Aero India 2025: DRDO unveils sensor suite for Dornier 228 patrol aircraft

A model of the Dornier 228 patrol aircraft displayed at Aero India 2025 was shown integrated with the Shyen sensor suite. (Janes/Ajay Shankar Pandey)

India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) unveiled at Aero India 2025 its new ‘Shyen' sensor suite for a programme to upgrade the Indian Navy's fleet of Dornier Do 228 maritime patrol aircraft.

The new suite comprises a maritime surveillance radar, an electronic support measures (ESM) system, an electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) system, and a software defined radio (SDR).

The Shyen suite's radar can detect sea surface and airborne targets, while its ESM provides coverage from very high frequency (VHF) to Ka-band frequencies, with a claimed high probability of intercept. The EO/IR system has the capability to provide high-definition (HD) imagery of targets. DRDO said information acquired by the sensors is relayed back to commanders using the SDR communication suite.

The maritime patrol radar, named ‘Kshitij', is a long-range, multirole, active electronically scanned array (AESA)-based radar system. It incorporates a spot/strip synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mode and a ground moving target indicator (GMTI) mode for the surveillance of ground targets. It also features weather and search-and-rescue modes.

The Kshitij radar is integrated with an automatic identification system (AIS), an EO/IR system, and an Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) system and employs artificial intelligence (AI) for target classification.

DRDO officials told Janes that the AESA radar is composed of approximately 600 gallium nitride (GaN)-based transmit/receive (T/R) amplifier modules fitted in a tiled configuration and is capable of providing sub-metre resolution of targets.