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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...

IAF seeks more AWACS aircraft to counter missile threats New Delhi, April 01: The Indian Air Force has projected a need for more Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) to enhance its capability to counter emerging missile threats in the skies and waters around the country. India has inked a 1.1 billion dollar deal with Israel to purchase three Phalcon AWACs mounted on Russian Il-76 aircraft, and the IAF has now asked the government to clear the induction of up to five more aircraft. With each aircraft capable of mounting surveillance for up to 14 hours with in-flight refuelling, the...

Defence brass on 'secret' Israel trips Rajat Pandit [ 2 Oct, 2006 0035hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] NEW DELHI: The ever-expanding Indo-Israeli military relationship, which came out of the closet during the previous NDA regime, has once again gone underground under the UPA government. In July, defence minister Pranab Mukherjee was forced to call off his visit to Israel due to political sensitivities, both domestic and international. CPM and CPI even demanded India sever all military ties with Israel in wake of the bloody conflict in Southern Lebanon. Now, top defence officials are being forced to make "covert" visits to...

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)...

IAI hires Seoul PR firm in battle with Boeing The two companies are bidding in the $1.4 billion South Korean tender for early warning aircraft. Amnon Barzilai 3 Jul 06 19:04 Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. (IAI) has hired a PR agency in Seoul, to assist in it its battle with Boeing (NYSE: BA) for the $1.4 billion tender to provide early warning aircraft to South Korea. Local media representatives have been given information about Israeli technology as well as details of Boeing’s failure to meet the timetable on a similar project that it is carrying out for the Australian air...

Dhruv to spread wings in Israel fleet this January RAKESH SINHA Posted online: Saturday, December 18, 2004 at 0157 hours IST TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 17: Next month, New Delhi and Jerusalem will have one more reason to cheer their relatively new ties. The Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), will land in Israel in January for formal induction into the air fleet of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). Confirming this yesterday to visiting Indian journalists, officials of the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) said they were also trying to install Dhruv avionics into the Indian Cheetah...

India rejects IAI demands for large Phalcon down payment Source: The down payment is designed to protect IAI from political pressures, like the ones that forced the cancellation of the Phalcon deal with China. Dror Marom 23 Oct 03 16:37 Sources inform “Globes” that signing the commercial deal for the sale of three Phalcon AWACs planes to India is being delayed, due to Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI) demand for a exceptionally large down payment. Ministry of Defense director-general Amos Yaron signed a political agreement in principle in New Delhi several weeks ago to sell the planes. The current negotiations are...

Oct. 10, 2003 India signs $1b PHALCON arms deal By ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW DELHI, India India, Israel and Russia on Friday signed an agreement for the US$1 billion sale of PHALCON airborne early warning systems to India, a defense official told The Associated Press. India's rival, Pakistan, has said the system would upset the balance of power in South Asia, where the two major powers have fought three wars since 1947 and now have nuclear weapons. The advanced Israeli-made PHALCON radar systems are to be fitted on converted Russian-made Ilyushin transport plane that India will purchase from Moscow. The deal,...

Last Update: 05/09/2003 21:27 Muslims protest in Mumbai against visit by PM By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and agencies Indian Moslems in the western city of Bombay gathered in large numbers after Friday prayers to protest against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit next week. Children held white banners with red letters in English and Urdu that said, "Sharon: Enemy of the people", "Sharon should be hanged", as they marched on crowded Mohammed Ali Street, one of the city's Moslem enclaves. Scores gathered around and clapped as the protestors hanged an effigy of Sharon. Sharon leaves for India on Monday, for...

Washington has lifted all its objections to Israel's selling a Phalcon airborne radar system to India and has given the Defense Ministry a green light for the $1 billion deal, without any conditions or limitations. A year-and-a-half ago, Israel and India agreed to the deal, and the Americans gave their approval in principle. But in early 2002, the U.S. asked Israel to postpone the sale because of rising tension between India and Pakistan. It has since been frozen, waiting for U.S. approval. The Phalcon is a long-range Israeli-made radar mounted on a Russian-built cargo plane. The radar will extend the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The upsurge of violence in South Asia is expected to delay even further U.S. approval of Israeli plans to sell two advanced military systems to India, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday. He said it was likely to require more than a reduction in India-Pakistan cross-border military tensions and maybe even a new political dialogue between the two nuclear rivals before Washington would give the green light for the sales. The United States, as a major military ally and benefactor of Israel, has enormous influence over whether it goes ahead with the deals, involving the Phalcon...