AWACS prototype to be ready next year: CABS

Bangalore, July 8 (UNI) The indigenous Airborne Early Warning System--AWACS developed by the Centre for Air Borne Systems(CABS) will fly by 2010 CABS Director K Tamilmani said here.

Overcoming the setback it received after the 1999 crash of the Avro which was carrying the test platform of the indigenous AWACS, CABS hoped to come out with the prototype next year with Awacs, one of the most complex defence based systems in the world, Dr Tamilmani said.

Delivering a lecture on 'Aerospace Technology and National Security' at the 29th Annual Science Festival, organised by Bangalore Science Forum here yesterday, he said developing AWACS had been the most challenging task taken up by the DRDO and the Arakkonam setback has been left behind. "You will see the Indian AWACS in the sky by 2010," he said.

Commenting on the need to develop the country's own AWACS system, he said procuring such advanced defence system was both cumbersome and very expensive as a US made AWACS mounted on a Boeing costs Rs 1600 crore. Hence DRDO had been entrusted to develop indigenous air borne warning systems.

Explaining the future war scenario, Dr Tamilmani said the future wars would be fought from space involving extensive use of space technology where AWACS would play the major role.

"The war room strategies will be worked out using AWACS and satellites which would beam vital information from the space to the earth stations. The three pronged defence systems -- air, land and sea will be mainly depending on AWACS. Unmanned air vehicles like Nishant will also play a vital role. The present day war is not fought between two countries but two groups of nations. Generally one group will be strong and the other not so strong like it happened in Iraq," he said.

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