pimg src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45835000/jpg/_45835866_-1.jpg" align="left" width="226" height="170" alt="Indian air crew line up in front of the Awacs plane" border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4"/pp class="first"bIndia has officially taken delivery of an Awacs early-warning surveillance aircraft, part of a $1bn (pound;600m) defence deal with Israel./bpThe plane, Russian-made but packed with Israeli radar, is expected to reinforce India's maritime security following the attacks on Mumbai last year. /ppOnly a few non-Nato countries have Awacs and critics say it is a bad omen for the arms race in South Asia. /ppIndia has ordered another two AWACS as it upgrades its military capabilities. /ppThe Ilyushin-76 - which arrived in India on Monday - gives India the capability to track hundreds of aircraft and potential threats at sea and on the ground, at considerable distances. /ppbAir dominance/b/ppIndia is the first country in South Asia to own an Awacs (Airborne Warning and Control System) plane, popularly nicknamed the quot;eye in the skyquot;. The second and third aircraft are expected to be handed over next year. /pp/ppimg src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45835000/jpg/_45835892_-3.jpg" align="left" width="226" height="170" alt="AK Antony walks in front of the Awacs plane" border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4"/ppAnalysts say the purchase, part of a 2004 deal involving India, Israel and Russia, is part of India's efforts to achieve air dominance over its rival, Pakistan. Russia and Israel are India's two largest military suppliers. /ppIndia's defence procurement is expected to rise to about $100bn over the next ten years. /ppDelhi recently signed contracts with Israel for medium range surface-to-air missiles, and with Russia for the design and development of fighter aircraft. /ppOther foreign defence companies, including those from the Americas, Europe and Asia, are also lining up to do business with India. /ppIndian Defence Minister AK Antony, who attended the Awacs handing-over ceremony at Jamnagar air base, complained about the late delivery of defence equipment ordered by India from a number of countries. /ppHe pointed out that the Awacs should have been delivered 18 months ago. /phrpThis article is from the a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk"BBC News website/a. #169; British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites./pdiv class="feedflare"
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