India on Monday became the first country in South Asia to own an Airborne Early Warning and Control System( Awacs ), called “an eye in the sky” with the Israeli-made Phalcon reaching Jamnagar airbase on the country’s western coast on Monday morning.
The Phalcons would now be formally inducted into the Indian Air Force( IAF ) on May 28 by defence minister A.K. Antony at the Palam airbase in the capital, IAF sources said. The Awacs, which arrived here about 18 months behind schedule, would provide IAF the means to keep a tab on enemy aircraft and missiles taking off from across the border, thereby alerting response defensive systems.
The Phalcon, mounted on Russian Ilyushin-76 heavy lift transport aircraft’s airframe, had left Israel on Sunday and IAF pilots flew the first of the three aircraft mounted radar system to India. Jamnagar would be its first stop, followed by Palam on Tuesday, before it reaches Agra, which woudl be its homebase, sources said. The delivery of the $1.1 billion Awacs was previously scheduled on May 18, but last minute technical check ups delayed its departure from Israel, sources said. The remaining two Awacs, under the tripartite deal between India, Israel and Russia, would be delivered by mid or late 2010, IAF sources said.