In 2003, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and DRDO carried out a joint study of the system-level requirements and feasibility of development for an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system.

The Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL), based in Dehradun, was responsible for the Data Link and Communication Systems for AEW&CS.

The DRDO AEW&CS programme, worth ₹1,800 crore (equivalent to ₹50 billion or US$580 million in 2023), aims to deliver three radar-equipped surveillance aircraft to the Indian Air Force.

[5] India's sole previous effort to develop an AEW&C system was the Airborne Surveillance Platform, but the programme, codenamed Airavat, was ended after the only test-bed crashed.

The first round of modifications to the first EMB-145 fuselage for India's early warning aircraft were made in March 2011 in preparation for integration with the Indian-designed antenna.

In June 2010, it was reported that the Active Array Antenna Unit (AAAU), developed by DRDO's Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), was to be integrated into the modified EMB-145 aircraft.

[12] The first fully modified EMB-145i Aircraft with the antenna and its electronic payload made its maiden flight on 6 December 2011 at Embraer facilities at Sao Jose dos Campos in Brazil with about 1000 Mission System Components provided by CABS, DRDO.

These included the critical item – AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Radar Antenna developed by DRDO and certified from ANAC, International FAR Certification Agency at Sao Jose dos Campos in Brazil.

[13][14][15] Maiden flight of the second fully modified aircraft for the Indian Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) was held at 1930 IST on 4 April 2012 at the San Jose dos Campos in Brazil.

The necessary mission systems and components including the dummy AAAU (Active Antenna Array Unit) are successfully fitted onboard Embraer EMB 145I aircraft.

National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) contributed to the aerodynamic studies of the antenna array, and flight modelling of the entire AEW&CS platform.

As of 6 February 2024, sources reporting to various media and newspapers said that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of Ministry of Defence (MoD) will take up the acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the six Mark-1A aircraft next week, which will entail mounting active electronically scanned array antenna-based radars, electronic and signal intelligence systems on Brazilian Embraer jets, at a cost of around ₹9,000 crore (US$1.0 billion).

[21] Since the 145 ERJ platform is no longer manufactured, DRDO and IAF are scouting their availability in secondary markets, while Embraer has also offered Praetor 600 aircraft for the same role.

[21] The developmental work on the six Mark-2 aircraft, with bigger and more capable versions of the AEW&C radars and sensors to be mounted on second-hand Airbus A321 planes bought from Air India, is already at an advanced stage, as of February 2024, at a cost of ₹10,990 crore (US$1.3 billion).

It should be able to track large bodied aircraft to slow unmanned aerial vehicles having a low radar cross section at ranges above 550 km (340 mi).

[32] Additionally, the aircraft has other mission capabilities like identification friend or foe (IFF), electronic and communication support measures, C-band line-of-sight and Ku-band SATCOM datalinks, etc., similar to those on the AWACS and CAEW systems.

The delivery follows successful completion of ground and flight tests of the aircraft which met operational targets established by both Embraer and Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).

The acceptance of the aircraft was completed over a period of 15 days at Embraer Facilities in Brazil, by a joint team from CABS, Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) and Indian Air Force (IAF).

[37] The third Embraer platform was meant to remain with DRDO but now they are looking at the option of selling the aircraft to a foreign customer as a major diplomatic gesture.