On 25 June 2026, at a ceremony in Bengaluru, Karnataka, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) handed over the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) certificate of the indigenous 'Netra' Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The event, presided over by the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, marks the formal maturation of a system whose Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) was granted back in 2017. Built through close collaboration between the IAF, DRDO and Indian industry, Netra sharply boosts the IAF's airborne surveillance, situational awareness and battle-management capability — and stands as a flagship example of Atmanirbhar Bharat in advanced aerospace and defence electronics. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the FOC "not only a technological milestone but also a strategic advancement" in India's airborne command-and-control. For NDA and CDS aspirants, this is a near-certain General Knowledge item, blending defence, science-and-technology and self-reliance themes in one news peg.
What is an AEW&C system — the "eye in the sky"
An Airborne Early Warning and Control system is, in plain terms, a powerful radar mounted on an aircraft — a flying surveillance and command post. A ground-based radar is limited by the curvature of the Earth: targets flying low slip below its horizon. By lifting the radar tens of thousands of feet into the sky, an AEW&C aircraft "sees" much farther, detecting low-flying aircraft, cruise missiles, drones and helicopters hundreds of kilometres away — well before they appear on ground radars.
But Netra is not just an "early-warning" radar; the "& Control" part is the real force-multiplier. On board, operators do battle management: they track friendly and hostile aircraft, direct fighter jets to intercept threats, vector aircraft to aerial-refuelling tankers, and pass a real-time air picture to commanders on the ground. This is why an AEW&C platform is described as a force multiplier — a single aircraft can multiply the combat effectiveness of an entire fighter fleet by giving it "eyes" and a "brain" in the air. The Deputy Chief of the Air Staff specifically noted Netra's operational use during the Balakot strikes (2019) and Operation Sindoor, underlining its combat value. If you are building your daily revision habit through Cavalier's NDA current affairs, file this under "force multiplier" alongside aerial refuelling tankers and reconnaissance satellites.
AEW&C versus the full AWACS — a distinction examiners love
Aspirants often blur AEW&C and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System). The two overlap, but there is a testable difference of scale and capability:
- An AWACS is the larger, heavier, full-spectrum system. It typically uses a big rotodome (a saucer-shaped radar) or a large conformal array on a wide-body aircraft, offering 360-degree coverage, very long range, more operator consoles and broader command-and-control capacity. India's Phalcon AWACS (more on this below) is the classic example.
- An AEW&C like Netra is a lighter, "mid-size" system on a smaller regional jet. It carries a dorsal "antenna unit" — a flat, fin-shaped structure on the aircraft's spine — housing the radar. It typically gives partial coverage (Netra covers roughly 240 degrees, leaving a blind arc fore and aft) rather than a full circle, with a shorter range and fewer consoles than an AWACS.
The simple memory hook: AWACS = bigger, 360°, wide-body; AEW&C = smaller, partial-arc, regional jet. Netra is firmly an AEW&C. The trade-off is deliberate — a smaller AEW&C is cheaper, more numerous and more flexible, complementing the few high-end AWACS rather than replacing them.
The Netra programme: who built what
This is the high-yield "match the agency" portion that NDA papers reward. The Netra AEW&C was indigenously developed by DRDO, with a clear division of labour:
- Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), Bengaluru — the lead DRDO laboratory. CABS handled the overall system design, integration and flight-testing of the platform. (Note: it is Bengaluru-based, not to be confused with other DRDO labs in different cities.)
- Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Bengaluru — designed the radar, the heart of the system: an indigenous Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) antenna.
- Aircraft platform — a modified Embraer EMB-145 (ERJ-145) twin-engine regional jet from Brazil, chosen as the carrier. The radar sits in a dorsal antenna unit along the top of the fuselage.
So the formula to memorise: Netra = DRDO (CABS + LRDE) AESA radar on an Embraer EMB-145. The IOC came in 2017 (the first system was inducted into the IAF in February 2017), and the FOC in 2026 certifies that the system has completed its full evaluation and is cleared for unrestricted operational use.
What "AESA radar" means — the science angle
Because the radar is the technological star, expect a science-and-technology question on AESA. An Active Electronically Scanned Array radar is made up of hundreds or thousands of tiny transmit/receive (T/R) modules, each able to emit and receive radio waves. Instead of a dish physically rotating to sweep the sky, an AESA steers its beam electronically — by adjusting the timing (phase) of signals across the array — so the beam can jump around almost instantly with no moving parts.
The advantages are exactly why modern systems use AESA: faster scanning, the ability to track many targets at once, greater reliability (failure of a few modules does not blind the radar), and resistance to jamming because the radar can hop across many frequencies. The future Netra Mk1A is expected to use next-generation Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based T/R modules for even better performance. A neat crossover for revision: the same AESA principle powers modern fighter radars and the Phalcon AWACS too. Aspirants polishing their science-and-tech fundamentals will find this and related topics in the NDA general knowledge study material.
IOC vs FOC — the procurement vocabulary
The news hinges on two terms worth fixing precisely:
- Initial Operational Clearance (IOC): an early certification that the system is safe and usable in service, even though some testing, software or capabilities are still being finalised. Netra got IOC in 2017.
- Final Operational Clearance (FOC): the full, final certification confirming the system has cleared its entire trials programme and meets all the qualitative requirements — it is ready for unrestricted frontline operations. Netra got FOC in 2026.
This IOC-then-FOC sequence recurs across Indian indigenous programmes — most famously the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which also progressed through IOC and FOC milestones. Recognising the pattern lets you answer such questions even on unfamiliar systems.
Netra, Phalcon and Netra Mk2 — don't confuse the three
NDA examiners love to test whether you can keep India's airborne-radar fleet straight. Lock down these three:
- Netra AEW&C (the news): indigenous DRDO system; AESA radar by LRDE; Embraer EMB-145 platform; ~240° coverage; the "mid-size" workhorse.
- Phalcon AWACS: the large, imported system. India operates these on the Russian Ilyushin IL-76 heavy-transport airframe, fitted with the Israeli EL/W-2090 AESA radar built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)/Elta. It gives 360° coverage and longer range. Acquired under a 2004 India-Israel-Russia arrangement, with deliveries from 2009.
- Netra Mk2 (the future): a much larger indigenous next-generation AEW&C, cleared in 2025, mounting a 360° indigenous AESA radar on an Airbus A321 airframe — India's home-grown answer to the AWACS class, intended to eventually supplement and replace the ageing Phalcons.
The clean contrast: Phalcon = imported, IL-76, Israeli radar, 360°; Netra = indigenous, Embraer, Indian radar, 240°; Netra Mk2 = indigenous, Airbus A321, 360°. Get this triplet right and you have effectively answered any question the topic can throw at you.
The bigger picture: Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence electronics
Why does the government make so much of an FOC certificate? Because AEW&C technology is among the most closely guarded in the world — only a handful of countries (the US, Russia, Israel, Sweden, China) can build such systems. For India to design the radar, mission system and software in-house breaks a critical import dependency and slots squarely into Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) and the broader "Viksit Bharat" vision invoked by DRDO at the ceremony.
There is also an operational dividend the IAF highlighted: because Netra is indigenous, the IAF can modify and upgrade it freely to meet evolving threats, without seeking permission or paying licence fees to a foreign vendor. That flexibility — demonstrated when the system performed in real operations — is itself a strategic asset. The Netra story therefore sits in the same self-reliance narrative as the Tejas LCA, the Arjun tank and the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, all of which are recurring NDA themes. Cadets preparing with serving-officer faculty can explore these strategic threads in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The indigenous 'Netra' AEW&C system was developed primarily by: (a) ISRO (b) HAL (c) DRDO (d) BARC → (c) — DRDO, through its CABS and LRDE laboratories in Bengaluru.
Q2. The Netra AEW&C radar is mounted on which aircraft platform? (a) Ilyushin IL-76 (b) Embraer EMB-145 (c) Airbus A321 (d) Boeing 737 → (b) — a modified Brazilian Embraer EMB-145 (ERJ-145) regional jet.
Q3. The DRDO laboratory that designed Netra's radar antenna is: (a) ADE (b) LRDE (c) ADRDE (d) DEAL → (b) — the Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Bengaluru.
Q4. An AEW&C system mainly acts as a: (a) bomber (b) air-defence missile (c) airborne radar and battle-management platform (d) transport aircraft → (c) — a flying radar and command post; a classic force multiplier.
Q5. India's Phalcon AWACS uses which aircraft and radar? (a) Embraer with Indian AESA (b) IL-76 with Israeli EL/W-2090 radar (c) Airbus A321 with GaN radar (d) Boeing with US radar → (b) — the Russian IL-76 platform fitted with Israel's IAI/Elta EL/W-2090.
Q6. "FOC" in the context of the Netra news stands for: (a) Foreign Operational Contract (b) Final Operational Clearance (c) Force Operations Command (d) Flight Operations Certificate → (b) — Final Operational Clearance; IOC (Initial) had come in 2017.
Q7. An AESA radar steers its beam by: (a) physically rotating a dish (b) electronically adjusting signal phase across many T/R modules (c) tilting the aircraft (d) moving a mirror → (b) — electronic beam-steering with no moving parts, hence faster and harder to jam.
Q8. The next-generation indigenous Netra Mk2 AEW&C is to be mounted on which airframe? (a) Embraer EMB-145 (b) IL-76 (c) Airbus A321 (d) Boeing 767 → (c) — a larger Airbus A321 carrying a 360° indigenous AESA radar.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Defence-technology items like this are a recurring NDA/CDS staple, usually as a one-line factual MCQ. The common angles are: "who developed it" (answer: DRDO / CABS / LRDE), "which platform" (Embraer EMB-145), and "what does AEW&C / AWACS do" (airborne radar, surveillance, battle management, force multiplier). A frequent trap pairs Netra with Phalcon — testing whether you know Netra is indigenous on an Embraer while Phalcon is imported on an IL-76 with an Israeli EL/W-2090 radar. The AESA radar definition is a clean science-and-technology crossover, as is the IOC-versus-FOC distinction (which also recurs with the Tejas LCA). The fresh 2026 hook is the FOC milestone itself, the Netra Mk2 on the Airbus A321, the Atmanirbhar Bharat / Viksit Bharat framing, and the system's combat use in the Balakot strikes and Operation Sindoor — all prime "current-affairs-meets-GK" material. Expect either a direct "match the system to its platform/radar" question or a "which of the following is indigenous" type statement-evaluation.
Preparing for NDA or CDS? Indigenous defence systems like Netra are guaranteed GK and a strong SSB lecturette and group-discussion topic — easy marks once you can map each platform to its radar and developer. Track our daily NDA current affairs and train with serving-officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col Vijyanat Thakur — Veteran, Indian Army; SSB & defence-studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB release, 25 June 2026. Facts cross-verified.