India to Buy A-50EI AWACS from Russia

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The Indian Air Force (IAF) has begun negotiating for nine more A-50EI aircraft from Russia. India aims to acquire three of the A-50EI aircraft under the main contract and have another six in an option.

The recent negotiations are a part of a trilateral contract between Russia, India and Israel, which was formalised in October 2003. As a part of the contract for the supply of the A-50EI aircraft, Russia is represented by the firms Beriev, Ilyushin and Vega while Israel is represented by ELTA Electronics Industries, which supplies the Falcon radar for the aircraft.

The A-50EI airborne early warning aircraft is the export version of the Beriev A-50 Shmel, with the Phalcon radar from Israel. The Russian firm Beriev manufactured the A-50 aircraft and it is based on the Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft with PS-90A engines.

While India received the first A-50EI from Russia in mid 2009, the rest of the two are expected to be supplied to India this year. As for the Indian Air Force, it has been a long wait for these airborne early warning aircraft. Originally, Israel and India signed a US$1.1 billion deal, according to which Israeli Aircraft Industries would deliver the Indian Air Force three Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) radar system in March 2004. India signed a separate deal with the Ilyushin Corporation of Russia for the supply of three Il-76-based A-50EI heavy-lift aircraft which were to be used as platforms for these radar systems, for an additional US$500 million. In November 2007, the Indian Defence Ministry faced major delays in the supply of the Russian Il-76 platform and the induction of the Phalcon radar was now postponed to 2009-10.

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