Pakistan Okays $1 Billion Deal for Swedish AWACS

By REUTERS, ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Pakistan’s cabinet approved on May 24 plans for the purchase of a $1 billion airborne early warning surveillance system from Swedish firms Saab and Ericsson to boost its air defenses.

Pakistan, concerned over nuclear rival India’s plan to purchase an airborne early warning system (AWACS), has long been seeking a similar system from Sweden.

"The Federal Cabinet accorded the go-ahead to the Ministry of Defence Production of the proposed purchase of AWACS aircraft from Sweden," said an official statement issued after the cabinet meeting.

Defence group Saab announced in October that it and Ericsson had won the order worth more than 8 billion crowns ($1 billion) from Pakistan.

Pakistan, struck by a devastating earthquake at the time, had said it had yet to give the final go ahead to the deal.

The statement said defense officials informed the cabinet that Pakistan lacked a reliable surveillance system for its air space.

"In order to safeguard the air defences of Pakistan, it was deemed necessary to have the latest, airborne early warning systems," it added.
The system includes Saab 2000 turboprop aircraft equipped with airborne radar from Ericsson.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan and India have continued to focus on building their military capabilities despite a warming of ties since they went to the the brink of a fourth war in 2002.

This will go a long way in helping the PAF in having better control of Pakistani air space... I wonder, are turbo-props the way to go with AWACS aircraft, heard they interfere with the relaying of info...
couldnt PAF have gone with the standard 707 version of the US, or is this Swedish version better suited?

Well Erieyes are available on an alternative platform, which is the Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft. Embraer is a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer who have a credible track record. They were involved, till recently, in a US Army project called the Ariel Common Sensors (ACS) as a platform provider. However the US Army rejected the platform as the size of the aircraft didn't meet their requirements.

From a financial point of view, the SAAB 2000 platform was chosen in a bid to drive down the price. Ofcourse this is purely speculation on my part, but it seems likely that it was the reason.

Lastly there was also an initial plan of both PAF and PIA to procure SAAB 2000. In all, 14 aircrafts, where 7 were meant for the each organisation. However PIA opted for another platform later on.