When IAI/ELTA set out to develop its third generation AEW&C system, it faced a major challenge. The customer dictated two apparently incompatible requirements: they wanted a relatively small, high-performance, cost-effective platform, and also wanted a full performance envelope including 360° radar coverage. Tradeoffs and compromises were out of the question.rnELTA had built AEW&C systems before. The first, actually the very first AEW&C system in the world with Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, had been built in the early nineties and had been operational since 1995, but with less than 360° coverage. The second generation of ELTA's AEW&C achieved very high performance and 360° coverage by using "a lot of radar": three large and powerful AESA arrays installed in a large dome on top of a wide body transport aircraft, where weight, volume and power were practically non-issues. Now, ELTA decided to propose equivalent performance on a business jet type aircraft.
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