Israeli attempts to win the battle to provide China with airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft have been boosted with the conclusion of a deal with Russia covering the release of a modified Ilyushin Il-76 Candid to Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).
The details of the contract were finalised during two days of talks earlier this month between Moshe Keret, IAI's president, officials from Beriev, which will modify the airframe, and Rosvoorouzheniye, Russia's defence-export agency. IAI will install a dome-mounted active-phased-array radar, and the associated processing and operator suites for the Chinese air force.
The air force is still believed to be pursuing a dual-track approach to acquiring AEW capability. In addition to negotiating with IAI, China is also holding contract discussions with the UK's GEC over its Argus AEW system.
Some sources close to the competition suggest that the Chinese air force may be willing to fund the IAI Il-76 conversion as a long-term investment, while the GEC Argus solution may provide a "quicker fix" to filling the gap in its inventory. The air force has an immediate need for four AEW aircraft.
What is becoming increasingly difficult for GEC is that, while it has been negotiating with China for the better part of a decade, the air force's concerns over the maturity of IAI radar house Elta's active-phased-array technology may be becoming less acute.
GEC had similar difficulties to IAI in gaining access to Il-76 airframes for modification, although sources now suggest that this issue has "gone away".
According to the IAI plan, Beriev will modify the Il-76 by adding a radome similar to the type which forms part of the Beriev A-50 Mainstay AEW aircraft in service with the Russian air force.
The IAIAEW configuration calls for a fixed dome to house three active-radar arrays in a triangular configuration, whereas the A-50 rotodome houses a conventional antenna design.
Source: Flight International
