Turbulence Ends, India Set To Acquire U.S. ISTAR Jet, 4 More With Indian Sensors

After India’s quest to acquire two Raytheon ISTAR advanced airborne battlefield and ground surveillance aircraft collapsed in 2017 over a preposterous — but not uncommon —  turf war between the Indian Air Force and DRDO over testing and evaluation of the platform, things appear to be finally on track. Livefist has learnt that the ISTAR program has been resurrected under the auspices of the US-India defence technology & trade initiative (DTTI) and will see the Pentagon supply India with one ISTAR aircraft, while pooling technological resources for a joint effort with the DRDO to create indigenous sensor systems for an additional four aircraft.

In other words, India’s ISTAR acquisition plan has expanded from two aircraft off the shelf previously, to a total of five aircraft now, the last four of which will be integrated with Indian-developed intelligence sensors, avionics and network achitecture. The entire program is likely to cost over $3 billion.

Raytheon’s ISTAR platform, called Sentinel, is based on the long-range Bombardier Global Express jet, is in service with the Royal Air Force. The ISTAR capability has been seen for nearly a decade as crucial to India’s airborne networked surveillance, real time battle intelligence and target acquisition needs, a possible game-changer in an increasingly troubled neighbourhood.

U.S. Embassy sources confirmed that talks were on to freeze modalities of the actual transfer of the first aircraft. Livefist can also confirm that work has begun at the DRDO’s Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) in Bengaluru on developing the sensors, software, communication equipment and code for the indigenous component of the program, with teams from the U.S. and India to exchange information under the DTTI to take things forward. This is likely to take a few years, given the complexity and sensitivity of the technology involved.

It is not clear if the DRDO and Indian Air Force have worked out their turf battle on testing and evaluation of the ISTAR, though it appears that both have laid down the contours of how it will work going forward. The significance of the requirement is understood to have been a compelling factor in the DRDO and IAF apparently setting aside their differences to make things move.

shiv aroor