Ari Egozi/TEL AVIV
THE ISRAELI Government is pressing Russia to approve the sale of an Ilyushin Il-76 Candid, to allow Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to conclude a deal to convert the aircraft into a Phalcon radar-equipped airborne early-warning platform for China.
A $250 million deal to convert one Il-76 into an AEW aircraft has been concluded by Israel and China, say Israeli sources. Approval for the sale of the Il-76 airframe to be converted has not yet been given. Russia has been trying to sell the Beriev A-50 Mainstay AEW aircraft to China. The IAI proposal for China uses a conventional fixed-dome configuration, unlike the Phalcon AEW design for Chile. The fixed dome would house three phased-array antennas to provide 360¡ coverage. Under the proposal, IAI is to purchase one Il-76 from Russia. Beriev would then fit an A-50 Mainstay-style fixed dome.
When the negotiations began in 1994, China had a requirement for four AEW aircraft worth around $1 billion. Budget problems have reduced the first deal to one aircraft - possibly as a testbed.
China has also been negotiating with GEC of the UK over its Argus AEW mission systems, built around the radar and systems from the Royal Air Force's Nimrod AEW programme. A radar testbed to this design may have been flown in China. It is still to be determined whether the IAI deal will mark the end of this programme.
The Il-76 will be fitted with electronic-sensing and electronic-intelligence systems with a com- munications-intelligence package, in addition to the Elta EL2075 phased-array long-range radar.
At 30,000ft (9,000m), the Chinese Phalcon will, it is claimed, be capable of detecting a fighter aircraft at 400km (215nm).
Source: Flight International
