India became the first country in South Asia to own an Airborne Early Warning and Control System, called 'an eye in the sky', with the Israeli-made Phalcon arriving at the Jamnagar airbase on the country's western coast on Monday morning.
The Phalcons will now be formally inducted into the Indian Air Force on May 28 by Defence Minister A K Antony at the Palam airbase in New Delhi, IAF sources told PTI.
The AWACS will provide IAF means to keep a tab on enemy aircraft and missiles taking off from across the border, thereby enhancing response time.
The Phalcon, mounted on a Russian Ilyushin-76 heavy-lift transport aircraft's airframe, had left Israel on Sunday. Jamnagar would be its first stop, followed by Palam on Tuesday, before it reaches Agra, which would be its home base, 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, will be delivered by mid or late 2010, IAF sources said.
The system, primarily used for detection of incoming hostile cruise missiles and aircraft from hundreds of kilometers away, can also direct air defence fighters during
What is the Phalcon AWACS?