Chapter 728 The ambitions of the South Asian powers

After a long time, Admiral Klingpa spoke again:

"If we agree with Colonel Prayan's suggestion, then... what channels are there to obtain a reliable early warning and command aircraft in a short period of time?"

"After all, I think that after going through the ASP plan, Stan Airlines should not be able to count on it anyway."

Faced with this somewhat sudden question, all the generals looked at each other. This time, none of them, including Lieutenant General Badauliya, spoke immediately.

After all, matters involving equipment procurement are often not purely technical issues.

Putting forward opinions rashly at this time may very well lead to oneself being "opposed" inexplicably.

It's easy to say if the plan succeeds, but if something goes wrong in the middle, it's easy to be thrown out and used as a scapegoat.

It's not like this kind of thing has never happened in the past.

Klingpa looked around and realized that the occasion was not appropriate, so he waved to the meeting recorder sitting next to him:

"The formal phase of the meeting is over, let's talk about things between ourselves."

The meaning is already obvious.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and closed the notebooks in front of them.

The recorder stood up and left the conference room.

In this way, the rest of the conversation can be considered an informal chat.

Those who can sit on this occasion today are all senior Air Force officials. Naturally, they hope to add more good things to their own troops, so that they can also improve their voice.

Therefore, after no longer worrying about leaving archive records, the atmosphere instantly became much more relaxed.

Someone soon suggested:

"Can you consider renting two more A50Us from the Russian Air Force to deal with it temporarily?"

Obviously, it is absolutely easy to form path dependence in terms of buying rather than renting.

However, Indians today still have dreams after all.

To become a great and impressive country, it will definitely not be possible to just rent planes.

Therefore, Klingpa immediately waved his hand:

"Although we suffered some losses a few days ago, the combat effectiveness of the army on the opposite side is really not good. Generally speaking, it is a tie. It is estimated that they will be relatively stable in the past few years, so there is no need to be too anxious about the immediate situation. You can consider a slightly longer-term plan. ”

"Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of renting equipment is too low. The price the Russians offered for the Tu-126 was almost half of the cost of the aircraft. If there is damage or malfunction during the rental period, there will be high compensation... In short, it is not possible in peacetime. It’s better to buy a plane.”

"Then just buy two A50Us currently in service in the Russian army?"

The person just now was not a member of this interest chain. He suggested renting a plane just out of habit. Therefore, when the leader objected, he immediately changed his tune:

"After the disintegration, they don't need or maintain the dozens of early warning aircraft. We can select some in good condition and renovate them a little. This way the price will be lower than new ones, and the delivery speed will be fast. Based on our past experience, this kind of arms sales drawn from active equipment can be completed in about half a year at the earliest.”

Logically speaking, this should be considered the most practical plan for the Indian army.

After all, early warning aircraft are still relatively sensitive. If you want to buy an existing E2 or E3, others may not sell it.

However, as expected, after the idea of ​​​​buying rather than renting was suppressed, the Indians' overjoyed side of success immediately took over.

In particular, Lieutenant General Badauliya, who initially expressed support for the purchase of early warning aircraft, was even more encouraged:

"Chief of Staff, although the A50U will be available soon, after all, it is an old model from more than ten years ago. It still uses a traditional mechanical scanning antenna. The number of targets that can be processed at the same time is only 200-300. For our country, It will be difficult for an air force of this size to cope with the wars of the 21st century in the future.”

"Furthermore, according to Russian habits, even if it is a second-hand aircraft drawn from the active military, their price will probably not be much lower than that of a new aircraft..."

The words he used to guide were very good. Admiral Klingpa had almost agreed to the plan to purchase the A50U, but after hearing this, he suddenly became hesitant.

If the early warning aircraft purchased at a large price soon falls behind, then as the Air Force Chief of Staff, it may be difficult for him to escape accountability.

But the officer who made the first suggestion refused to give in at all and immediately retorted:

"But even the American E3's technical status is basically about ten years ago, and it also uses mechanical scanning radar..."

However, such arguments could not refute the eloquent Bhadauliya.

As the commander of the theater air force, he has long tracked the most advanced aviation technology in Europe and the United States, so he quickly found the other party's loopholes:

"Because of this, the US military has launched a new early warning aircraft research and development project last year. It plans to replace the E767 and E2 models with the MC3A early warning aircraft on the Boeing 8 platform. The Russians lost their research and development capabilities in this area after the disintegration, so they did not Just follow up.”

"This……"

The other party obviously didn't know the details of this MC2A project, and was speechless for a moment, so he had to change the topic:

"So, if you think the A50U cannot meet our needs, who else can provide a more advanced model? The MC2A is probably just a plan at the moment, and even if the plan is completed, the Americans may not sell it to us."

Seeing that the atmosphere in the conference room already smelled like gunpowder, another lieutenant general quickly raised his head and pressed down, and then tried to smooth things over:

"From a purely technical perspective, I remember that the Swedish Saab company delivered the first Saab 2000 platform early warning aircraft last year. It was equipped with an active phased array radar developed by Erieye, which should be in line with General Bhadauliya's requirements. requirements, and although it is not off-the-shelf, it is a mature model that is already in service. With its small size, the delivery cycle should be very fast..."

As a result, after finishing his sentence, the other two people who were about to quarrel looked at him almost at the same time and shouted in unison:

"no!"

On this matter, the two people's attitudes were very consistent.

"The size of the Saab 2000 is almost the same as that of the HS748 platform early warning aircraft we just discontinued, and the take-off weight is only just over 20 tons."

Bhadauliya clenched his hands into fists and said emotionally:

"I think HS748 has proved that an early warning aircraft of this size cannot carry a large enough high-performance radar, and the range of regional airliners may be enough for countries like Sweden, but it is difficult for us to provide it. Enough mission time.”

Obviously, he is not willing to purchase only a small-sized light early warning aircraft.

"Then General Badauria, I wonder what you have to say?"

The lieutenant general, who had just been scolded back by the two men, had no choice but to ask:

"If you think none of the plans we proposed meet the requirements, you should have your own ideas, right?"

"Of course."

Bhadauliya was waiting for this moment and immediately sat up straight:

"Since you have decided to purchase from outside, you should try your best to get it right in one step and choose a model that will not fall behind in the next 10-15 years."

"There are currently only two countries in the world that can provide active phased array radar early warning aircraft in stock. But as I just said, the Swedish plan is too small and not suitable for a big country like us. In this way, it will Only the Philcon system of the Kingdom of David is left.”

"But if Falcon uses the Boeing 707 as a platform, there is a high probability that the Americans will not agree to sell it to us, right?"

The question this time was from Klingpa, who had not made his position clear just now.

Although it sounds like a question, this question has gone directly to the implementation level, indicating that the admiral is obviously also interested in the Falcon system.

Having seen through this, Bhadauliya decided to strike while the iron was hot:

"We don't need to use the Boeing 707 platform. After all, the original Falcon still has a blind spot of about 60° at the tail."

Having said this, he paused for a moment, then changed the subject:

"A few years ago, China and the Great Patriotic Republic jointly launched an early warning aircraft research and development project called the 'Ring Project', which used the Falcon system to adapt to the IL-76 transport aircraft platform. It looks similar to an A50U, but its functions are different. It is much stronger, and because it is a traditional disk antenna, it can achieve 360° detection without blind spots.”

"Recently, due to some external reasons, the progress of this project has not been smooth. It is said that China has lodged multiple protests because of this matter, but it obviously has no effect."

"The early warning aircraft project should be in a state of stagnation now. The British side is unwilling to continue to push forward, but if it violates the contract directly, then at least the advance payment will have to be refunded. In this way, the sunk cost invested in the early stage will be wasted... …So I think they should have a strong desire to find a home for this project.”

After Bhadauliya said this, he did not continue, but looked at several colleagues next to him with a look that "everyone understands".

"Do you want to intercept this Chinese project?"

There seemed to be a hint of excitement in Klingpa's tone.

After the humiliating defeat in 1962, India has always regarded the northern power as its main competitor, or imaginary enemy (although the other party does not think so).

Therefore, if we can give China an eye-opener while advancing the early warning aircraft project, it can undoubtedly be regarded as a symbolic victory.

In addition to boosting morale, more importantly, such a plan is easier to pass in New Delhi.

"That's right,"

Badauria nodded:

"According to previous reports, the price negotiated by Huaxia and David Country was US$3.5 million per aircraft. Of course, this was the situation in the early 90s, but if we take advantage of David Country's eagerness to withdraw funds, there would be a lot of potential. There is a high probability that the original price will be maintained.”

"You know, even if we buy a second-hand A50U now, the price will not be lower than this figure... Moreover, this project has been completed to a high degree, and we should not have to wait too long to get the aircraft."