More AWACS for India

India will order two more of the Israeli advanced Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems), or the “formidable eyes in the sky”, capable of detecting, much before ground-based radars, hostile aircraft, cruise missiles and other incoming aerial threat, at a cost of over $800 million. 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 is inked as a follow-on order to the $1.1-billion tripartite agreement in 2004 between India, Israel and Russia under which IAF inducted three Phalcon AWACS in 2009-10. The purchase comes at a time when Pakistan is snapping at India’s heels in this complex military arena, having first inducted four Swedish Saab-2000s. Pakistan is now on the verge of getting four Chinese ZDK-03 AWACS. India’s tryst with AWACS has been beset with several problems. First, the 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 appeared teething problems when it came to getting the systems fully operational with the Phalcons even being grounded at Agra for some time. But 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 the face-toface 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.