Indian Air Force (IAF) will have the desi UTTAM radar, replacing Israeli radars that the first batch of aircraft will be equipped with.
Editorial Staff
1-in-2 Tejas Fighters To Have Desi Radar BANGALORE: In a major boost to indigenous defence technologies, at least 51% of the 123 TEJAS fighters that will be inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) will have the desi UTTAM radar, replacing Israeli radars that the first batch of aircraft will be equipped with. In all, IAF will get 123 TEJAS fighters: 40 in initial and final operational clearance (IOC and FOC) configurations and 83 TEKAS MK-1A, orders for which were placed in the first week of February. While the first 40 will have mechanical radars (all Israeli), 83 MK-1A planes will have Active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars. “We will have the Uttam radar from the 21st TEJAS MK-1A to be produced. Uttam has performed better than anticipated in the trials so far. We’ve already signed an MoU with HAL,” DRDO chairman Sateesh Reddy said. This means 63 of the 83 will be indigenous Uttam radars developed by LRDE (Electronics and Radar Development Establishment), a DRDO lab in Bangalore. The TOI had reported in 2019 that Utt…
