Kamra: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Tuesday inducted the Saab-2000 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft into its fleet, joining a small club of countries that can boast of such a capability.

 

Saab-2000 AEW&C made for the PAF

''The AEW&C aircraft has the capability to detect any ground moving and air moving object (including drones),'' chief of the air staff, air chief marshal Rao Qamar Suleman said while responding to questions from the media after the induction ceremony of the aircraft at the PAF Base Minhas here.

He also expressed satisfaction that the PAF's long-standing requirement for an airborne early warning capability had finally been realised with the induction of the Saab-2000. He said the system would make more effective the defence of Pakistani air space and also bring about a major change in its operational concept and deployment.

The AEW&C system will provide PAF with certain major advantages, as it will be able to detect and identify all the aircraft well before they enter Pakistan's air space. In case of hostilities, the system would also serve as force multipliers as it would check air intrusions by enemy aircraft and missiles and also enable tracking of enemy radars, missile sites and ships, besides controlling combat missions.

He also revealed that the PAF was in talks with China for the supply of four AWACS planes, which would be handed over to PAF from 2011 into 2012. These would be Il-76-based platforms, a derivative of the Russian Beriev A-50 Mainstay system, which it has copied.

Air chief marshal Suleman also said that the Pakistan Air Force would receive 18 new F-16 planes by July 2010. The new F-16s would be equipped with several new weapons.

He further added that Pakistan would also receive surface-to-air missile systems by the end of next year.

The new JF-17 Thunder squadron would be made operational by June 2010, he added.

Speaking on the occasion the chief project director of Project Horizon, air commodore Perci Edul Virjee of Sweden, said the Saab surveillance system was one of the most advanced airborne early warnings and control systems available with sophisticated sensors and communication suites.

Executive vice-president of the Saab AB, Dan Ake Enstedt, appreciated the professional insight of PAF officers involved in the project and the valuable inputs given by them towards the development of the system.