The Phalcon airborne early warning and control system-the acronym stands for Phased-Array L-Band Conformal radar-is everything an airforce commander could ask for. It can detect hostile aircraft 400 km away, sometimes as soon as they have taken off from their bases, and direct fighters to intercept them. It can also classify over airborne 100 targets and map an entire air battle in seconds.

This airborne master controller is said to be even more sophisticated than the AWACS, one reason why its sale has always painted large on the Pentagon's radar screens. Its acquisition will vastly enhance India's air defence. The Indian Air Force (IAF) currently uses ground-based radars that have an inherent limitation-due to the earth's curvature, their "line of sight" is limited to 50 km.

Even though the radar is made in Israel, the US has used its considerable clout with its ally to regulate its sale. Two years ago it shot down a proposed sale to China. Though it recently green-lighted the sale of three Phalcon systems worth an estimated $750 million (Rs 3,600 crore) to the IAF, it attached a rider. Israel can sell the system only after India de-escalates tension with Pakistan.

No one's sure when that will happen, but as security specialists say, the system isn't Pakistan-specific. Fitted on the IAF's IL-76 cargo planes, which have a 5,000-km range and the capacity to remain airborne for six hours at a stretch, the radars can patrol not just vast swathes of Indian airspace but its maritime boundaries as well. "It addresses India's long term security needs in the 21st century," says retired air vice-marshal Kapil Kak, deputy director, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses. "It could be used on energy routes besides the Straits of Hormuz and the South China Sea."

-Sandeep Unnithan

GOLDEN PUMPKIN

SLOW START: Esha must wait for stardom

She was touted as the next dream girl. Well, let's just say the slot is still vacant. Hema Malini and Garam Dharam's daughter Esha Deol has left audiences and critics cold with her debut this month in Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche. The figures are in and it's below average everywhere. Despite the hype, kmdsp opened weak and slid further. By the middle of the first week, Mumbai's Imax theatre was already showing collections of 45-55 per cent. Neither pedigree, nor National Award winning director Vinay Shukla's presence mattered. Nor even the fact that Esha chose a "different" role (she plays the wife of a psychopath) for her debut. But hey, if the fawning industry could give AB's baby his nth chance, why not a second shot for this star daughter? Esha gets another go at stardom in the Hrithik Roshan-starrer Na Tum Jano Na Hum. "One hundred per cent she will grow on people," says Komal Nahta of the trade magazine Film Information. "The director didn't exploit her potential in kmdsp. She wasn't happening in this film but given the right director, she will happen." Koi audience se bhi to poochhe...

LOVE ALL: Singh and Mishra

Look Who're Friends Now

The BJP-led coalition in Uttar Pradesh has all the trappings of a Hindu (un)divided family. It consists of the BJP led by Rajnath Singh and Kalraj Mishra, Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal, Shyam Sunder Sharma's Loktantrik Congress Party, Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, Maneka Gandhi's Jan Shakti, Sharad Yadav's Janata Dal (United), Ram Asrey Varma's Samata Party, Narendra Singh's Kisan Mazdoor Bahujan Party and R.R. Chaudhury's Lok Parivartan Party.