Ghaziabad: Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a defence public sector undertaking, Wednesday handed over the first indigenously developed 3-D radar to the Indian Air Force (IAF), marking a quantum leap forward in its surveillance capabilities.

BEL's chairman and managing director V.V.R. Sastry handed over a ceremonial key to IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major at a function at the company's facility here on the capital's outskirts.

The state-of-the-art Multifunction Medium Range Surveillance Radar has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (ERDE), Bangalore and engineered and produced by BEL.

"The radar would give the IAF better air surveillance capabilities, particularly at low altitudes. Operating in a range of up to 170 kilometres and an altitude of 15 kilometres, the radar can track multiple targets like fighter jets and missiles travelling at supersonic speeds of Mach 3 (over 3,000 kms per hour)," Major said.

The radar is capable of handling multiple targets simultaneously and precisely calculating the height at which the projectiles are flying. Mounted on a Tatra mobile platform, a heavy duty modified truck built by the public sector Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) and supported by an auxiliary mobile power unit, the radar, christened Rohini, can be easily transported to the battlefront.

"The radar employs an array of electronic counter counter measure (ECCM) features including frequency agility and jammer analysis. A secondary surveillance radar is integrated with the primary unit to distinguish friendly and hostile aircraft," said Major.

Handing over the radar, Sastry said around 100 such would be built, with around 20 radars being manufactured every year.

"The army has conducted successful trials of a Rohini variant for detecting and tracking missiles. Another variant is being developed for the navy," he added.

Sastry assured the armed forces that the BEL had surplus capacity to undertake serial production and its manufacturing facilities were being currently utilized only at 70 percent capacity.