M A I N   N E W S

Low-level radars for Air Force

New Delhi, December 8
Concerned over numerous undetected air intrusions of the country’s air space, especially by Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the government has given urgent clearance for the induction of low-level transportable radars (LLTRs) which will give the Indian Air Force as well as the Army the capability to effectively screen snap air intrusions in the mountainous and desert terrain.

The LLTR project submitted by the IAF six years ago, had been gathering dust in the Ministry of Defence, but the ministry finally awakened to the dangers posed by intrusions like yesterday’s over the Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir with the government approving a $ 90-million project.

“Technical proposals for the LLTR have been received and are being analysed by a joint team of the IAF and Bharat Electronics Ltd experts”, Defence Minister George Fernandes said.

He said the case would be processed further after the receipt of a technical evaluation report, with major Israeli, French and German companies in contention, including MNC-Thales.

According to IAF experts, LLTR, which can be man-packed or installed in light vehicles with boosters, will give field Army formations as well as the IAF forward observation posts a detection capability of looking into the enemy air space to a depth of 10 to 60 km.

The LLTR is also ideal for detecting intrusions specially over mountainous terrain, they said.

According to experts, the Pakistanis were using Chinese-made high altitude UAVs to observe Indian forward deployment. UAVs use the cover of mountain shadows to sneak into Indian air space to attempt to map ground positions for 10 to 25 minutes before they can be detected by the Army field radars in tandem with IAF long-range radars. PTI