The Union Government has sanctioned this week, three new Naval Air Squadrons to be set up in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Besides this, the Central Government has also sanctioned workforce towards operating additional aircraft in existing Dornier Surveillance Squadrons in Kerala and Andaman Islands.
The contract for the procurement of 12 Dornier aircraft was signed with HAL (Kanpur) on 29 Dec 16 with delivery commencing on January 19. This is a substantial contract for the indigenous HAL built Maritime Surveillance version of the Dornier 228 aircraft.
The new Dornier 228 aircraft being delivered under this contract are fitted with improved ‘state of the art’ sensors and equipment which includes glass cockpit, Advanced Surveillance Radar, ELINT, Optical sensors and networking features.
The aircraft would enhance Maritime Domain Awareness of Indian Navy through round the clock sensor based surveillance and provide targeting data in areas of operation to ward off terror and other threats from the sea. This addition would further strengthen the Indian Navy’s efforts at Coastal Security of India’s vast coastline of over seven thousand km.
