The Sky is Safe

With IAF’s extended integrated area defence concept in place, air defence command would be redundant

Diptendu Choudhury

Air defence concepts have evolved from the older point defence construct in which high-value assets, infrastructure, or defined areas, were defended with anti-aircraft guns, into the present-day extended integrated area defence (EIAD) concept which covers a large volume of airspace over a large swath of geographical area. This large space is defended by a variety of sensors, surface-to-air, and air-to-air weapons that are seamlessly integrated together by data and communication networks. It comprises several SAGW systems with different capabilities, engagement altitudes and ranges, integrated and arranged in tiers, thus enabling a much larger area and airspace volume of air defence coverage. The air defence surveillance coverage of this much-expanded volume is made possible with a mix of advanced three-dimensional radars, radars that track very slow-moving targets at very low altitudes, radars capable of tracking free fall and guided bombs, high-speed cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. The kinetic element of EIAD comprises SAMs with varied ranges of kill envelopes, and air defence interceptors which are dynamic weapon platforms that operate across all the tiers of the EIAD. All these individual systems are integrated seamlessly to form a larger ‘system of systems’. Tier one of the multi-tiered air defence system is the outermost layer with a surveillance reach and volume that extends well into the enemy territory, and is tasked with searching, detecting, identifying and tracking threats. Next is tier two, which comprises of long-range SAMs, the lethal envelop of which also extends hundreds of kilometres deep inside the enemy territory. Tier three is made up of the medium range SAM systems, and covers the intermediate spaces of less than a hundred kilometres. The penultimate tier fourth layer is the domain of low-level quick reaction short-range SAMs with lethal ranges in tens of kilometres. Tier five is the innermost core and is actually the vital asset itself that is being defended, and is covered by terminal defence weapons. It consists of a close-in weapon system (CIWS) that typically comprises of quick reaction missiles, or high calibre guns with extremely high rates of fire, or a combination of both. These are also capable of engaging and destroying small precision or free-fall bombs and missiles.

The kinetic shooters that include air defence interceptors and SAGW systems, are totally integrated and interconnected with the non-kinetic sensors consisting of a surface and airborne surveillance systems via high-speed integrated and secure networks, are all holistically fused with advanced command and control systems, to form the integrated ‘Kill Chain’. The real core of the IAF’s integrated architecture is the extremely successful Integrated Air Command and Controlled System (IACCS), w