The 1st Eitam airborne early warning platform was delivered to
the Israeli Air Force yesterday. This is the same AEW aircraft the
Republic of Singapore Air Force is 'committed' according to Flight
International, a UK-based aviation magazine.
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Sep. 20, 2006 0:12 | Updated Sep. 20, 2006 1:44
New AWACS enhance IAF's vision
By YAAKOV KATZ
Amid growing concern that Iran's refusal to suspend its enrichment
of uranium could lead to military action against its nuclear sites,
the Israel Air Force on Tuesday received its first Airborne Warning
and Control System (AWACS) surveillance plane.
Called the Eitam - white-tailed Sea Eagle - the AWACS arrived at a
festive ceremony at the Lod Air Force base near Ben-Gurion Airport
attended by US dignitaries and the head of the IAF, Maj.-Gen.
Eliezer Shkedy. The plane will join the Nahshon Squadron, which
also operates intelligence-gathering planes called Shavit
(Comet).
"The arrival of this AWACS enhances our long-range capabilities,"
Deputy Squadron Commander Maj. I. told The Jerusalem Post, "It
extends our range of sight and our operational capabilities."
The AWACS plane that arrived on Tuesday is the first of three
Gulfstream G-550 jets to be delivered to the IAF over the next
three years. The plane, usually built as a top-tier business jet
and purchased from the US-based General Dynamics, was built
according to IAF specifications and outfitted with more than $100
million worth of radar and command-and-control systems. The
equipment was developed by Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel
Aircraft Industries.
The plane is capable of flying at 35,000 feet and has a range of
10,000 km. Equipped with radar systems capable of creating a 360
degree aerial picture over enemy countries during combat, the Eitam
could also replace, Maj. I. said, ground-based command-and-control
stations if they were destroyed by enemy action.
Israel has not had an airborne radar capability since 1994, when
the IAF took a squadron of older-model AWACS, called the Hadiya,
out of service. The new arrival, Maj. I. said, was a big step
forward for the IAF as the plane was "relevant to all of the
current threats against Israel."
Speaking at the ceremony, Shkedy said the Eitam was an essential
operational tool that would be utilized to create aerial pictures
deep inside enemy territory while at the same time serving as a
warning system for incoming aerial threats.
Hinting at a connection between the arrival of the new aircraft and
Iran's race to obtain nuclear weapons, Shkedy said, "Throughout the
years of Israel's existence, defense of the skies has been the
IAF's primary mission. Over the years, however, the threats have
changed... and the potential for an existential threat to the state
is taking form while the bells of peace are still, to our
misfortune, far away."
Nissim Hadas, CEO of Elta Systems, told the Post that the radar
aboard the Eitam had a range of "several hundred kilometers." The
plane, he said, was capable of carrying up to 20 passengers and was
compact and fuel efficient.
"The plane doesn't need to enter enemy territory," Hadas said. "It
can fly far away while creating and projecting the aerial picture
above the country in which the IAF wants to operate."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1157913665194&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
