kanwa.com
<Kanwa News April 10, 2002> The first A50I that Israel's IAI originally planned to assemble for China today remains in Tel-Aviv. 60% percent of the internal installation of the aircraft had been completed when Israeli Cabinet formally decided to dismiss this transaction. Up till today, the aircraft still stays put on the ground, and no further alternation has been done since then or anything else. Sources from IAI disclosed the above information to Kanwa's correspondent.
In January this year, IAI and China signed an agreement concerning the sales of communication satellites with a value of US$180 millions. IAI disclosed that the deal had nothing to do with A50I. According to the articles of the contract, China will further purchase another eight satellites of the same model. China was clearly aware that Israel's failure to fulfill the contract was due to the pressure from the USA; therefore the cooperation between the two countries was not that seriously damaged as the outsiders estimated. Reliable sources from IAI claimed that China originally demanded for a compensation of US$1 billion. Though the two sides are still negotiating on the relevant issue, China and Israel have reached agreement on the basic framework of the solution. Israel will compensate China a total of US$ 350 million. The compensation process has not yet started, and will be paid by the Israel government instead of IAI. Before this, China paid Israel US$250 million to purchase the first A50I, and thus the A50I aircraft remained in Tel-Aviv is still the property of China. However, that aircraft will not be able to fly to China. Il76MD aircraft was what Israel purchased from Russia with China's money at a price of US$45 million. Sources from IAI say that after the compensation is completed by the Israel government, the A50I will become the property of the Israel government, who will then have the right to decide how to dispose of it. Earlier than this, the source from Indian military industry told Kanwa's correspondent at an interview that India and Israel had completed the first round talk concerning the purchase of three Phalcon AWACS from the latter, and the first three sets of radar systems will also be installed on Il76 aircrafts. Authoritative sources with Indian official background told Kanwa in Singapore that the negotiation would be completed in the coming six months. The areas that the two sides cannot agree on are the price of the aircraft. India plans to obtain the first A50I by 2004.
Would it be possible then for Israel to deliver A50I that was originally intended for China to India? Sources from IAI first stressed that they would not like to hurt the feeling of the Chinese or to further lose a future market with great potential. Meanwhile, on the issue of A50I, IAI did not experience any direct economic loss. And after the compensation is completed, it will be the property of the Israel government. Secondly, due to the changes of the equipments inside the aircraft, it is impossible for India to directly purchase this A50I at a low price. Thus it is still a problem for Israel goverment how to deal with the the first A50I. Perhaps Israel can look for a client that will not irritate the Chinese. "It will remain in the Tel-Aviv for a long time," the source said. IAI confirms that it will not transport the radar system of the aircraft to China in whatever ways. <Kanwa News>
Military Aviation - News & Views II [Archive] - PakDef Forums
The Chinese paid Israel 250Million for the A50I. The cost of the airframe itself is 45M, leaving about 205Million just for the AESA/AWAC.
The 250M is a reasonable price for an AESA Awac. I expect the KJ2000 probably cost around 200M. Since the speculation is that the KJ2000 awac system has been transplanted onto the ZDK03, the 70M per ZDK03 does not support this wild speculation. Furthermore, the KJ2000 is a huge plane, whereas a ZDK03 based on the Y8 frame is not. You wouldn't have the space to put the KJ2000 systems onto this much smaller plane.
The ZDK03 is almost certain to be an older PulseDoppler radar with a rotating disk, which would agree with the 70M price tag and chinese reports.
