Jodhpur, Aug 19: Strengthening the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory in Jodhpur has developed an Advanced Chaff Technology (ACT) to safeguard fighter aircraft of the IAF against hostile radar threats.
This lab collaborated with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), a Pune based laboratory of DRDO in meeting qualitative requirements of IAF. The Indian Air Force has started the process of induction of this technology after completion of successful user trials.
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It has come months after the DRDO developed a similar technology for Navy ships. It was also developed with a view of protecting ships from missile attacks. "In today’s electronic warfare, survivability of fighter aircraft is of prime concern because of advancement in modern radar threats. To ensure survivability of aircraft, Counter Measure Dispensing System (CMDS) is used which provides passive jamming against Infra-Red and radar threats," the Ministry said.
It added, "Chaff is a critical defence technology used to protect fighter aircraft from hostile radar threats. The importance of this technology lies in the fact that very less quantity of chaff material deployed in the air acts as decoy to deflect enemy’s missiles for ensuring safety of the fighter aircraft. The technology has been given to the industry for production in large quantities to meet the annual rolling requirement of the IAF."
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has lauded DRDO, IAF and the industry for indigenous development of this critical technology, terming it as one more step of DRDO towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ in strategic defence technologies. Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated the teams associated with the successful development of this advanced technology that will further strengthen the IAF.