PM Narendra Modi to hand over DRDO-designed electronic warfare system 'Shakti' to Indian Navy today

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally hand over Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) designed Advanced Electronic Warfare (EW) system ‘Shakti’ for Naval ships to the Indian Navy at a ceremony in Jhansi on Friday.

The ceremony will be held as part of ‘Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv’ at Jhansi today.

Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi to formally handover @DRDO_India designed and developed #AdvancedElectronicWarfareSuite #Shakti for #IndianNaval Ships to Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh
Find out more here: https://t.co/d3VFqSTeNm

— A. Bharat Bhushan Babu (@SpokespersonMoD) November 18, 2021

The Prime Minister will kick start the beginning of the significant project on the concluding three-day ‘Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv` event being organised by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) along with the government of Uttar Pradesh.

What is Advanced Electronic Warfare System ‘Shakti’?

Advanced Electronic Warfare (EW) System ‘Shakti’ has been designed and developed by Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) Hyderabad a laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for Capital Warships of the Indian Navy for the interception, detection, classification, identification and jamming of conventional and modern Radars.

The Shakti EW system will provide an electronic layer of defence against modern radars and anti-ship missiles to ensure electronic dominance and survivability in the maritime battlefield. 

This system will replace the earlier generation EW Systems of the Indian Navy, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally hand over this system to the Indian Navy at a ceremony to be held as part of Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv at Jhansi on 19 Nov 2021," the statement read.

How will it help the Indian Navy?

The system has been integrated with the wideband Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) for the defence of Indian Navy Ships against missile attacks. 

The ESM of the system helps in finding accurate direction and interception of modern radars. The system has a built-in radar fingerprinting and data recording replay feature for post-mission analysis.

First Shakti system has been installed on-board INS Visakhapatnam and is being installed on-board Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, INS Vikrant. Twelve Shakti Systems are under production at Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) supported by more than fifty MSMEs at a total cost of Rs 1805 Crores. 

These systems are scheduled to be installed on-board capital warships under production, including P-15B, P-17A and Talwar class follow-on ships. 

‘Shakti will augment Indian Navy`s Electronic Intelligence capability’ 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, Indian Navy and Industry Partners for the development of the Shakti EW System. He said that this will enhance the capabilities of the Indian Navy and termed it as a major milestone towards Atmanirbhar Bharat in areas of advanced defence technologies. 

Secretary DDR&D and Chairman DRDO, Dr G Satheesh Reddy has congratulated the teams associated with the development of the Shakti EW System and said that the system will further augment the Navy`s Electronic Intelligence capability. 

Prime Minister Modi will be laying the foundation stone of the Rs 400 crore Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor project in Jhansi on Friday.