The Indian air force could equip its Aeronautical Development Agency Tejas light combat aircraft with an off-the-shelf Israeli-made radar until a local version is manufactured.
Israel Aerospace Industries' subsidiary Elta Systems last year began talks with Indian companies that are involved in an effort to develop an indigenous radar for the Tejas, with the discussions linked to Elta's active electronically scanned array EL/M-2052.
India's defence ministry has appointed Hindustan Aeronautics to co-ordinate the effort, as the company has a wider co-operation agreement in place with IAI.
New Delhi's indigenous multimode radar programme has run into difficulties because of the technologies linked to it.
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Elta is completing the development of its EL/M-2052 system with a prototype being test flown using an IAI-owned Boeing 737 testbed. Elta claims that the long-range AESA fire control system is capable of detecting 64 targets, and of simultaneously engaging "several" using radar-guided missiles.
For ground surveillance, the design is capable of generating high-resolution synthetic aperture radar imagery and of detecting moving surface targets, and can also be used to support maritime surveillance tasks, says Elta.
Source: Flight International
