By A Correspondent

New Delhi: India is seeking next-generation aerial targets from domestic vendors for its navy to train warship crews in air defence skills, as the need to defend its growing aircraft fleet at sea is becoming critical.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) initiated the first step in procuring a large number of Expendable Aerial Targets Next Generation (EAT NG) drones for the Indian Navy, issuing a Request for Information to local manufacturers recently.

The EAT NG would help the Indian Navy warship crews carry out live-firing training, creating a robust at-sea air defence capability, according to MoD officials with knowledge of the matter.

The EAT NG drones would simulate high-speed anti-ship missiles, while the naval personnel would practice live firing to defend the Indian warships against such targets at sea, the officials said.

The aerial target drones would strengthen the Indian Navy’s ability to intercept enemy missiles and to boost its anti-missile defence skills through target practice, it is envisaged.

The EAT NG would be destroyed during live-firing exercises, as the target drones would simulate realistic threat scenarios resembling modern sea-skimming missiles.

According to the RFI, mandatory requirements for the EAT NG included minimum speeds of 300 metres per second and sustained 60-minute flight at Mach 0.87, operating at altitudes as low as five metres above sea level, and a climb rate of 20 metres per second.

The target drones must be capable of executing sustained 2G turns, mimicking the agility of contemporary anti-ship threats, the RFI document said. The systems must have a 100-km radio control from the ground station, fully autonomous flight capability, and 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, recoverable even during data-link failures. The system must accommodate augmentation through transponders and corner reflectors when a larger signature is needed, and a low radar cross-section by default.

The systems should mandatorily provide 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. The EAT NG should be launched from a ship or shore with rocket-assisted take-off in sea state 3 and winds of 30 knots.

The EAT NG, after ditching, must float on the sea surface long enough to be recovered by boat or helicopters, and has an expected service life of 15 years. After ditching, the drone must float for recovery by boat or helicopter, the RFI document said.

It asked vendors to supply the EAT NG 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 with on-board air defence systems 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, crew efficiency defending these major assets against enemy missile attacks was increasing exponentially, they said.

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has, in recent years, been successful in developmental and user trials of its EAT NG vehicle ‘Abhyas,’ and the system has entered mass production.

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