Editor's Pick: Indian Army reorients Air Defence in line with emerging realities

Endeavoring to reorient itself with emerging realities, the Indian Army is inducting a range of new systems with newer technologies which are mostly indigenous. The revision in approach emanates from its reorientation from the western borders to the northern borders in the aftermath of the stand-off with China (in 2020) along with observations from the ongoing war on Ukraine. They are central factors for the present transformation of the Army Air Defence (AAD). All of it would fall under the broader ambit of automation initiative under Project Akshateer. It endeavours to build a comprehensive air defence picture for the monitoring, tracking and shooting down of air defence assets. The nearly Rs 2,000-crore contract for the networking and automation project was signed in March 2023. The Hindu learnt from a source privy of the matter that the full implementation should be done by March 2024. This would probably be the fastest implemented project considering the approval of qualitative requirements came through in December 2019. Before the China stand-off, the Army focussed predominantly on India’s western border with Pakistan. However, air defence requirements on northern front are different from that on the western front. Conditions in the former mandate the need for light-weight radars and weapon systems with mobility for deployment in the mountains while catering to the infantry’s requirements. Further, the war in Ukraine too mandated the Army to factor in new threats to air defence such as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, loitering munitions, swarm drones and cruise missiles. However, what has not been of particular help for the project has been the shortage of components and hardware for air defence systems worldwide, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and could potentially slow the pace of inductions. For instance, the shortage of chips for radars could slow down manufacturing and deliveries as these are mostly imported, an official noted. The Hindu Explains Explained | What is happening to Arctic sea ice? Explained | Why is the markets regulator asking for more disclosures from foreign portfolio investors? Explained | Daily limit on UPI transactions The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz Who is the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India? Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar Ajay Banga Shaktikanta Das V. Anantha Nageswaran To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 11 June 2023 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Indian Army reorients Air Defence in line with emerging realities Endeavoring to reorient itself with emerging realities, the [Indian Army is inducting a range of new systems]( with newer technologies which are mostly indigenous. The revision in approach emanates from its reorientation from the western borders to the northern borders in the aftermath of the stand-off with China (in 2020) along with observations from the ongoing war on Ukraine. They are central factors for the present transformation of the Army Air Defence (AAD). All of it would fall under the broader ambit of automation initiative under Project Akshateer. It endeavours to build a comprehensive air defence picture for the monitoring, tracking and shooting down of air defence assets. The nearly Rs 2,000-crore contract for the networking and automation project was signed in March 2023. The Hindu learnt from a source privy of the matter that the full implementation should be done by March 2024. This would probably be the fastest implemented project considering the approval of qualitative requirements came through in December 2019. Before the China stand-off, the Army focussed predominantly on India’s western border with Pakistan. However, air defence requirements on northern front are different from that on the western front. Conditions in the former mandate the need for light-weight radars and weapon systems with mobility for deployment in the mountains while catering to the infantry’s requirements. Further, the war in Ukraine too mandated the Army to factor in new threats to air defence such as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, loitering munitions, swarm drones and cruise missiles. However, what has not been of particular help for the project has been the shortage of components and hardware for air defence systems worldwide, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and could potentially slow the pace of inductions. For instance, the shortage of chips for radars could slow down manufacturing and deliveries as these are mostly imported, an official noted. The Hindu Explains [Arrow][Explained | What is happening to Arctic sea ice?]( [Arrow][Explained | Why is the markets regulator asking for more disclosures from foreign portfolio investors?]( [Arrow][Explained | Daily limit on UPI transactions]( The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz Who is the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India? - Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar - Ajay Banga - Shaktikanta Das - V. Anantha Nageswaran To know the answer and to play the full quiz, [click here](. 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