Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: Prying plane co-piloted by ASTE CTP Gp Capt Tiwari

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Prying plane co-piloted by ASTE CTP Gp Capt Tiwari

(L to R) Col. DK Singh, Defence Attache India, Brazil, Dr K Tamilmani, CE, CEMILAC, Dr S Christopher, PGD (AEW&C) & Director CABS, Srinivas, Consul General of India, Brazil, G Elangovan, CC (R&D) (Avionics) and R G Viswanathan, Addl. FA(R&D), DRDO soon after EMB-145I touched down after the maiden flight on December 6. Photo: Special Arrangement

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: India's dream of having a plane embedded with home-grown prying technologies inched closer to reality when the modified Embraer-built Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&CS) platform lifted off on its maiden flight from the Sao Jose dos Campos flight test facilities in Brazil on December 6 (IST 7.30 pm). As reported in these columns recently, the systems for the EMB-145I aircraft is being developed by Bangalore-based Centre for Air Borne Systems (CABS), a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) facility.

The first aircraft will arrive in Bangalore early June for CABS' integration and flight trials will be executed by Test pilots from the Indian Air Force's (IAF) Aircraft Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE). “The first flight concludes another important phase in this programme and starts the flight test campaign. We are moving towards the delivery of the first aircraft during the first half 2012,” says Eduardo Bonini Santos Pinto, Senior Vice-President (Operations), Embraer Defense and Security.

Once operational, the EMB-145I will finally fly with close to 1000 Mission System Components provided by CABS, including the critical item – AESA (Active Electronic Scanning Antenna as can be seen on top of the aircraft) Radar Antenna developed by CABS and certified from ANAC, International FAR Certification Agency.

DROD chief Dr V K Saraswat said that years of constant interaction between experts from the IAF, DRDO and Embraer coupled have finally shown the desired results. “We had an unfortunate experience in the past and we have put all that behind and concentrated on new technologies on a proven platform for meeting the requirements of the IAF. It will be a different experience when the aircraft starts flight trials with our own systems onboard in Bangalore,” Saraswat said.

The aircraft was piloted by Embraer pilot and co-piloted by Gp Capt N Tiwari, Chief Test Pilot, ASTE. “The aircraft took off smoothly and and flew for more than an hour without any hiccups and followed the simulated prediction closely. This critical milestone will put India in the elite class of countries who have developed similar systems,” G Elangovan, DRDO Chief Controller (Avionics) told Express from Brazil.

An elated CABS Director Dr S Christopher, said that the maiden flight is the result of close cooperation between India and Brazil. “This cooperation between the BRIC (Brazil Russia, India and China) countries should make way for fulfilling other international requirements through mutual collaboration,” Christopher told said.

Col D K Singh, Defence Attache India, Brazil, Dr K Tamilmani, Chief Executive CEMILAC, Srinivas, Consul General of India, Brazil and R G Viswanathan, Additional Financial Advisor (DRDO) were part of the Indian delegation who witnessed the maiden flight.

The EMB-145I is a member of Embraer’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) family of aircraft and systems, built based on ERJ 145, one of the most successful regional jet platforms in the world, with more than 1,100 units delivered and 1918 million hours flown.