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The first of the three Israeli-manufactured Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) radar systems that have been ordered by the Indian Air Force (IAF) will arrive in India only in May, 18 months behind schedule (Second Phalcon will arrive in late 2009; the third in 2010). The IAF will shortly depute an ‘Acceptance Team’ that will go to Israel to receive the first Phalcon Airborne Early Warning (AEW) suite that has been mounted on a radome above the fuselage of a Russian-built Il-76 heavy lift transport aircraft.
Tactical surveillance
Ordered in March 2004 at a cost of $1.1billion, the three ‘eye in the sky’ airborne radar systems will provide the IAF with intelligence inputs, helping it to maintain air superiority, improve strike capabilities and conduct tactical surveillance over a radius of 400 km. Confirming the impending arrival, officials from the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Elta Systems — the two Israeli firms that have collaborated in the manufacture of the Phalcon radar system and its mating on the Il-76 — told during the recent Aero India 2009 air show that the second Phalcon would arrive in late 2009 while the third would arrive by mid 2010.
Sources, however, said the project, which saw collaborative efforts from a range of nations and companies, ran into trouble during the integration of the plethora of European and Israeli origin systems, most notably the long-range, high-powered transmit/receive (T/R) modules, on the Russian platform. One of the world’s most advanced airborne surveillance systems, the Phalcon’s Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar, permits 360 degree coverage, “tracking high manoeuvring targets and low-flying objects hundreds of kilometres away, under all weather conditions, in both day and night.”
The IAF, which is looking to order three more Phalcons, is planning to network them with other air and ground assets through data link and eventually the planned dedicated Air Force satellite that is to be launched by mid-2010. The Phalcons will be based at Air Force Station Agra. Presently, the only platforms offering such capabilities in India in a limited way are the spy planes of the Research and Analysis Wing’s Aviation Research Centre and the IAF’s limited fleet of Israeli-built Heron and Searcher-II drones.
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