Thursday, February 5, 2009

Eitam CAEWS At Aero India 2009


Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is sending its Gulfstream G-550-based conformal airborne early warning and control (CAEW) system to the Aero India 2009 expo in Bengaluru. Developed by IAI's ELTA Systems subsidiary, the CAEWS has to date been ordered by Israel and Singapore, with the first Israeli platform being delivered in February 2008 and the second following in May 2008. Singapore has ordered four such platforms that will be delivered through to 2010. The CAEWS is equipped with the ELTA-built EL/W-2085 system, uses AESA antennae at the nose and tail, with large slab-sided arrays on the fuselage sides. Together, these give 360° airspace coverage without the complication and drag of a rotodome above the fuselage. Each CAEWS carries six operators, and also has ESM antennae under the tail and wingtips, and above the nose, with a SATCOM array atop the vertical tail. Radar, ESM and COMINT data is collected and fused to give a fully correlated and synthetic air situation picture. The aircraft’s structural, aerodynamic and power modifications, including two additional generators and a low-drag liquid cooling system, are all installed on the aircraft by Gulfstream Aerospace prior to delivery to ELTA, and the mission sensors/management suite is then installed in country by IAI’s Bedek Aviation Group. The CAEWS offers an unrefuelled mission endurance of 9 hours when operating at an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 metres) and 185km (100nm) from its home base.—Prasun K. Sengupta

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Prasun,

What exactly does "ConformalAEWS" mean? How are its operational params and capabilities different from that of standard AWACS platforms like the Phalcon and Sentry?

And is the EITAM G-550 capable of in-flight refuelling?

Anonymous said...

ours looks better.. the Il76 one

Anonymous said...

prasun,what's the difference b/w the a/c on top bottom in the first pic?

Anonymous said...

prasunda,pls provide a hi-resolution pic ..atleast the second one

Anonymous said...

the top one is the Special Electronic Mission Aircraft (SEMA) GV aircraft while the bottom one is the Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) G550 .

Anonymous said...

Prasunda,from which generation is (CAEW) G550 coming?

Prasun K Sengupta said...

The CAEWS is the best there is after the Boeing Wedgetail. It is in the same league as the A-50E/PHALCON of the IAF. It will make an excellent choice for the India navy which is in the market for such AEW & C platforms operating out of shore-based air bases. Definitely much better than the E-2D hawkeye 2000 due to its greater dash speed and higher service ceiling.

Anonymous said...

to prasun

if americans have restrictions on P8 AND C130J,and it is unresolved till now

just think what will happen when if v buy fighter jets from them

they can say that iaf can't use them in an excercise with russia or any country friendly to india
or can't take these aircraft to russia or any other country which is not friendly to USA

Anonymous said...

any idea whether comint on caews includes direction finding / location fix?

Anonymous said...

if Eitam G-550 is better than Phalcon A-50..
why do we need a gigantic IL-76 or an Airbus..to base Phalcon system?
Why Eitam is only considered for navy's requirements..?
Why can't we substitute Eitam in place of Phalcons in follow-on contracts for 3..?

Unknown said...

What makes the Wedgetail superior to the Eitam or the Phalcon? And by the way, has the Wedgetail been inducted?

Unknown said...

hey parsun, why france didn,t send there RAFALE f2 to the aero india show? because its a good contender for our MMRCA!