Islamabad, June 24, 2006 (Internews)

Swedish aerospace and defence company SAAB has finalised a $1.14bn deal to supply an airborne radar system, the Airborne Warning and Control System (Awacs), to Pakistan.

Official experts in Islamabad believe the supply of airborne surveillance system will help strengthen national security, as the federal cabinet had already given the green light last May to purchase the system.

The approval of the cabinet and finalisation of the deal by SAAB AB was done following negotiations with Sweden SAAB and Erisson Microwave, the joint manufacturers of the aircraft-mounted airborne radar system.

“This a very important order for SAAB and it confirms our strong position in the world regarding airborne surveillance systems, “SAAB Chief Executive Ake Svensson has said in a statement.

The SAAB-Ericsson Awacs deal with Pakistan was first announced in October last, but has been finalised now. The system includes SAAB 2000 turboprop aircraft equipped with airborne radars from Ericsson Microwave Systems.

Sweden SAAB bought Ericsson Microwave Systems from wireless equipment make LM Ericsson earlier this month. The air surveillance system can be used for both military and civilian purposes, such as helping coordinated relief flights after natural disasters.

Many see this deal as a bid to match a deal by India in 2004 to buy three Phalcon airborne early warning radar systems from Israel and Russia worth $1.1bn. The Pakistan Air Force has needed the system to make up for the existing gap in air surveillance capability, as Pakistan currently relies mostly on a ground-based radar system.

The deal is a reflection on how Pakistan has been able to offset the heavy losses caused by last year’s earthquake, which had forced it to temporarily postpone the long-awaited purchase of around US-built F-16 fighters.

Pakistan, however, agreed in April to purchase a scaled-down package of F-16s. This year, Pakistan has allocated more than Rs250bn of the total of Rs1.3 trillion federal budget.

The airborne surveillance system together with existing round-based radars is expected to provide a more detailed picture, enabling PAF to detect multifarious threats.

The system, which is used as a platform alone, would have cost between $60-70 million and the price tag would have increased considerably after adding the surveillance system.

In the Erieye system, SAAB provides that plane while Ericsson provides the surveillance equipment.