India on Monday became the first country in South Asia to own an Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS), called 'an eye in the sky', with the Israeli-made 'Phalcon' reaching Jamnagar airbase on the country's western coast on Monday(25th May) morning. The Phalcons would now be formally inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) on May 28 by Defence Minister AK Antony at the Palam airbase in the capital, IAF sources said.

"India is one of the few countries to have inducted the AWACS in their air forces," Indian air force spokesman wing commander T.K. Singha said as the AWACS plane escorted by fighter jets landed at an airbase in western India.

A superior Defence

The Phalcon is based on Russian-made Ilyushin-76 planes, and is fitted with various IAI electronic systems. The deal, signed in March 2004, amounted to $1.1 billion, making it the biggest of its kind at the time.The all weather system, capable of logging 60 targets simultaneously with a range of 400 km, is primarily used for detection of incoming hostile cruise missiles and aircraft from hundreds of kilometres away, as well as directing air defence fighters during combat operations against enemy jets. The planes will especially be used to reinforce maritime security in the wake of last year's Mumbai attacks, in which 165 people were killed, the Air Force official said. The attackers reached the Indian financial hub by sea.

It also helps detect troop build up in hostile territories. India’s frontline IAF fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and Jaguars after the supply of the aircraft will be backed by “eyes in the sky” to look much beyond its existing capability through direct data linking.



The planes will also provide a deterrent to any threat from China on India's eastern frontier, defense officials say.



Israel replaced France in 2007 as India's second-largest arms supplier after Russia and is likely to grab the top slot through a vast array of defense agreements it has already signed with New Delhi.The delivery of the first of the three aircraft, bought at a whopping price of $1.1 billion, is almost a year and a half behind schedule. Much of the delay is being attributed to technical difficulties arising while integrating the Ilyushin-76 aircraft with the whole system.



The remaining two aircraft would be delivered by Mid or late 2010, if everything goes on schedule, the sources said. India and Israel are said to be in advanced talks for the purchase of several more Phalcon AWACS, which the IAF proposes to integrate with other air and ground assets.



All the AWACS bought from Israel would be linked with the country’s first military satellite proposed to be launched by mid next year.And this is all part of the Future Network Centric Wars....

 

At the End "My Country (if at all ever) Wages War - it will Only For Peace" ---- JAI HIND