Swedish aerospace and defence major Saab Group is planning to introduce its latest fighter radar in India. It is also ready to offer full technology transfer under the Make in India programme.

“Saab as a radar supplier will offer and transfer the highest technology level for the fighter jets”, said Lars Tossman, Vice-President and Head of business unit Airborne Surveillance, Saab.

Saab, which manufactures the Gripen fighter jet, is willing to co-produce the latest Gallium Nitride AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar with the Indian defence firms, Tossman added.

“The idea is to complement the Indian industry with experience as a fighter radar system and create future possibilities for Indian industry together with Saab.”

Earlier in 2016, Saab held a series of meeting with top officials from the Defence Ministry and Air Force to jointly develop the technology in India if the Centre approves the production of Gripen in the country under ‘Make in India’. Saab is the first company to develop and deploy Gallium Nitride AESA radars in various forms. It has received orders from other fighter programmes around the world for its GaN AESA technology.

Saab has offered this programme to India also under the Tejas LCA programme. However, the MoD is yet to respond on the offer, Tossman added.

GaN is a semi-conductive material currently under intensive development. Areas of use include LED-lights and Blu-ray components, and now it is also being incorporated into microwave applications in the military industry.

This cutting-edge technology is already included in the new members of Saab’s extended surface radar family, which were launched in 2014.

GaN gives higher power efficiently, higher output power and is a more robust material for chip design. This allows an extended range through higher output and higher reliability.

In the airborne surveillance, Saab is already engaged with the Indian Dhruv programme for full spectrum Integrated Self Protection System. The deliveries of this had been going on since 2012. Under this programme, Saab is fully supporting technology transfers in maintenance and production.

 Source: Business Line