Israeli Elisra to Develop Electronic Warfare Suite for India’s Tejas, MiG-29 Fighters

Israeli Elisra will develop electronic warfare suite for India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas KM1A and upgraded MiG-29 fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

India’s state-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has selected Elisra for the development of electronic warfare suite for LCA after issuing a multi-vendor tender in which around six to seven companies had participated, a unnamed senior Defence Ministry official was quoted as saying by ANI Wednesday. 

The official said the selection through a comprehensive process has helped in bringing down the cost of the electronic warfare suite. 

“Development cost of the electronic warfare suite for the order placed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited works out to Rs 177.43 crore which will include three prototypes and other support equipment,” he said. 

The Israeli firm has also been involved in developing the D-29 EW suite for the upgraded MiG-29 aircraft fleet of the Indian Air Force in collaboration with the Indian public sector company Bharat Electronics Limited and the Defense Research Development Organization. 

Defence Ministry official said the D-29 could not be used for the LCA Tejas as there was a need for major redesign for putting it on the indigenous plane.

HAL officials said they had initiated talks with the BEL for redesigning the D-29 for the LCA Tejas but it was not able to provide a proposal for the complete electronic warfare suite. 

The Defence Ministry official said the DRDO and the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) also carried out a test to find out whether the D-29 could be used without modification on the LCA but the results found out that it was not “feasible”.