Shakti: Advanced Electronic Warfare Suite

• 23 Nov 2021

Why in News

The Prime Minister handed over the Advanced Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite ‘Shakti’ to the Indian Navy at a ceremony held as part of Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv on 19^th November, 2021.

• Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv is part of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahaotsav' celebration.
• The PM also handed over indigenously-built Light Combat Helicopter (HAL’s LCH), and two small drones (‘SWITCH 1.0 UAV’ and ‘MR-20) built by Indian start-ups to the Air Force.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • It will provide an electronic layer of defence against modern radars and anti-ship missiles to ensure electronic dominance and survivability in the maritime battlefield.
    
    • This system will replace the earlier generation EW Systems of the Indian Navy.
  • The system has been integrated with the wideband Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) for the defence of Indian Navy Ships against missile attacks.
  • It will help in finding accurate direction and interception of modern radars.
    
    • The system has a built-in radar fingerprinting and data recording replay feature for post-mission analysis.
  • It will enhance the capabilities of the Indian Navy and termed it as a major milestone towards Atmanirbhar Bharat in areas of advanced defence technologies.
• Designed By:
  
  • Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) Hyderabad.
    
    • It is a laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for Capital Warships of the Indian Navy for the interception, detection, classification, identification and jamming of conventional and modern Radars.
• Shakti System:
  
  • First Shakti system has been installed on-board INS Visakhapatnam and is being installed on-board Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, INS Vikrant.
  • Twelve Shakti Systems are under production at Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) supported by more than fifty Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) at a total cost of Rs 1805 Crores.
  • These systems are scheduled to be installed on-board capital warships under production, including P-15B, P-17A and Talwar class follow-on ships.

Source: PIB