Indra renews Colombia’s Air Surveillance Network with radars to guarantee maximum safety and the efficiency of its air traffic

Indra is set to further modernize Colombia’s air surveillance network with the delivery of the first of the new radars to be installed in the country. The contract, awarded by Aerocivil, the public entity that manages all the air navigation services in the country, is valued at over €65 million, and it envisages the renewal of over 50% of the current radars.

It’s the largest civil aeronautics contract ever concluded in Colombia and Latin America in terms of volume, but also ambition, as it will entail equipping seven new stations with the latest technology to guarantee maximum safety and the efficiency and sustainability of the civil aviation system, facilitating more seamless air traffic management and, in turn, contributing to greater punctuality.

The project will encompass the planning, design, installation, commissioning, and security of the entire radar renewal process and the construction of new sites throughout Colombia, a large country with complex mountainous terrain, especially the Andes.

“This large-scale project will enable Indra to contribute to improving the air navigation service in each of its phases, and position Colombia as one of the countries in the region with highly efficient, safe, and cutting-edge air navigation services and systems. We’re very proud that leading countries such as Colombia, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with which we recently signed contracts to renew their radar networks, are placing their trust in our state-of-the-art technology to move towards a much more efficient and sustainable aviation model”, declared Victor Martinez, CEO of ATM at Indra.

Indra will deploy seven primary radars (one of them long-range), seven MSSR mode S secondary radars with integrated ADS-B systems, and seven independent ADS-B radars to monitor aircraft movements. The systems will be devoted to ensuring efficient and safe operations in Colombia’s airspace and they will be equipped with the latest technologies to guarantee exchanges of information during the different take-off and flight phases, both en route and during approaches to the country’s main airports.

The primary radars, with 3D functions, will implement the latest technologies to ensure the surveillance of airports and air routes and provide accurate information on aircraft positions, including flight altitudes, even in highly extreme weather conditions, by picking up signals from the ground and natural and human interferences. They will be supported by Indra’s MSSR mode S secondary radars, the most advanced of their kind on the market, with integrated ADS-B systems that automatically collect data during a flight.

In global terms, its technology can be found at over 11,000 air traffic facilities and it contributes to the safety of the passengers who take a flight on any particular day anywhere in the world, given that it plays a part at some point in their journeys.