India’s fleet of Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft could increase to five from three, with New Delhi preparing to ink $1 billion-worth contracts with both Israel and Russia. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is expected to give the green light after extensive inter-ministerial consultations.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)-built Phalcon early-warning radar systems will be mounted on Russian Ilyushin-76 A-50 heavy-lift aircraft. The AEW&C, in a nutshell, gives early warning of incoming hostile aircraft and missiles. While the radar systems come with a price tag of $1 billion, the aircraft will cost another billion dollars. Delivery of the planes will be completed in three years from the date of signing of the contract.
India already has three of these aircraft it bought in 2004, besides two indigenous “Netra” mini-AEW&C planes (Embraer-145) with a 250km range, in its roster. Indigenous DRDO system is equipped with a 240-degree coverage radar. In contrast, Phalcons provide 360-degree coverage over a 400km range. Under the tri-partite 2004 agreement between Israel, India, and Russia; Israel and India signed a $1.1 billion deal for three IAI AEW&C radar systems, each of which was worth approximately $350 million. Another contract worth $500 million was signed with Russia’s Ilyushin for three Il-76 A-50s.
The ELM-2075 Phalcon system is made on Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) - Elta Systems, and is an L-band, solid-state Active Electronic Scanned Array (AESA) radar system using a traditional radome on top of the aircraft's fuselage. The A-50EI also has Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) and Communications Intelligence (COMINT) capabilities. India’s neighbor China has around 30 such systems including Kong Jing-2000 “Mainring,” KJ-200 “Moth” and KJ-500 aircraft. Pakistan has eight Chinese-made Karakoram Eagle ZDK-03 and Swedish Saab-2000 AEW&C planes and is on course to get more from China.
The need for additional AWACS, which are powerful “eyes in the sky”, was acutely felt during the pre-dawn strikes at Balakot and the subsequent aerial skirmish with Pakistani fighters in February last year. Pakistan is ahead of India in this crucial arena, which struck home much to IAF’s disquiet during the aerial skirmish last year. The ongoing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh has further reinforced the operational requirement.
AWACS or AEW&C (airborne early-warning and control) aircraft are critical in modern warfare because they can detect and track incoming fighters, cruise missiles, and drones much before ground-based radars, direct friendly fighters during air combat with enemy jets, and keep tabs on enemy troop build-ups and movement of warships.
A much more ambitious indigenous AWACS-India project worth Rs 5,113 crore was approved by the defense ministry in March 2015 for 360-degree coverage with indigenous AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars to be mounted on two Airbus A-330 wide-body jets. But this project will only now head to the CCS for clearance. The Indian Air Force estimates that the two indigenous AWACS will be inducted into service by 2025 and will be a major force multiplier over the coming years.
Meanwhile, Israel is one of the top arms suppliers to the Indian armed forces. Indian acquisitions over the years range from Barak surface-to-air missile systems, Spyder quick-reaction anti-aircraft missiles, and a wide array of drones and radars to Python and Derby air-to-air missiles, Crystal Maze, and Spice-2000 precision-guided munitions. This deal comes after the defense ministry decided earlier this month to also fast-track the Rs 3,500 crore “Project Cheetah” to upgrade its Israeli Heron Drones with laser-guided bombs, air-to-ground anti-tank missiles, and other precision-guided munitions as well as advanced reconnaissance capabilities.