Delivery to India of "Phalcon" AWACS Systems to Be Put Off a Second Time
On the heels of delays of weapons deliveries by manufacturers from the United States and Russia, India's air force has collided with the same problems with Israeli companies, the Indian newspaper Telegraph reports. Israel, who is the second largest supplier of military equipment to India has announced a delay in deliveries of two weapons systems.
A source in India's air force reported to the newspaper that the delivery of the first "Phalcon" airborne warning and control system airplane will be put off. It had been planned to transfer the airplane to the Indian air force in September, however, according to information received from Israel, the delivery can be made not earlier than the end of the first quarter of 2009. The delay is connected to IAI company's subcontractors' failure to comply with the schedule for deliveries. Moreover, as it is being reported, delivery of two EL/M-2083 radar reconnaissance aerostat complexes will be postponed.
The Israeli company is delaying deliveries for a second time already. The original schedule provided for the transfer of the first "Phalcon" AWACS airplane in November 2007, the second in August 2008, and the third in the second half of 2009. However, deliver was put off due to a delay which was connected to the building of the fuselages at the Tashkent Chkalov Aviation Production Association. According to the new schedule, it had been planned to transfer the first airplane by September 2008, and the two others in April 2009 and August 2010.
The repeated delivery delay is frustrating Indian air force plans for the creation of airborne centers of networked operational control. Despite this, the air force does not intend to repudiate the project for the additional purchase of three more of the same platforms, the potential cost of which is two billion dollars. An air force proposal for entering into a contract for the delivery of additional "Phalcon" systems based on the Il-76TD airplane was sent to the country's defense ministry.
India and Israel signed the first contract with a cost of 1.1 billion dollars for the purchase of the three IAI Company's EL/M-2075 "Phalcon" radars and their installation based on the Russian Il-76 airplane in March 2004. The contract entered into contained an option for the additional acquisition of from three to five systems. As Indian air force experts assume, the delivery of all six AWACS systems may be completed in 2009 - 2012.
The airplane will be equipped with four Russian PS-90A-76 engines, a phased antenna array radar assembled by the Raytheon company, a Belgian 20-inch liquid crystal display, an Israeli Elbit avionics defense and also Indian and French manufactured systems. Each airplane's crew will be 18 men. It is planned that the "Phalcon," the detection range of which is 500 kilometers, will allow the air force to track aerial targets, including missiles and flight vehicles at low altitudes, in any weather conditions. Receipt into the inventory of additional AWACS airplanes which are capable of patrolling for 14 hours with an in-flight refueling capability, will expand the ability to observe far beyond the border of India's air space.
At the present time, the first of the "Phalcon" AWACS airplanes is being equipped with detection instruments and guidance equipment and, as they expect, will be ready for roll out in the very near future. The airplanes already have undergone initial flight tests in Russia in November of last year and also January and February of this year.
Source: 20.05.08, ARMS-TASS
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