plugwater
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AWACS will change Asia's military dynamics
- Thread starter A.V.
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mahesh
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India will order another two advanced Israeli Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems), or the "formidable eyes in the sky'' capable of detecting hostile aircraft, cruise missiles and other incoming aerial threat far before ground-based radars at a cost of over $800 million soon.
Top defence ministry sources say the "draft contract'' for the two new AWACS "is now finally in the final stages of being examined'' before it's inked as a follow-on order to the $1.1-billion tripartite agreement among India, Israel and Russia in 2004, under which IAF inducted three Phalcon AWACS in 2009-10. The purchase comes at a time when Pakistan is fast snapping at India's heels in this complex military arena, having first inducted four Swedish Saab-2000s and on the verge of getting four Chinese ZDK-03 AWACS.
India's tryst with AWACS has been beset with several problems. First, delivery of the first three AWACS , which have the Israeli 360-degree Phalcon early-warning radar and communication suite mounted on Russian IL-76 heavy-lift military aircraft, was delayed by over two years. Then, there were major teething problems in them getting fully operational, with the Phalcons even being grounded at Agra for some time.
But the IAF is all gung-ho about them, claiming they are "true game-changers'' in modern air warfare, which is more about BVR (beyond visual range) combat rather than face-to-face dogfights of yore. "The Phalcons significantly boost the effectiveness of both offensive and defensive operations. Their enhanced detection and interception capability, connected to fighters and surface-to-air missile systems, are tremendous force-multipliers," said an officer.
Apart from detection of incoming cruise missiles and aircraft from over 400-km away in all-weather conditions, and direction of air defence fighters during combat operations, the Phalcons while flying well within Indian airspace can also monitor troop build-ups or activity at airbases and missile silos deep inside Pakistan.
Indigenous efforts to develop mini-AWACS in a Rs 1,800-crore project approved in 2004, under which AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) systems developed by DRDO are being mounted on three Embraer-145 jets obtained from Brazil for $210 million, have, however, been hit by several delays.
As earlier reported by TOI, their project completion date has been pushed back to April, 2014. These indigenous airborne surveillance platforms will have a normal radar range of 250-km and a 375-km extended one, with a 240-degree coverage and five-hour endurance time.
Top defence ministry sources say the "draft contract'' for the two new AWACS "is now finally in the final stages of being examined'' before it's inked as a follow-on order to the $1.1-billion tripartite agreement among India, Israel and Russia in 2004, under which IAF inducted three Phalcon AWACS in 2009-10. The purchase comes at a time when Pakistan is fast snapping at India's heels in this complex military arena, having first inducted four Swedish Saab-2000s and on the verge of getting four Chinese ZDK-03 AWACS.
India's tryst with AWACS has been beset with several problems. First, delivery of the first three AWACS , which have the Israeli 360-degree Phalcon early-warning radar and communication suite mounted on Russian IL-76 heavy-lift military aircraft, was delayed by over two years. Then, there were major teething problems in them getting fully operational, with the Phalcons even being grounded at Agra for some time.
But the IAF is all gung-ho about them, claiming they are "true game-changers'' in modern air warfare, which is more about BVR (beyond visual range) combat rather than face-to-face dogfights of yore. "The Phalcons significantly boost the effectiveness of both offensive and defensive operations. Their enhanced detection and interception capability, connected to fighters and surface-to-air missile systems, are tremendous force-multipliers," said an officer.
Apart from detection of incoming cruise missiles and aircraft from over 400-km away in all-weather conditions, and direction of air defence fighters during combat operations, the Phalcons while flying well within Indian airspace can also monitor troop build-ups or activity at airbases and missile silos deep inside Pakistan.
Indigenous efforts to develop mini-AWACS in a Rs 1,800-crore project approved in 2004, under which AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) systems developed by DRDO are being mounted on three Embraer-145 jets obtained from Brazil for $210 million, have, however, been hit by several delays.
As earlier reported by TOI, their project completion date has been pushed back to April, 2014. These indigenous airborne surveillance platforms will have a normal radar range of 250-km and a 375-km extended one, with a 240-degree coverage and five-hour endurance time.
sayareakd
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IAF is not saying but they have such a huge space in this aircraft, just imagine what they have packed up inside, now compare that to Swedish Saab-2000s, i think it can carry more weight then all the 4 Swedish Saab-2000s in Pakistani AF.
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It's not the weight that matters - I would be interested to know how many AWACS India needs to patrol the western and northeastern borders effectively 24 X 7. My guess is 12+12 - which means that currently India has only about 25% of the strength (6 AWACS) and even with these two, it will still be only 33%.
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What do you mean?
p2prada
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It can transform into a bio-mechanical Jackie Chan.
mayfair
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I thought with some of the problems IAF has been facing with it's IL-76 fleet, they would have had gone for a different platform for the newly ordered Phalcons- maybe A-330 or B707. But they appear to have stuck to IL-76. Wonder what could be the reason.
Secondly, the initial plan was to order 3 new Phalcons to follow up the three in service. Why was the order trimmed down to two? Are IAF and DRDO confident about the capabilities of our indigenous AWACS because one would have thought that we needed more Phalcons to effectively patrol our Western and Northern-NorthEastern borders with indigenous AWACS filling in the gaps.
Lastly, we apparently have three Phalcons in service, but most photographs and news reports have shown only two of them. Where's the third one? Or have I missed three different serial numbers somewhere?
Secondly, the initial plan was to order 3 new Phalcons to follow up the three in service. Why was the order trimmed down to two? Are IAF and DRDO confident about the capabilities of our indigenous AWACS because one would have thought that we needed more Phalcons to effectively patrol our Western and Northern-NorthEastern borders with indigenous AWACS filling in the gaps.
Lastly, we apparently have three Phalcons in service, but most photographs and news reports have shown only two of them. Where's the third one? Or have I missed three different serial numbers somewhere?
sayareakd
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yeah i was also thinking same thing, may be because of the weight, endurance and experience of IAF with IL76.
i war if you will find PAF Swedish Saab-2000s and chines AWAC useless, then weight has to do some thing about it. My guess is that it houses powerful jammers, if it was not the case then IAF could have chosen Gulfstream like business jet for the AWAC, Israel makes that version too. CAG would have kill the AWAC if it was not for weight and endurance.
