Podcast: Indian Air Force’s AWACS Crisis

The Indian Air Force desperately needs modern AWACS aircraft in large numbers, but it has inducted only three Netra Mk1 jets in the past decade, leaving major gaps in its long-range aerial surveillance capability. Armchair Perspectives looks at India's AWACS journey and how it plans to shore up the numbers in the coming decade.

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The Indian Air Force is woefully short of modern airborne early warning and control aircraft, popularly known as AWACS, with the number of aircraft in its fleet lagging behind both China and Pakistan.

AWACS aircraft are significant force multipliers for any air force. They serve as the Air Force's eyes in the sky, serving as airborne command centres during combat operations and detecting enemy fighters and approaching missiles much more accurately than ground-based radar stations.

India acquired three Phalcon AWACS systems in 2004 and in the next two decades, could induct just three more Netra Mk1 systems mounted on Embraer ERJ-145 jets. The jets are fast and have mid-air refuelling capability, but only provide 240 degrees of coverage over a distance of 300 kilometres.

IAF has placed orders for six new Netra Mk2 systems mounted on Airbus 321 aircraft, but it could take another decade before the AWACS systems are tested, validated, integrated and test-flown on the new aircraft, leaving the IAF extremely vulnerable during the next crisis.

In this podcast, Armchair Perspectives traces the development of the Netra AWACS aircraft, covers the delays that pushed back the aircraft's induction into the Indian Air Force, and looks at the IAF's long-term AWACS acquisition plans and the DRDO's capability to meet the rising challenge amidst recurring failures.

Here's the full transcript of this Armchair Perspectives podcast:

Hello and welcome to the Armchair Perspectives Podcast. I am Jayant Chakravarti, your host for today.

The Indian Air Force is one of the largest air forces in the world, but like many other forces, it faces significant challenges associated with maintaining legacy aircraft, the slow pace of the development of new aircraft, increasing technological gaps with enemy forces, and funding issues.

One of the major challenges faced by the IAF is deploying modern Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, popularly known as AWACS, where it significantly lags behind China and even Pakistan.

AWACS aircraft are significant force multipliers for any air force. They field long-range surveillance radars and tracking systems that can track and identify enemy aircraft hundreds of kilometres away and relay the information to fighter jets and command centres. They serve as the Air Force's eyes in the sky, serving as airborne command centres during combat operations and detecting enemy fighters and approaching missiles much more accurately than ground-based radar stations.

The IAF's AWACS story began in 2004 when the government of India signed a billion dollar deal with Israel and Russia to acquire three IL-76 aircraft fitted with Israeli Phalcon radars that provided 360 degree coverage of aerial threats. The three aircraft joined the force between 2009 and 2011, giving the IAF its first opportunity to develop combat strategies using the AWACS aircraft as the nucleus of attack and defensive formations.

Long before the Phalcons were inducted, the government signed an agreement with the Defence Research and Development Organisation to develop an indigenous AWACS system to supplement the Phalcons as three AWACS aircraft were by no means sufficient to cover the entirety of the Indian air space.

A contract signed in 2008 required DRDO to fit its locally-developed AWACS radar systems onto three Embraer ERJ 145 jets. Unlike the IL-76, which the IAF named Gajraj due to its immense size and weight, the Embraer jet weighs eight times less, but it is highly agile, tactical and cost-effective in comparison, capable of swiftly surveying areas of interest, fly at a height of up to 37,000 feet and operate from smaller bases.

The first Embraer jet fitted with DRDO's Netra Mk1 AWACS platform joined the Air Force in 2017, and the second and third jets joined in 2019 and 2023, respectively. Unlike the radome-shaped Phalcon AWACS mounted on the IL-76, the Netra Mk1 was a dorsal fin-mounted AWACS system that provided only 240 degree coverage at the front, leaving a huge 120 degree blind spot at its rear.

The obvious drawback aside, the Netra Mk1 platform is a robust machine. It can detect and track enemy aircraft or missiles up to 300 kilometres away, has its own self defence suite and can remain airborne for as long as required thanks to its mid-air refueling capacity. But the most significant hurdle to the project was that the Netra was never the kind of AWACS aircraft that the Air Force wanted.

Even though the first Netra was made available for testing in 2013, the IAF did not induct it before the jet received its Initial Operational Clearance, which meant that the jet achieved some of the most critical requirements of the force but some other less critical requirements remained unsolved.

The Netra Mk1 jet is going to receive its final operational clearance on June 26, nine years after it got its IOC and guess what, the Indian Air Force is in no mood to induct any more of these aircraft. It has instead pushed for more advanced versions of the AWACS system mounted on larger aircraft.

The DRDO also happily played along. Even before the Netra Mk1 got its FOC, DRDO pushed the government to approve the development of six Netra Mk1A AWACS systems mounted on Embraer ERJ-145 jets, except that little due diligence was done before the proposal was made.

It turned out that Embraer had discontinued the production of the ERJ-145 jets which meant that DRDO and the IAF had to look for second-hand aircraft in the open market. The process took several years and in December 2025, the government finally approved the proposal. A contract is yet to be signed.

In the meantime, the government also approved the development of six Netra Mk2 AWACS systems to be mounted on second-hand Airbus A321 planes bought from Air India. Costing 19,000 crores, the new Netra systems will provide 300-360 degree coverage, feature mission control systems, and also an extra antenna on the nose to provide wider coverage. In December, the government signed a contract with Airbus to upgrade six A321 planes as per military standards.

The modified planes will not arrive before 2032, but that is a lesser worry. The Netra Mk1A, which will increase coverage from 240 degrees to 270 degrees and will feature modern mission control, surveillance and communication systems and data links, is yet to achieve IOC, which means it is still a concept on paper. Analysts believe the FOC certification for the Mk1 jets will accelerate the development of the Mk1A, but that cannot be taken for granted.

The Indian Air Force has made it clear that it needs AWACS aircraft in large numbers that can cover the entirety of Indian air space and provide 360-degree coverage, but the Netra Mk2 which offers such a capability is at least a decade away from formal induction, provided it meets the force's minimum requirements for active deployment.

The fiasco seems very similar to the story of the Tejas light combat fighter jet. India signed a deal with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in 2021 to purchase 83 Tejas Mk1A jets even before a prototype of the fighter took flight. Five years later, not a single Tejas Mk1A has been delivered as HAL continues to struggle with software integration issues.

India was always late to the party when it comes to indigenous development and production of modern fighter jets and support aircraft, but it needs to strategize better to ensure that critical programmes like the AWACS are not delayed by decades. Such delays render the aircraft obsolete by the time they are ready for mass production. If the DRDO does not expedite the project now, India will have no choice but to go for emergency imports of AWACS systems for billions of dollars. Considering how much the new Rafale deal will cost us, the nation must ensure such a possibility never arises again.

Thanks for listening to the Armchair Perspectives podcast. See you next time.

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