Government today said the delivery of third AWACS aircraft to the Indian Air Force is expected by December this year.
India had signed a contract with Israel in 2004 for supplying three AWACS aircraft, of which the first two have been already delivered.
“Delivery of the third aircraft is planned for December 2010,” Defence Minister A K Antony said in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
He said additional AWACS would be procured by India under the 12th, 13th and 14th Plans and the DRDO was also developing an indigenous system for the IAF.
In reply to another query, the Minister said 48.3 per cent of the accidents in the IAF were due to technical defects, 37.9 per cent were due to human error and 8.6 per cent were caused by bird hits.

BY: PTI