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THE Royal Australian Air Force has taken ownership of its first two Wedgetail Early Warning and Control aircraft but the troubled $4.2 billion contract will remain on the infamous “projects of concern” black list. Speaking today at a formal handover at Williamtown air base, Defence Materiel and Science Minister Greg Combet said good progress had been made in the last two years to overcome technical problems with the aircraft. But until bugs in the promised performance specifications of the aircraft's advanced MESA radar are resolved, Wedgetail will stay listed in the black book, his office confirmed to The Australian. These...

PAF gets first airborne early warning aircraft By Iftikhar A. Khan Wednesday, 09 Dec, 2009 ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Air Force on Tuesday received first of its four Saab-2000 Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft from Sweden. According to an official announcement, the aircraft landed at one of main operating bases, marking a major milestone in PAF’s overall modernisation plan. With the induction of the Swedish system, PAF has become one of the few air forces in the world to have Airborne Early Warning capability. Besides detecting high- and medium-altitude aircraft, this state-of-the-art system is also capable of detecting low-level flying...

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loses its only AWACS as Ahmadinejad threatens the world DEBKAfile Exclusive Report 23 Sept. Up above a big military parade in Tehran on Tuesday, Sept. 22, as Iranian president declared Iran's armed forces would chop off the hands of any power daring to attack his country, two air force jets collided in mid-air - one Iran's only airborne warning and control system (AWACS) for coordinating long-distance aerial operations, DEBKAfile's military and Iranian sources disclose. As the soldiers marched past, followed by a line of Shehab-3 missiles and an air force fly-past, planned to give Ahmadinejad a dazzling send-off for New...

While showing off Iranian military might their AWACS collided with one of it's escorting planes. The burning debris fell on the burial site of Ayatolla Ruhollah Khomeini. ROTFL Check it out. Hit link or copy and paste. http://israelinsider.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2018399%3ABlogPost%3A47120

TEHRAN, Iran — A military aircraft taking part in an army parade crashed near Tehran on Tuesday, state television said, as the Fars news agency reported seven people killed in a plane crash in the same area. The television gave no further details of the incident. Earlier the official IRNA news agency said a plane "which was conducting manoeuvres during the parade crashed in the village of Vali Abad," near Tehran. Fars quoted the Iran Red Crescent relief chief Ahmad Esfandiari as saying that relief workers had found the bodies of seven passengers from a plane which crashed in an...

"A Plane was damaged while landing at Nellis AFB Friday, causing the plane to catch fire and forcing its 32- member crew to escape..."

New Delhi: The country's first Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) arrived from Israel on Monday, significantly boosting India's capability to detect missiles and fighters deep inside enemy territory. The AWACS, an IL-76 transport aircraft with unusually powerful engines and fitted with an array of Israeli radar and surveillance systems, skirted countries such as Iran and Pakistan, and flew over the seas for over eight-and-half hours to reach India from Ovda International airport in southern Israel. Israel had to cancel a Chinese order for the same Phalcon AWACS systems, one of the most powerful snooping systems in the world, under...

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...

    Israel will finally deliver the first of three Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) it had agreed to sell to India 5 years ago. Israel signed a $1.1 billion deal in 2004 to supply India with three AWACS, built on Russian Ilyushin-76 airplanes. The first AWACS developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will be delivered to India later this month, Jerusalem Post reported. The Phalcon is an all-weather system capable of logging 60 targets simultaneously and can operate to a range of up to 400 km. Israel was supposed to deliver the first AWACS to India...

The Australian think-tank, Air Power Australia (APA), has released another in their series of techno-strategy papers, this time analysing the advancements in Russian-built Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) (http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-2009-02.html), and what it means in global strategic terms for the Americans. The APA report is direct and unequivocal – Russian radar and missiles have improved to the point where the US fleet of F-15s, F-16s and F/A-18s, as well as the planned Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), are not capable of surviving against these systems and unless the Americans build another four hundred-plus F-22s, they will lose the strategic advantage they have...

Indian Air Force gets Israeli-built AWACS * Aircraft can monitor troop build-up, movement 200 kilometres inside neighbours’ territory By Iftikhar Gilani NEW DELHI: Immediately after one of three aircraft procured from Israel arrived on Sunday, India has inducted the ‘Phalcon’ airborne early warning and control system into its air force squadron based in Agra, to “monitor military build-up and troop and aircraft movement nearly 200 kilometres inside Pakistan”. On its arrival in India, the Israeli-built system mounted on a Russian-built IL-76 transport aircraft was inspected by Indian Air Force chief Fali H Major. The system is used for tactical surveillance...

Pakistan to buy Chinese AWACS to boost air defence - report ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is to buy an airborne warning and control system (AWACS) from China to boost its air defences, a Pakistani newspaper reported on Thursday. The News newspaper said a $278 million agreement had been struck for Pakistan to get the Chinese system within four years, on a deferred payment basis. Pakistani defence procurement officials were not immediately available for comment. The report comes as relations between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India have been severely strained by last month's militant attacks in Mumbai, which India has blamed on...

Jan. 14, 2008 A-50 Airborne Early Warning, Control Aircraft to Be Upgraded Soon Russia’s Vega Consortium has completed research and development work to upgrade A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft, Interfax reported. “The successful completion of research and development work enables to start serial upgrading for A-50 jets of Russia’s Air Force,” a source with the country’s defense and industrial complex told Interfax. First of all, the novelty provides for “serious updating of radar facilities” and analog processing will be replaced by the digital one. Upgraded A-50 has proved it’s apt to the estimated specification, representatives of defense community...

Malaysia to launch contest for airborne early warning fleet By Vladimir Karnozov Malaysia could issue a request for proposals for four airborne early warning and control system aircraft in mid-2008, with funds for the acquisition likely to become available during the nation's next five-year spending plan. The Royal Malaysian Air Force has indicated a tentative requirement for a relatively lightweight, low-cost system to improve the situational awareness of its Boeing F/A-18D, RSK MiG-29N and Sukhoi Su-30MKM pilots. The surveillance aircraft should also be capable of monitoring naval vessels, it says, especially in the Malacca Straits. Candidate systems will include Northrop...

Poland to join AWACS system 17.08.2006 An AWACS plane has landed at Powidz airbase in western Poland. Two such aircraft are presented there as negotiations continue on Poland joining a NATO organization created to run and manage the Airborne Warning and Control System. The participation cost is estimated at 70,000 zlotys or 23,300 dollars annually. The ministry of defense, which will cover it, says that 30 percent of the money spent will be refunded in offset deals and 70 percent in sub-contractor deals on the production of some elements of the system. AWACS planes with their super-radars can be used...

IAI loses $1.5b South Korea AWACS tender IAI unit Elta Systems was disqualified because it lacked US export licenses for key systems. Ron Paz 3 Aug 06 17:27 Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. (IAI) and its Elta Systems Group subsidiary have suffered a heavy blow. The South Korean Ministry of Defense has disqualified Elta’s proposal to supply four AWACS plans, worth $1.5 billion. The decision leaves Boeing (NYSE:BA) as the sole proposal in the tender, and brings to an end the year-long prestigious head-to-head confrontation. The decision was taken during a meeting of the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA)...

China to showcase AWACS in Pakistan ISLAMABAD: A Chinese defence delegation will soon visit Pakistan to showcase their country’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) – following Islamabad’s recent announcement to purchase a similar Swedish system, sources have said. The AWACS is believed to be the most cost effective and powerful system for early warning, and command and control missions. According to sources, Pakistan needs a surveillance device to ensure the security of its borders and underwater communication system. online

June 7, 2006 Crash of Chinese Surveillance Plane Hurts Effort on Warning System By JOSEPH KAHN BEIJING, June 6 — China's efforts to field an early-warning aircraft that could help it project power far beyond its borders, and challenge American intervention in any conflict with Taiwan, were dealt at least a temporary blow by the crash of a surveillance aircraft on Sunday, defense specialists in the region said. The aircraft, described by two government-controlled newspapers in Hong Kong as a Chinese-made airborne warning and control system, or Awacs, plane, slammed into a hillside in central Anhui Province, killing all 40...

/begin my translationThe Crashed Plane Was a Brand-new AWACS Plane China Developed A Chinese air force plane, which recently crashed in Anhui Province, killing all crews, turned out to be 'Gongjing-2000,' a brand-new AWACS plane China recently developed. According to June 6th report of Hong Kong's Dai-gong-bao, the crashed plane is 'Gongjing-2000,' which China developed using a Russian AWACS plane as its model, and the accident would be recorded as the worst disaster for Chinese air force.China produced four Gongjing-2000 AWACS planes, and assigned them to airforce unit under Nanjing Military District early this year. They were reportedly deployed at Wushi Air base in Jiang-su Province.The...