UPSC Express

Headline : India to get ‘flying Oval Office’ with rocket shield

Details :

The News

• India is all set to its own version of ‘flying Oval Office’ with advanced self-protection suites.
• Air Force One or Flying Oval Office as it is called, is the most famous aircraft that the US President travels in.

Desi Air Force One

• India will get its own version of Air Force One to ferry the President and Prime Minister on long-haul flights.
• The Indian version, soon-to-be “Air India One” or “Indian Air Force One”, will be a Boeing 777 aircraft retrofitted with some of the world’s most advanced security features, on par with US President’s plane.

 

LAIRCM self-protection suites:

• On India’s request, the US state department has now approved the sale of two B777 large aircraft infrared countermeasures (LAIRCM) self-protection suites (SPS) to India.
• The aim of the LAIRCM programme is to protect large aircraft from man-portable or shoulder-fired missiles.
• It can protect from an infrared missile attack by automatically detecting a missile launch, determining if it is a threat, and activating a high-intensity countermeasure system to track and defeat the threat.
• LAIRCM consists of missile warning sensors (MWS), a laser transmitter assembly, control interface unit (CIU) and processors to detect, track, jam and counter incoming infrared missiles.
• Components:
  • It has “radar warning receivers” which basically sound an alert if a hostile radar identifies the aircraft.
  • Advanced electronic counter-measures on board the aircraft will be able to jam enemy radars.
  • The LAIRCM suite directs an infrared beam onto the incoming missile’s infrared seeker.
  • Then the advanced electronics in the aircraft activates various jamming algorithms in order to divert the path of the incoming missile.

 

Communication systems:

• The advanced encrypted satellite communication centre on board the aircraft is shielded from electromagnetic interference from nuclear explosions.