Boeing and Airbus will compete in a new IAF tender for tanker aircraft being conducted for the 3rd time – this time without a Russian bid. Airbus had won both the earlier tenders that were later withdrawn.
Reservist Colonel Eli Alfassi has earlier served as Israeli military attaché in India as well as the head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense delegation to India.
The Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Pinchas Buchris is to arrive in India on Monday to hold meetings on Tuesday with officials from the Indian Ministry of Defense and security establishment.
“Cost escalation is a problem. Not only with Russia, with some other countries also. The real answer is to try to get delivery on time.”
According to Wing Commander TK Singha, never has the cliché – man behind the machine, in aviation banter, been as significant and diverse as it is today. With the advent of the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) in aerial-battle management scenarios, this aspect has undergone a paradigm shift with the incorporation of the hitherto unseen catalyst – Fighter Controllers (FC), manning work stations on board the AWACS.
The Russian IL-76 platform based, Israeli Phalcon AWACS was commissioned into the IAF by Defense Minister AK Antony, who handed over to Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, a symbolic key to the aircraft.
Giving impetus to the long-standing operational requirement of the armed forces, the first AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) Platform was inducted into the Indian Air Force today. At a special ceremony held at Palam airbase of the IAF, Defense Minister AK Antony dedicated the newly-inducted AWACS in the service of nation.
The first of the three Indian Air Force (IAF) AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) platforms has landed in India from Israel, escorted by three Mig-29 and three Jaguar aircraft each, that took off from an advance fighter base of the South Western Air Command (SWAC) and escorted it as it entered the Indian FIR (Flight Information Region), till safe touchdown at the Jamnagar airbase, at 1135 hours on Monday.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has informed StratPost the forst of three IL-76 platform-based Phalcon AWACS aircraft will arrive in India on Monday. The aircraft, to be flown in by IAF pilots, will land in Jamnagar and are likely to be inducted in a ceremony tentatively scheduled for Wednesday in New Delhi. The aircraft will ultimately be stationed at IAF Agra.
So how is the Gulfstream 55O platform-based aircraft different from the IL-76 platform based Phalcon system, of which three units are being purchased by India? Shalom Revivo, Joint Director at Israeli Aircraft Industries draws a whole list of distinctions.
