&C aircraft. RAW jets i think would be used for intercepting communications and jamming would be limited to defensive roles. IAF equipment would be able to Jam and track communications, enemy aircraft etc etc.

Hope this helps.

Btw this is my 1000th post on Ai-india.net

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Great to have a nice 1000th post from you, Shivendra!
Cheers, Sumantra.

HamiltonAir · Member Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 937 Location: Bangalore

How powerful is our AWACS compared to the ones on USAF boeings?
_________________
HamiltonAir

shivendrashukla · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 3:17 pm Post subject:

ssbmat · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 1710

Pakistan, it its widest. is approximately 1000 km from Westernmost Balochistan to the Thar desert in Rajasthan.

Assuming that the AWACs operate along the border, the coverage of 400miles should be sufficient.

It would be pertinent to know how effective the AWACs are against China.

In any case, most of China's combat aircraft (facing India) would not be more than 3-400 miles from India border, because they do not have too many aircraft with long range multimission capability.

The bigger threat from China (and Pakistan) is missiles I guess.

So an Anti-Ballistic Missile program with Satellite based surveillance would be of prime importance.
Not sure how far the Akash missiles have progressed.

sabya99 · Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 10:09 pm Post subject:

Ballistic missile defense ( BMD) is still at experimental stage and it may not be achieved technologically in near future. Rather India should concentrate on super and hypersonic aircraft defense systems.
_________________
Sabya99