On August 18th, Brazilian President, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the Minister of Defence, Fernando Azevedo e Silva, the Air Force Commander, Lieutenant Brigadier Antonio Carlos Moretti Bermudez, the Director-General of the Airspace Control Department (DECEA), Lieutenant-Brigadier of the Air Heraldo Luiz Rodrigues, among other authorities, inaugurated the first primary and secondary radar station in Corumba (MS), Brazil. This is the first complete radar station for the air traffic control and border surveillance in the region.
The responsible for providing this project is Omnisys, a Brazilian company, Thales group subsidiary and leader in air traffic control segment. Present in more than 70% of the air space surveillance radars in the country, the company has already manufactured more than 125 radars locally and distributed them throughout the national territory. The radars are exported to countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Local ambitions
To guarantee the security of one nation pass through, necessarily, for the air traffic and border control. The progressive and daily increase in number of new risks and threats makes this protection even more challenging for governments, particularly in such a vast country as Brazil, which the international boundary line measures 6,835 miles.
This scenario requires effective and comprehensive surveillance and control systems that enable the efficient monitoring of the country’s boundaries, improved response time to likely threats, as well as optimized teamwork. The global defence and security industries has been working on the development and improvement of these solutions, offering to the country, especially to the Security and Armed Forces, intelligence instruments with aerial, naval, and terrestrial applications. These instruments can also help the fight against drug trafficking and smuggling in general.
The solution to improve air traffic control
Surveillance radar stations, such as those of the Brazilian Airspace Control System (SISCEAB), that are helping to tackle illicit air traffic, are one of the technologies made available to governments. To enhance the air traffic and border control, The Brazilian Air Force (FAB), represented by the Commission for the Implementation of the Airspace Control System (CISCEA), signed a contract with Omnisys for the supply and setting of three radar stations in the Brazilian Midwest region to improve border control.
Corumbá (MS) is the first site to host said innovation, gaining even more strategic significance in national security, particularly in the fight against drug trafficking, weapon and other types of smuggling. Other two radar stations will be delivered by the beginning of 2021, located in Ponta Porã (MS) and Porto Murtinho (MS).
The stations use primary and secondary radars that has the ability to identify collaborative and non-collaborative aircraft flying at low altitudes. Equipped with the features of which include electronic protection measures and altimeter. The radars also have outstanding accurate in performance and target resolution. The equipment, covering an area between 200 and 250 miles, allows a more comprehensive aerial surveillance, as well as the detection of small aircraft at low or zero speed, such as helicopters. The equipment also detects aircraft at high speeds with maneuvering capabilities, such as the fighter aircraft used by the Brazilian Air Force in their interception activities.
The solutions deployed in defence of the national territory, such as the setting of this radar station in Corumbá (MS), are essential to ensure the protection of the country and its social and economic development, since they allow the use of resources deployed in corrective actions in defence and security structuring policies.