India is constructing a Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Radar site on the Western Theatre, writes Shantanu K. Bansal in an IADN exclusive.

It was reported earlier that the Israeli EL/M-2090 Terra AESA Radar is being chosen for tracking Ballistic Cruise Missiles from long distances. It is part of India’s ambitious BMD programme.

According to local media reports, the domes are so big they can be seen from Udaipur city, 30km away from the site.

The radar is being identified as a derivate of the Israeli Elta EL-W 2090 Radar system and consists of the ELM-2090U ULTRA and ELM-2090S SPECTRA radar systems, the IADN exclusive states.

The ELM-2090 is a strategic early warning dual-band radar system with a possible range of 3000km. Some call it the super swordfish radar. Giving total coverage up to 320°. Salient features of the system include:

• Wide volume coverage and long-range search for all object types, including Low-RCS targets
• High accuracy tracking and classification of Ballistic Missiles, Air Breathing Targets, Satellites and Space Debris Mapping
• Early warning with high-precision tracking of Ballistic Missiles, including accurate Impact and Launch point estimation
• Automatic Cueing for instant target acquisition and target handover providing robust performance by the two sensors integrated operation
• Interoperability with legacy air defence system

With the said range of 3000km, the system can be efficiently integrated into India’s existing Air Defence infrastructure.

Image courtesy: IADN