Sukhois,radar network to secure skies over Delhi

Delhi is poised to get five Sukhoi aircraft and half-a-dozen surface-to-air missile launchers.

Delhi is poised to get five Sukhoi aircraft and half-a-dozen surface-to-air missile launchers backed by a network of interception radars to guard itself from hijacked or rogue aircraft being used for suicide attacks. Defence ministry officials said that the ministry will soon approach the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval for an initial Rs 5,000 crore to weaponise and strengthen the Joint Command & Analysis Centre at Delhi.

The annual operational expense has been pegged at Rs 540 crore,they said.

The officials said that the JCAC weaponisation programme had been cleared by a committee of secretaries last November with a direction to the defence ministry to work out the details in consultation with the home ministry.

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The defence ministrys proposal comes nine years after it was mooted in March 2003 following the 9/11 attacks. A JCAC comprising IAF and civil aviation officials had been established,but the quick-response air defence system is yet to be set up.

Officials said the Sukhois would be based at Hindon just outside the capital in order to cut down on response time. Scrambling fighters from Ambala,Chandigarh or Bareilly would take too long.

The defence ministry proposal also suggests similar JCACs near the airports at Mumbai,Bangalore,Chennai,Ahmedabad,Kolkata,Hyderabad and Guwahati.