Wednesday, December 22 2004 14:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government has approved a programme for indigenous development of an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) System adopting the state-of-the art technologies, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the Rajya Sabha today (Dec 22, 2004).

In a written reply, he said that this is a different programme than the earlier project on Air Surveillance Platform.

Mukherjee said that a Committee of experts from Indian Air Force (IAF) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was constituted in May 2002, to define system configuration, its role and broad operational requirements.

To another question, he said that based on the study of the military history, principles of war, combat leadership and application of military power in the Indian scenario, a joint armed services doctrine broadly covering strategic and military aspects is being formulated by the headquarters of Integrated Defence Staff in consultation with the three services.

However, the Defence Minister said that no time limit can be fixed in view of the need for extensive inter-service and inter-ministerial consultations.

About the need for setting up an Integrated National Aerospace Command and Control System, he said that the Government has been apprised in this regard, but so far no decision has been taken on it.

Mukherjee said that there was no move to withdraw troops from Siachen. The External Affairs Ministers of India and Pakistan met in New Delhi on September 5-6 and agreed to continue dialogue within the framework of the Composite dialogue.

Some appendices of the Kargil Review Committee report, which examined the events leading to the Kargil conflict in 1997, have not been made public in view of the National security concerns, Mukherjee said.

He said that at present, there is no decision to make these appendices public. To another, he said that the Kargil Committee, while highlighting the lack of an effective institutionalised mechanism for coordination/interaction between the intelligence agencies and users at different levels, recommended examination of working of intelligence system and also observed that the issue of setting up of an integrated intelligence agency needed examination.

The Defence Minister said that the Government proposes to upgrade the entire fleet of T-72 tanks held by field formation of the Army.

Major schemes undertaken/being considered for upgradation of T-72 Tanks include installation of Auto Land Navigation System, new engines for upgrading mobility, upgradation of protection, Image Intensifier Night Sights, Thermal Imager Fire Control System/Thermal Imager Stand Alone System for upgrading of fire power, he said.

These schemes are likely to be completed upto the year 2008-09, Mukherjee said.