Indian Air Force seeks swarm drone based radar system, a revolution in detection technology

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking at the domestic industry to develop collaborative drone-based surveillance radars. The IAF is seeking these systems via the Mehar Baba Competition. The air force wants a swarm drone based system that can detect, track and report aerial targets in a contested environment. The swarm should be able to provide the accurate aerial picture to a centralised location as per the air force's requirements.

The importance of a radar system was demonstrated during the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. One of the first targets for Iranian missiles were the large immovable early warning radars that were central to the missile defence system. Most of these large radars are static, both physically and in the band in which they operate as certain capabilities are dependent on the design. A malleable radar array that can be configured as per requirement will not be bound by these limitations.

"A swarm drone based radar system can be morphed into a large radar or a small radar depending on the requirement. Unlike physical radar arrays, this system will be able to be configured to shift functions say from a configuration to detect stealth aircraft, that can be tuned to detect hypersonic weapons," an air force source stated.

"A swarm drone based radar system would be a difficult target to take down by an adversary as unlike a regular ground based radar, which requires a static transmitter and receiver system, the swarm drone based system can be moved. It would also present the enemy with a number of airborne elements that can not be taken down easily through traditional means," the source in the air force said. The source went on to add that deployment options with a drone based system would be an advantage.

A senior scientist working with the Bharat Electronics Limited did raise apprehensions about the power requirements of drones. The senior scientist also stated that significant amount of computational power would be used to keep the drones in a tight formation and for forming a single picture from a moving distributed radar.

The IAF is seeking responses from domestic industry, academia and start-ups, these entities would be working closely with the air force under the Mehar Baba Competition. The contest is named after Air Commodore Mehar Singh, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the IAF's first Maha Vir Chakra. The well respected officer was also the first person to land in Leh.