At the end of August 2020, India said it would spend another $1 billion with Israel to buy the "Fercon" AWACS aircraft.
The first time India bought AWACS aircraft with Israel was 20 years ago, and India was very excited at that time, because they finally had a big killer weapon in their hands, and they no longer had to fear Pakistan and the mainland.
However, not long after India and Israel signed the agreement, an important piece of news came out from the Israeli side. According to Israeli experts, the "Fercon" early warning aircraft sold to India are completely out of stock that could not be sold to China in the past few years, and India is completely a takeover.
What's going on?
Turn
An early warning aircraft refers to a fighter that can integrate command, communications, intelligence, and control. The first AWACS aircraft was the AD-3W produced by the United States after World War II, which solved the long-range early warning problem for the US Navy.
In the 60s of the last century, the Soviet Union successfully developed an early warning aircraft, and Britain followed suit, but at that time, the early warning aircraft manufactured by the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain only had the function of early warning, that is, they could only perform tasks such as searching for targets and monitoring at medium and high altitudes.
In the later research and development, the United States and the Soviet Union successively used advanced airborne electronic equipment, so that the early warning aircraft has a qualitative change, not only can detect targets, but also can identify enemy aircraft, process intelligence, have communication navigation, electronic countermeasures and other functions, become an indispensable weapon on the modern battlefield, known as the "air leader".
Israel's "Ferkang" early warning aircraft can be said to be one of the best in the world, and it has adopted new technologies such as active phased array radar to improve the performance of the early warning aircraft, but its price is far lower than that of the United States' super-powerful E-3 early warning aircraft.
In 1997, the mainland's military delegation saw Israel's "Filcon" early warning aircraft for the first time at the Paris Air Show, and was attracted by its functions; in addition, the United States was interfering in the mainland's internal affairs at that time, and the mainland urgently needed a high-performance early warning aircraft to improve the combat effectiveness of our army.
The mainland and Israel had very good talks, and soon reached an agreement to purchase four "Filcon" early warning planes at a unit price of $250 million. The agreement stipulates that the mainland will provide four Il-76 transport planes, and Israel will install the "Filcon" radar system on the transport planes.
was originally a happy thing, but it just killed a "Cheng Biting Gold" - the United States.
At the beginning of the transaction between the mainland and Israel, the United States behind Israel was in mind, and in order to prevent accidents, the mainland strictly enforced secrecy from top to bottom, but it could not prevent Israel from running to "ask for instructions" from the United States.
In 1999, the United States struck. The US media first hyped up the mainland's purchase of the "Faircom" early warning plane, creating ridiculous remarks that the mainland's move would threaten the United States. Then, the United States put pressure on Israel, and some American officials said that if Israel insists on doing business with the mainland, then the United States will cut its aid to Israel.
One of the US officials, Sonny Callaghan, suggested that Israel could do business with China if it wanted to, and that if Israel sold an early warning plane to the mainland, the United States would deduct $250 million from its aid to Israel, and that the United States would deduct $250 million from Israel as many planes as it sold.
Although Israel was anxious, they still insisted on fulfilling the treaty, and Israel's foreign minister at the time said that they would abide by the international agreement, and since it had been signed and China had paid, Israel would definitely implement the contract.
When the United States saw that Israel did not enter the oil and salt, it decided to make a ruthless move.
As everyone knows, Israel is the "little bully of the Middle East," and Israel can sit firmly in this position because of the support of the United States.
In 2000, the United States planned to fully promote the Camp David Accords, which were signed in 1978 between Israel and Egypt for a peaceful settlement of the Middle East problem.
This agreement has promoted the process of peace in the Middle East and has also given Israel an opportunity to dialogue with other Arab countries, and it is an agreement that can gain a firm foothold in the Middle East.
And, most crucially, the United States will provide Israel with a $40 billion aid package after promoting the Camp David Accords. $40 billion vs. more than $1 billion, needless to say, everyone knows which side Israel will choose.
For the sake of money, Israel unilaterally renecessed of cooperating with the mainland, but Israel did not want to quarrel with the mainland, and the then prime minister wrote a letter to the mainland leaders, saying that he would persuade the United States to continue to strive for opportunities for Sino-Israeli cooperation.
The mainland knows that this contract is equivalent to a piece of waste paper.
In 2000, the United States demanded that Israel cancel its cooperation with the mainland, and when Israel's minister of regional cooperation visited China, he apologized to the mainland for canceling cooperation. Later, Israel offered to compensate us by giving us a set of farm equipment to the mainland.
The mainland demanded that Israel pay $1.2 billion in compensation, but Israel was unwilling to come up with the money and did not want to lose the mainland's orders, so it went to the United States to get the money, threatening that if the United States did not give the money, Israel would continue to do business with China.
The United States took a tough stance and rejected Israel outright. Israel did not dare to really resist the United States, so it had to negotiate with the mainland, and finally compensated the mainland with $350 million.
And what happened to the "Fercon" AWACS aircraft that Israel was originally going to sell to the mainland?
Pick-up man
Weapons are not produced and put into service, after all, maintenance is also a big expense.
At that time, the "Ferkang" early warning aircraft produced by Israel specifically for the mainland was "hibernating" in Curry until 2004, when a "pick-up man" appeared, and this "pick-up man" was India.
For a long time, Pakistan has been a thorn in India's flesh, but the mainland supports Pakistan, so that India cannot take it down, which makes India worried.
India felt that it was a weapon with no lethal power, so it fell behind, so it began to buy weapons everywhere, and Israel's "Filcon" early warning plane came into India's sight.
In March 2004, the Hindustan Times said that the Israeli cabinet had approved cooperation with India to sell three "Filcon" AWACS aircraft to India for a total of $1.1 billion.
Not long afterward, an Israeli official said that the "Filcon" early warning planes they sold to India were precisely the ones they had not successfully sold to China in those years.
With the blessing of the "Ferkang" early warning aircraft, India's combat effectiveness has been improved to a certain extent, and an air-based early warning system with a range of 400-500 kilometers has been established.
At the end of August 2020, Indian media said that India will spend another $1 billion to buy two "Fercon" early warning aircraft, and the early warning aircraft purchased this time are more advanced than before, and the system functions of the equipment have been upgraded and the combat effectiveness is stronger.
India's arsenal is full of weapons and equipment from various countries, and they are buying Israeli early warning aircraft again, just because the early warning aircraft independently developed by the mainland give them a great sense of oppression.
In fact, the mainland has long had a plan to develop early warning aircraft, and after being rejected by Israel, we have worked hard to develop early warning aircraft.
Finally, at the end of 2003, the Air Police-2000 was developed. In 2004, the Air Police-200 also achieved its first flight and successfully completed the first flight mission, and a few years later, the Air Police-500 was also launched.
Today, the mainland's early-warning capabilities are competing with those produced by the United States and Israel, and the United States has smashed the US conspiracy to curb the mainland's military development.
Resources:
[1] China Foreign Affairs University, "Analysis of the Impact of Israel's Arms Sales to China on the Relations between the Two Countries: A Case Study of the "Ferkang" Early Warning Aircraft Incident", 20080501
[2] China Military Network, "Eyes of the Air and Space: The Road of Early Warning Aircraft of the Strategic Air Force", 20151217