Posted on 05/25/2009 5:59:55 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Indian Air Force’s eye in the sky arrives escorted by fighter jets
By Praful Kumar Singh
New Delhi, May 25 (ANI): The Indian Air Force’s eye in the sky, Phalcon AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) platform, arrived in India from Israel today.
The first of three Indian Air Force AWACS arrived in Jamnagar, Gujarat. It took off from Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday, first for Ovda in the southern Israeli coastal town of Eilat. At night, it flew from from Eilat to Jamnagar, reaching India on Monday.
The Israeli-built system is mounted on a Russian-built IL-76 transport aircraft as a part of the tripartite agreement between India, Israel and Russia.
Three Mig-29 and three Jaguar aircrafts took off from an advance fighter airbase of South Western Air Command (SWAC) and escorted the giant IL-76 configured in its new avatar.
The fighter formations caught up with the AWACS mid-air and escorted it as it entered the Indian FIR (Flight Information Region), and touched down at the Jamnagar Air Force Base, close to midday, today.
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, SWAC, Air Marshal KD Singh along with senior IAF officials and air warriors welcomed the crew of the AWACS aircraft that included the Commanding Officer of the first AWACS squadron, Group Captain B Saju.
” It was a great feeling to be escorted by our fighters and it feels really good to be back,” said Group Captain B Saju upon arrival.
The Israeli Phalcon AWACS will be inducted in air force squadron on May 28, which will help the IAF to monitor military build-up and aircraft movement nearly hundreds of kilometres inside Pakistan without violating their airspace.
The AWACS are slated to operate from the Agra airbase under the Central Air Command and frenetic preparations ahead of its first arrival to join the extended fleet of the IL-76 family are complete, said an Indian Air Force statement.
India’s most potent force multiplier, Phalcon AWACS, is also capable of tracking down incoming missiles. The all weather system capable of engaging 60 targets simultaneously and has a range of 400 km. (ANI)
I wish India didn’t buy their stuff from Russia. It just bugs me. Plus, I wonder what kind of access Russia had to the Phalcon system as part of the construction?
The reason India still buys from Russia is cost. Simply put, the stuff Russia puts out is 30% less effective (just making a point, not actual statistics) but 50% less costly.
So the cost/effectiveness ratio of Russian stuff is acceptable. Tie in Israeli upgrades at a fraction of the normal prices (Israelis want to engage India as a strategic partner) and you now have a AWACS plane that is better than anything anyone else has in Asia!!
One thing everyone forgets is that India never sees the USA as an enemy. Thus their hardware NEVER has to be up to par with the US as they will never engage the US in a military battle. As long as Indian hardware is superior to Chinese and Pakistani hardware, they are more than happy.
That is why I get confused sometimes when posters on FR talk about the latest Sukhois that India has and how the F-22 is better. Heck yeah, it is! But so what? India never forsees it Su-35s engaging our F-22s. They see them engaging old Mig 23s belonging to China and the ageing F-16s with Pakistan. Those battles, the modernized and upgraded Su-35s will win.
One of the main reasons for the choice of the Ilyushin as the platform was that it could accommodate more computers than the Boeing equivalent, along with India already having facilities for spares and repairs of the aircraft.
India also purchased eight of Boeing's P-8I surveillance aircrafts, for around 2 billion dollars, in addition to other products from Boeing, which, IIRC, totaled over 8 billion dollars, around last year.
China has none. They skipped the MiG-23/27 generation, instead building J-7s and Q-6s (derivatives of the MIG-21 and Mig-19)
Q-5s, not Q-6s
Oztrich,
Well pointed out. You are correct. China missed out on the entire upgrade cycle in the late 80s and early 90s.
Engineer
The Indian Air Force's eye in the sky, Phalcon AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) platform, arrived in India from Israel today. The first of three Indian Air Force AWACS arrived in Jamnagar, Gujarat. It took off from Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday, first for Ovda in the southern Israeli coastal town of Eilat. At night, it flew from from Eilat to Jamnagar, reaching India on Monday. The Israeli-built system is mounted on a Russian-built IL-76 transport aircraft as a part of the tripartite agreement between India, Israel and Russia.Obama's a moron.
By calculating the amount of fuel oil required by the Chinese navy and air force in a large-scale attack across the Taiwan Strait under high-tech conditions, it becomes apparent that such an assault could not be sustained for an extended period.
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=143476
I know. That’s why I think India’s army ought to be driving M60A4 Pattons instead of the Arjun or the T-80.
India does not operate T-80s and the last M-60s came off the production line over two decades ago. The Indian army unfortunately has built its armoured doctrine around the lighter Russian tanks. The Arjun has been facing trouble because its in the Western mode-heavy and well protected with little Russian equipment.
you’re right, india would laugh if anyone told them that they could ever see the US as a military foe. The two nations have so much in common, they even have common enemies and they have no reason to ever go to war with each other.
Ilyushin only builds the Il-76 airframe, while IAI / Elta builds the Phalcon AESA radar and electronics systems, retrofitting them on the Il-76 airframes delivered from TAPO in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The Indian Air Force is the end customer.
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