Israeli Phalcon for China Troubles Cohen Visit

Israel’s 1997 contract to sell an airborne warning system to China remains a bone of contention with the United States, especially given the recent tensions between China and Taiwan. The proposed sale of the Israel Aircraft Industries Phalcon system to China troubled the visit of US Secretary of Defense William Cohen to Israel, and was clearly on display during the concluding press conference of Cohen and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in which Cohen said that the US does not support such sales to China “because of the potential of changing the strategic balance in the region”, while Barak said that Israel was “aware of American sensitivity” on the issue but was “also aware of our commitments to contracts which we sign”, though he said Israel recognized the “need to coordinate and be in close touch with the United States on matters which may threaten US interests . . . traditionally our closest allies”. Israel has reportedly been insistent on going through with the deal. The Cohen visit came on the eve of the visit of President Jiang Zemin to Israel, the first by a Chinese President. In Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesman responded to the Cohen-Barak meeting by saying that “The two sides have developed a relationship of friendship and cooperation in various areas which will not be affected by external factors”.

The nature of the system is what particularly troubles the United States. Developed by Israel Aircraft Industries’ ELTA division, the Phalcon is an Airborne Early Warning, Command and Control system which Israel claims is superior to the US Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). It uses Active Phased Array electronic scanning rather than a mechanically rotating rotodome, like the US AWACS, said to give it greater flexibility. It consists of phased-array radar, phased-array Identification Friend-or-Foe equipment (IFF),  and electronic and communications intelligence capabilities, making it both a surveillance and potential battle-management tool.

In Israeli service, the Phalcon system is mounted on a Boeing 707 airframe, with six radar elements: in an enlarged nose, under the tail, and in two flat panels on either side of the aircraft. This permits 360º coverage. It can also be mounted in a fixed dome on the top of the aircraft, which some reports say is the configuration chosen by China;  it does not use a rotating dome like the AWACS or the E-2C Hawkeye, or its Russian counterpart, the Ilyushin A-50 Mainstay. Versions are in service with the Israeli and Chilean Air Forces (it is called Condor in Chilean service), and there have been reports of a sale to South Africa. Turkey is a possible customer, and Israeli, Turkish and American firms have agreed to develop further versions of the system.

It is understood that the version being sold to China will be mounted on the Ilyushin Il-76 Candid airframe. This is the same aircraft (similar to the US Lockheed C-141 StarLifter) used, with a rotodome, for the Russian and ex-Soviet Ilyushin A-50 Shmel (Bumblebee)  AWACS system, known to NATO as  Mainstay, and the same Il-76 airframe,  with a French-supplied radar, was also the basis for Iraq’s ‘Adnan AWACS system. Both use rotodomes. Israel’s 1997 contract with China was for one aircraft valued at some $250 million, but  reportedly included an option for three additional aircraft, for a total of four, and there have been reports that China might eventually acquire as many as eight. The Chinese version of the airframe, designated A-50I by some Western services, will reportedly be built by the Beriev design bureau in Russia.

The US has opposed the sale from the start. But recent developments in East Asia raise particular concerns, because an advanced Airborne Early Warning and battle management capability would greatly enhance China’s capability in either an air war with, or an invasion of, Taiwan. It is precisely one of the military capabilities the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force currently lacks.

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