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| Singapore's future Aerostat |
The Indian Air Force is considering a new purchase of radar-carrying aerostats for air and sea surveillance, especially of low-flying targets. The Indian Ministry of Defense issued a request for information (RFI) late last year for a batch of four, six or eight static, mobile or portable aerostat systems, and may soon make a request for proposal, which will include a 30 percent offset clause. The aerostats are likely to be employed in the western and or northern sectors of the Indian sub-continent, an Indian defense official told AIN. Apart from the U.S., only a handful of countries operate such systems, mostly in the Middle East, although Singapore is joining their number.
The two major suppliers in the class, Lockheed Martin (LM) and Rafael, are both expected to bid. LM was the integrator and radar supplier for the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) that is deployed at eight sites along the U.S. southern border, and subsequently provided 65 smaller Persistent Threat Detection Systems (PTDS) for deployment by U.S. forces over Afghanistan and Iraq. Rafael supplied two large aerostats carrying IAI radars to India in 2002. In 2011, one of these “was damaged due to a sudden strong gust of wind and became non-operational,” the Indian defense minster reported.AIN understands that it broke loose and drifted toward another country. The troubled Raytheon JLENS program suffered a similar accident in the U.S. last October and is likely to be denied further funding.
Read the full story at AINonline