Pakistan's air force was able to crush the Indian Air Force in this aerial battle thanks to its 13 airborne early warning aircraft. Currently, Pakistan's military is equipped with 9 Swedish "Saber" 2000 airborne early warning aircraft and 4 ZDK-03 "Karakoram Eagle" airborne early warning aircraft.
The "Saber" 2000 airborne early warning aircraft is a low-cost airborne early warning aircraft, with its compact PS-890 "Ericson Eye" active phased array radar installed in a "balanced beam" radome. This type of early warning aircraft can detect high-altitude large targets at a distance of up to 450 kilometers, medium-altitude F-16 fighter-sized targets at approximately 350 kilometers, and low-altitude flying targets at around 180 kilometers. The drawback of this early warning aircraft is that its radar can only cover an airspace of 150 degrees on each side, leaving a 30-degree blind spot in front and back, which means two aircraft need to be deployed simultaneously for each mission to eliminate the blind spots.
Although there are reports that a single "Saber" 2000 airborne early warning aircraft can eliminate blind spots by flying in an "infinity" pattern, the Pakistan Air Force, which has an urgent need for comprehensive detection capabilities, purchased 4 ZDK-03 "Karakoram Eagle" airborne early warning aircraft as airborne command posts. It is considered an export version of the KJ-500, but its performance is close to that of the KJ-500. Western analysts believe its performance is comparable to that of the US E-2D, with a detection range of 450 kilometers for MiG-21-sized targets flying at altitudes of 8,000 meters, and its electronic warfare capability is even stronger than that of the E-2D.
In contrast, India only has 6 airborne early warning aircraft, including 3 "Phalcon" airborne early warning aircraft based on the Il-76 transport aircraft, which are claimed to have a detection range of 4,000-5,000 kilometers for high-altitude fighter-sized targets. The other three are "Eye in the Sky" airborne early warning aircraft based on Brazilian ERJ-145 regional jets, with a detection range of 250-300 kilometers for high-altitude flying targets, and their performance is relatively poor.
Airborne early warning aircraft are extremely important; Russia's lack of such aircraft to detect low-altitude targets has allowed Ukraine's low-flying suicide drones to frequently penetrate its air defense network.
India-Pakistan conflict reignites
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1831608810969099/
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