Phalcons will give IAF early bird advantage

After several technical and other hiccups, IAF will finally get its most potent force-multiplier, the desperately awaited Phalcon Awacs (airborne warning and control systems), from Israel in May.The Phalcon Awacs will bolster IAF’s capabilities to detect troop build-up or aircraft movements deep inside Pakistan, much further than ground-based radars, while flying well within Indian airspace. An Awacs flying over Amritsar, for instance, will be able to detect and track a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet as soon as it takes off from its Sargodha airbase. Awacs are primarily used for detection of incoming hostile cruise missiles and aircraft from hundreds of km away in allweather conditions as well as directing air defence fighters during combat operations against enemy jets.If the IL-78 mid-air refuellers now allow frontline IAF fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and Jaguars to operate with greatly extended ranges, Awacs will provide them with formidable ‘‘eyes in the sky’’ to ‘‘look’’ much further than ever-before through ‘‘direct data-linking’’.

‘‘The first Awacs should land in India in first week of May, with the second coming towards end-2009 and the third in mid-2010. Our team is currently in Israel for the final inspection and check,’’ said a senior IAF officer. Under the $1.1-billion deal signed in March 2004, the first Awacs was to be delivered in December 2007, the second in September 2008 and the third in March 2009.But the complex integration work on mounting the Israeli Phalcon early-warning radar and communication suite on Russian heavy-lift IL-76 military aircraft, under a tripartite agreement among India, Israel and Russia, has led to the long delay. There were also allegations of kickbacks swirling around the deal, with reports holding India has been steeply overcharged for the Awacs, as reported by TOI earlier. The government, however, did not heed them seriously enough.Interestingly, US pressure had led Israel to cancel a similar ‘‘Phalcon’’ deal with China in 2000, holding that the Chinese Air Force would then pose a serious threat to American pilots, as also endanger Taiwan.

The Phalcons will certainly be a tremendous booster for IAF’s operational capabilities, with the Agra airbase already ready to receive the Awacs fleet under the No 50 Squadron.Incidentally, IAF and Navy are also on course to induct nine more Israeli Aerostat radars as a ‘‘follow-on’’ order to the two such EL/M-2083 radars procured in 2004-2005 for $145 million. Aerostat radars, basically sensors mounted to blimp-like large balloons tethered to the ground, and Awacs together will go a long way in boosting air defence capabilities, making the country’s airspace much more impregnable.India, too, is pursuing a mini-Awacs project indigenously. Under this, the indigenous AEW&C systems developed by DRDO will be mounted on three Embraer-145 jets, being obtained from Brazil for $210 million.

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