ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance) aircraft can provide India with a powerful tool for increasing battlefield transparency and situational awareness. It can be used to track and monitor enemy troops and assets, as well as gather intelligence on enemy movements and intentions. This data can be used to improve operations planning and execution. These planes can also be used to precisely target enemy forces and infrastructure and carry out precision strikes. This can help reduce the risk of collateral damage and civilian casualties while increasing the likelihood of boots-on-the-ground success.
ISTAR is a multi-intelligence aircraft that uses artificial intelligence, integrated onboard sensors, and advanced processing to provide vital information to military and civilian air and ground crews. The ISTAR aircraft can track mobile land targets as well as monitor ships and activity along borders and coastal zones. It can also be used in conjunction with a fixed or mobile command and control station. Another critical application of the ISTAR systems could be mapping natural disaster areas.
Capabilities of ISTAR Aircraft
For ground operations, ISTAR uses active electronically scanned array radars, multi-spectral imagers, and other cutting-edge technologies to track the convoy’s signals, listen to its communications, and observe its movements. A single aircraft is equipped with multiple intelligence (Multi-INT) technologies, which is essential in today’s and tomorrow’s complex battlefields.
ISTAR can help with normal applications during peacetime as well. The Multi-INT aircraft can be used to support response efforts to natural disasters like flooding. Keeping an eye on the vessels, it is very important in the implementation of maritime blockades. It might also offer border and littoral monitoring, picking up any unforeseen movement. Future multi-INT equipped special purpose aircraft will use machine learning and artificial intelligence as force multipliers.
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ISTAR may use the same data to reconstruct a situation instead of relying on a human to piece together various photos. Humans are constrained by how much information they can process in a finite amount of time. Here, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, technologies like ISTAR help people do jobs more quickly, pushing the boundaries of their capacity to understand what the enemies are trying to accomplish in a tense battlefield situation. Additionally, it is clear that these systems will get more intelligent as they process more data.
Requirement of ISTAR Aircraft for India.
The Chief of Air Staff remarked that the IAF is actively pursuing the purchase of UAVs, ISTAR, and counter-UAS equipment, as well as strengthening its networks, in his remarks during the 90th Air Force Day Parade in Chandigarh. Estimates place the price of India’s purchase of five ISTAR planes from the US at around $3 billion USD. Most likely based on Bombardier’s Global Express business jet, the ISTAR plane proposed to India. The Global Express can fly up to a height of 51,000 feet. Its top speed is 499 knots, and its maximum range is 7,000 kilometers. For India, the ISTAR aircraft has the potential to transform everything.
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After evaluating responses to a request for information (RFI) sent to Thales, Boeing, BAE, ELTA, and Raytheon in 2011, the IAF finalized the ISTAR requirement in 2013 when it shortlisted Raytheon Intelligence & Space. The ISTAR aircraft will be incorporated into India’s integrated air command and control system after being enlisted (IACCS). The IACCS C2 Center performs a variety of air operations tasks, including airspace management. The IACCS is being connected with the IAF’s AWACS, aerostat radars, and other radars to enable the quick transfer of data from various platforms to a centralized battlespace management system. ISTAR aircraft are used to attack ground targets and control the battlefield, whereas AWACS aircraft are built for air defence, aerial targeting, and the full range of air operations.
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