Six new ‘eyes in the sky’ for IAF to be built by DRDO on Air India planes

In a major boost for the indigenous defence industry,India is going to make six new Airborne Early Warning and Control planes to be developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) on aircraft from Air India to further improve Air Forces surveillance capabilities along borders with China and Pakistan. Government sources said that as per the discussions on the AEW&C Block 2 aircraft to be developed by the DRDO under a 10500 crore project ,the six aircraft would be acquired from the Air India fleet and modified to fly with a radar that will give a 360 degree surveillance capability to the defence forces.The government is expected to clear the project soon.