The Indian Air Force (IAF) has released a request for information (RFI) for the procurement of a telemetry system for the Bengaluru-based Aircraft System Testing Establishment (ASTE), the service’s premier test pilot school.
The release of the RFI, which does not cite the value for the total procurement, comes at a time when India is gearing up to receive its first Embraer-built Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEW&C) aircraft by year’s end. The Defense Research and Development Organization’s Center for Airborne Systems will do the system integration, while ASTE pilots are expected to perform the flight tests in early 2012, before the system’s induction. A modified EMB-145, India’s AEW&C was rolled out last month in Brazil.
“The system must be of high performance, wide operating bandwidth, [with] all-weather capability and must possess continuous tracking capability of up to a minimum of 300 km (186 mi.) with solid signal strength,” the RFI states. “It should provide [an] intuitive, user-friendly interface for monitoring real-time data, and powerful tools for post-processing and analysis. It should provide adequate facilities for data, voice and video transmission and processing in real time as well as offline.”
The procurement of the telemetry system is part of the IAF’s massive modernization plan currently being executed throughout its bases. It also is seen as a force multiplier to IAF’s surveillance activities, enhancing India’s network-centric warfare capabilities.
The RFI specifies separate features for airborne and ground telemetry systems, including video transmitters, power amplifier/divider, airborne/tracking antenna and a data processing system with real-time/post-flight analysis capabilities.
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