New Delhi: The DRDO has conducted the maiden
flight of Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system at
a special facility in Brazil, taking a major step forward in
the development of such system indigenously.
The first maiden flight of indigenously developed AEW&C
took place yesterday at Sao Jose dos Campos in Brazil with
about 1000 mission system components provided by Bangalore-
based DRDO lab, the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), a DRDO
spokesperson said here.
DRDO chief V K Saraswat, in his message after the
successful first test-flight of the AEW&C, said, "The flight
is a major milestone towards realising the dream of indigenous
Airborne Early Warning and Control system, which will put
India into a select club of countries."
The aircraft will now undergo full certification process
over next two years, but first two aircraft will be delivered
to us by the middle of 2012, the spokesperson said.
"After the aircraft are delivered, the mission systems
developed by various DRDO labs will be integrated into them.
Currently these systems are undergoing ground integration and
evaluation at CABS," he said.
The delivery of these aircraft with fully integrated
mission control system is expected to take place by the end of
2013, he said.
The systems developed by DRDO are being integrated on
specially designed Embraer aircraft with capability of
tracking airborne objects in all directions.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2011, 15:51