The Indian Navy will trial a newly developed airborne electronic warfare (EW) system aboard its Kamov Ka-31 airborne early warning helicopter.

A June 2018 tender document for the programme disclosed that the country’s Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) is seeking a vendor to perform “platform modification and installation” of the Sarang electronic support measures (ESM) system for the aircraft type. The vendor should execute the contract within 18 weeks from order placement.

The Sarang ESM system comprises several antennae types, including cavity-backed spiral antennae for the high-accuracy baseline interferometer (BLI) direction finding system that are mounted at various locations on the airframe to obtain all around coverage, associated line replaceable units, and a ruggedised laptop display inside the cockpit.