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Indian Cabinet gives a go ahead for revival of AWACS project

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Sept 10, IRNA -- Five years after a setback to its 
indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) program, 
Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave the go ahead for the 
revival of the project setting a timeframe of seven years for its 
development at a cost of Rs 18 billion. 
According to local press reports, apparently buoyed by the recent 
breakthroughs in radar technology by Defense Research and Development 
Organization (DRDO), the CCS cleared the project for an indigenous 
AWACS at an hour-long meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh on Friday. 
"The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Air 
Force will jointly cooperate in the development of the system," 
Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said. 
He also said the CCS accorded an ex-post facto approval to a 
wide-ranging defense agreement between India and Brazil. 
The revival of the AWACS project comes after five years DRDO`s 
HS-748 technology demonstrator aircraft crashed killing some DRDO 
scientists and technicians in Tamil Nadu in 1999. 
Though the Minister did not spell out the aircraft on which the 
new AWACS would be mounted, his announcement of ratification of a 
defense agreement with Brazil assumes significance as Brazilian 
aviation company Embraer is one of the few countries to have the 
AWACS technology. 
India recently concluded an agreement with a company for the 
purchase of five Embraer executive jets, four for the VVIP squadron 
of the IAF and one for the Union Home Ministry. 
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