New Delhi: Amid tension on Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, Israel has dropped the deal to sell the AWACS to China. AWACS is an Airborne Warning and Control System which is basically installed in the aircrafts.
Before the two decades, the United States had forced Israel to destroy the deal of AWACs with China. The US was thinking that the spy plane would give China a strategic advantage over America’s AWACS aircraft in any conflict over Taiwan. This acted as a major dent in Israel-China ties.
However, Israel cannot afford to weaken its ties with the US because of its powerful support to the annexation of the West Bank.
According to Group Captain RS Chhatwal “Chinese AWACS use Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology which is more advanced than the technology used in AWACS built by the US and Russia.”
Chhatwal compared Indian AWACS with Chinese AWACS and said “Against the PLAAF’s ten AWACS/AEW aircraft, the IAF has three AWACS acquired from Israel with two more in the pipeline. In addition, the IAF has inducted one Embraer EMB-145 AEW&C in February 2017 and has two more in the pipeline. The rectangular dual side airborne radar on this aircraft has been developed indigenously by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and is similar to China’s KJ-200,”
India has already deployed AWACS to monitor Pakistan and they can see the land of Islamabad and Rawalpindi anytime, and in the wake of the growing tension on the Indo-China border, it would not be difficult to guess where the next two AWACs would be deployed.
A defence expert and journalist Harinder Mishra said “the long-stalled deal is a part of a $2 billion worth purchase agreement between India and Israel, which includes plans to jointly manufacture arms supplies and defence equipment.”
“Israel has been pushing New Delhi to finalize the deal because the delay leads to a further increase in its price,” Harinder Mishra told the media.
The Most important thing is the acquisition of the AWACS is well-timed with the Indian Army preparing for a long haul at the LAC with China in Eastern Ladakh and since the deadly Galwan valley clash which resulted in the martyrdom of 20 Indian soldiers and unconfirmed numbers on the Chinese side.
India decided to buy AWACS when first time India felt the need for AWACS during the air battle with Pakistan on February 27, last year. Pakistan, which operates about 10 AWACS, took advantage of the system and succeeded in downing the Indian MiG-21 Bison in aerial combat besides capturing Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, who was handed over to India two days later.
The deal has finally received a green signal from India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The new PHALCON radar is going to be mounted on the Russian A-50 aircraft but will take two to three years for the delivery of the complete system, the defence sources said.
_Vinayak