The Indian Navy is moving ahead with boosting a robust at-sea air defence capability, as the Ministry of Defence took the first step to procure next generation expendable aerial targets for live-fire training of warship crews.
Called the Expendable Aerial Target (Next Generation), or EAT NG, the target drones would simulate high-speed anti-ship missiles, and the naval air defence personnel would get to practice defending the warship against such targets at sea.
The Defence Ministry initiated the procurement of the EAT NG drones for the navy through a Request for Information (RFI) released recently, according to ministry officials with knowledge of the matter.
The move was aimed at strengthening the navy’s capabilities to intercept enemy missiles that target their warships at sea, and to boost their anti-missile defence capabilities, the officials said.
The EAT NG would allow the navy personnel to target practice, as the system would be destroyed during live-fire exercises, giving warship crews realistic training against threats resembling modern sea-skimming missiles.
According to the RFI requirements, the EAT NG must touch minimum 300 per second speeds, sustaining flight for at least 60 minutes at Mach 0.87.
The target drone must operate at altitudes as low as five metres above sea level and climb at no less than 20 metres per second.
The EAT NG must execute 2G sustained turns, mimicking the agility of contemporary anti-ship threats, the RFI document said.
There should be a 100-km radio control of the target vehicle from the ground station, with full autonomous flight capability, along with pre-programmed paths including mid-course speed and altitude corrections.
The ground control station should be able to manage at least six such drones simultaneously, the RFI said.
During data-link failure, the system must be recoverable according to the user programme, it said.
With a low radar cross-section by default, the target drone must accommodate augmentation through transponders or corner reflectors when a larger signature was needed.
The RFI also made it mandatory for post-engagement assessment and an acoustic miss-distance indicator capable of detecting rounds from 20mm cannon to surface-to-air missiles within a 10-metre radius.
Launch of the target drone must be possible from ship or shore through rocket-assisted takeoff, in conditions up to sea state 3 and winds of 30 knots, the RFI said.
After ditching, the drone must float long enough for recovery by boat or helicopter. The EAT NG should have an expected service life of 15 years.
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has already carried out a series of successful developmental and user trials of its next-generation expendable aerial target vehicle ‘Abhyas’ and the system has entered mass production stage.
The latest RFI asked vendors if they could supply under the most preferred ‘IDDM’ (Indigenously Designed, Developed, and Manufactured) category of the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, signalling a self-reliance push for the EAT NG system.
The IDDM category would require over 50% indigenous content in the system for it to qualify, whereas the ‘Buy Indian’ category would require 60% indigenous content.
The MoD officials said the naval crew required training to evaluate their capabilities using the on-board air defence systems on warships such as the Israeli-origin Barak missiles and other surface-to-air defence systems through live-fire exercises against realistic targets.
With India’s two aircraft carriers, INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant, now operational with carrier battle groups, it became increasingly important to maintain crew efficiency in defending these major naval assets from enemy missile attacks, they said.