Bangalore, October 25
A day after the comptroller and auditor general of India pointed out that there were serious gaps in air surveillance of the country, defence minister A.K. Antony today admitted that the problem was due to a shortage of radars.
The defence minister said the problem of radar coverage existed in the IAF because of failure on the part of the government to provide necessary equipment to the forces. He, however, added that the process to make the equipment available was underway but would take some time. Also, the radars would be in place in the next three to four years.
Antony said, “I do not dispute the failure was on our part.” The IAF had recently said that it would acquire state-of-the art radars. The indigenous Rohini radar, developed by the DRDO, was acceptable as it was a very good machine, Air Chief F.H. Major had said a few weeks ago on the Air Force day.
On Friday, the CAG - in its report submitted to Parliament - said the glaring gaps existed in India’s air surveillance capacity due to a shortage of radars. The CAG report said India’s air defence system was operating on a model formulated in 1976 that urgently needed to be re-looked.
India is facing a 47 per cent shortage of radars needed to detect inkling aircraft, the report further says that the Government has not yet cleared any of the revised air defence plans of the IAF that were submitted since 1976, despite changes in the security scenario.
The CAG report says repeated delays in the tendering process and objections by the CVC on the purchase of Israeli radars have led to a lowering of air defence capabilities.
On top of that, the report says that IAF is not utilising the existing radar systems adequately. It says that the ‘watch hours’ prescribed by the government to keep external surveillance are not being met by the IAF and surveillance levels are as low as 4 per cent of the approved norms.
