Israeli Phalcon to land in India on Monday

Harinder Mishra

Tel Aviv, May 24 (PTI) Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots
are all set to fly home first of the three Israeli Phalcon
AWACS, India's most potent force multiplier, capable of
tracking down incoming missiles and peep into neighbouring
countries without violating their airspace.

"The Russian supplied Ilyushin-76 mounted system, a
part of the tripartite agreement between India, Israel and
Russia, will take off from the Ben-Gurion airport today, first
for Uvda in the southern Israeli coastal town of Eilat",
Defence Sources here said.

"Later in the night it will fly from Eilat to
Jamnagar, reaching India tomorrow", they said.

The all weather system, capable of logging 60 targets
simultaneously with a range of 400 kms, is primarily used for
detection of incoming hostile cruise missiles and aircraft
from hundreds of kms away, as well as directing air defence
fighters during combat operations against enemy jets.

It also helps detect troop build up in hostile
territories.

India's frontline IAF fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs,
Mirage-2000s and Jaguars after the supply of the aircraft
will be backed by "eyes in the sky" to look much beyond its
existing capability through direct data linking.

The delivery of the first of the three aircraft,
bought at a whopping price of USD 1.1 billion, is almost a
year and a half behind schedule. Much of the delay is being
attributed to technical difficulties arising while
integrating the Ilyushin-76 aircraft with the whole system.

The remaining two aircraft would be delivered by Mid
or late 2010, if everything goes on schedule, the sources
said. India and Israel are said to be in advanced talks for
the purchase of several more Phalcon AWACS, which the IAF
proposes to integrate with other air and ground assets.

All the AWACS bought from Israel would be linked with
the country's first military satellite proposed to be launched
by mid next year.

Phalcons will provide the Indian Air Force with
intelligence inputs, helping it to maintain air superiority,
improve strike capabilities and conduct tactical surveillance
deep into neighbouring countries.

The US had earlier pressurised Israel to cancel a
similar deal with China in 2000 but gave, green light to the
deal with India in May 2003.

Israel has recently emerged as India's largest
supplier of defence equipments with the country's weapon sales
to New Delhi constituting about 50 per cent of its arms
exports.

The strategic ties between India and Israel developed
at a fast pace with the heads of all the three Indian defence
wings visiting the country to step up defence ties. PTI HM
PMR
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