It's not even remotely possible.
Recertifying on a new platform is extremely time-consuming. It will take 3 to 4 years just for that.
Just go through technical presentations on AWACS development to have some idea. It's an extremely challenging task. The system custom build to fit on a platform which is purposefully modified by the OEM.
On the topic of how difficult it is to modify a platform into a radar carrier, remember that we lost 8 lives in this endeavor.
The Indian Air Force has asked DRDO for 12 more systems
www.theweek.in
Studies began in 1985 under project ‘Guardian’, later renamed ‘Airawat’, after Indra’s white-skinned flying elephant. By a coincidence, the first office was set up in a hotel, which had a rotating dome, in New Delhi’s Asiad village! “Yes, Airawat was the butt of jokes as the proverbial white elephant,”recalls Christopher who was asked to develop its surveillance system at Bharat Electronics. “The Airawat was the first phase where a feasibility study was conducted on a paper design based on Russian A50 aircraft, which is nothing but the Ilyushin 76 aircraft modified with a dome on top for AWACS purpose.”
The challenges were two-fold. One was to build a rotating dome that would emit radar signals and capture them back when reflected by enemy aircraft. The second, more challenging, involved structural engineering—how to fix a rotating dome over an airplane filled with electronic command and control systems, and keep the plane stable in the air.
Funds were at a premium. As the national kitty got smaller and smaller towards the politically unstable late 1980s, priorities had to be reordered. Techno dreams like guided missiles, combat aircraft and battle tanks got priority over flying radar, and slowly Airawat was given a quiet burial.
But when science dreams, you cannot kill it. The idea of an Indian AWACS stayed in the minds of men like CABS’s founder director Dr K. Ramchand and Christopher, as also the ever-dreaming mind of Kalam. Even otherwise, labs like the DRDO’s Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) were working on radar technologies for the IAF and the scientific minds could not keep themselves off packing them into a flying object.
“The ASP project was the phase II where an attempt was made with HS 748 aircraft (Avro), which is an old British design produced and maintained by HAL. IAF spared two of their transport HS 748, which were modified by DRDO to carry a rotodome,” says Christopher.
Technology development was sanctioned, and soon the HAL built a 24x5 foot rotodome, which could house the radar antenna. The idea was to develop technologies, mount the ASP onto these aircraft, test the systems, and then go for development. “We had our first flight just with the rotodome on September 5, 1990, an achievement by itself,” recalls Rajalakshmi.
That gave the confidence to work further. CABS was set up in 1991 under Dr Ramchand to act as a system house and integration agency. The challenge was to rotate the dome for all-round coverage. That is where they failed a second time, leading to the unfortunate crash in January 1999.
“I went in that ill-fated aircraft in the previous sortie, for the trials of my systems on the airborne radar. I felt that God had spared me to complete the indigenous development of our own AEW&C [Airborne Early Warning and Control System] and I was determined to complete it,” recalls Christopher.
Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar, who headed the inquiry wrote later: “During the course of flight testing, the aircraft was cleared to a maximum speed limit of 180 knots... and altitude of 10,000 feet.... However, the speed limit for lowering the flaps was left untouched and it was presumed that the take-off flap at 150 could be lowered at the laid down limits of 180 knots, but was never tested in flight or analysed on the ground.”
The problem was with structural engineering. “The rotodome design was such that the centre of pressure was towards the front half of the rotodome and therefore the load on the rear bracket was presumed to be compressive,” the report continued. “However, when the flaps were lowered at 180 knots, the aerodynamics of the rotodome changed in such a fashion that the lower half became tensile because of the shift in centre of pressure. Under these circumstances, the two rear brackets failed, as established by the Court of Inquiry.”
Give it up, DRDO was told by political masters. If the IAF wants one, they can buy.
Christopher and team did not give up. “We all believed that if America or Israel can do it, so can we… and we decided to do it all our way. Well, it means indigenous,” recalls Varughese. They still nursed hopes of building another, probably not one with a rotodome that was unstable, but something more robust. “The crash was a costly lesson we learnt,” says Rajalakshmi. “Also by then, the technology had changed from mechanically scanning to electronic scanning.” In other words, you don’t need a rotodome to rotate; you can have a fixed panel that emits electronic waves all around. “From 1999 to 2001, we did a lot of studies on newer technologies,” she says.
Experiments began with an Israeli Phalcon airborne surveillance system mounted on a huge Russian Ilyushin-76 aircraft. At the same time, the effort to develop the indigenous AEW&C continued earnestly since 2004. The challenges were manifold.
bombardier.com
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
