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By vivek raghuvanshi
India is negotiating the purchase of three more Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a Defence Ministry official here said.The news arrived just days before the expected delivery of the first of three AWACS ordered in 2004 for $1.1 billion, the official said. The Indian Air Force AWACS planes will be Russian-built Ilyushin Il-76s equipped with Phalcon radars made by Elta, an IAI subsidiary. New Delhi wants to buy three more Phalcon radars for mounting on aircraft, but IAI is asking for 30 percent more money than the first batch, the official said. IAI officials were not available for comment. The Indian Air Force plans to beam data from the AWACS through a dedicated satellite under the nascent joint Aerospace Command. The Phalcon radar can track 60 targets simultaneously out to 350 kilometers, an Air Force official said. The AWACS' electronics must include a Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array radar system that can simultaneously handle fighter control, and air, sea and area search; 300-nautical-mile Identification-Friend-or-Foe system; electronic warfare defenses; and electronic support subsystems, a senior Air Force official said.The aircraft should have a payload of 9,831 kilograms, an empty weight of 46,606 kilograms and a maximum takeoff weight of 77,564 kilograms. The aircraft should also have a cruise speed of 853 kilometers per hour, a range of 7,000 kilometers and a service ceiling of 41,000 feet. While awaiting the AWACS planes, the Air Force has been relying on UAVs, including the Searcher-I, Searcher-II and Heron.
4 comments:
To ASIAN DEFENCE: Earliar you said you will complete the comparison between phalcon & that of pakis before end of previous week. Where is it?
ABHINABA I do remember that you asked for it and promised to do so in a week or so, but due to very busy month I am not able to give lot of time to the blog recently
But I do promise that I will do it with in next month
Is there a point to such a comparison. The two systems are a class apart in capability, size, cost etc. I would be grateful if you could the following comparisons-
1) Saab 2000 vs DRDO CABS vs KJ200
2) Il-76 Phalcon(Gen3) vs Boeing Wedgetail vs KJ2000
Anonymous @May 23, 2009 7:24 AM
I think that you are aware of the fact that No two weapons systems are equal in term of capability and that’s why you took a correct approach and tried to classified them in classes, but when different systems go in inventories of nations like India and Pakistan and are likely to be used in same battle zone one is required to see comparative capabilities and why they were chosen.
I will try include Chinese system also
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