Today, Tuesday, April 4, the largest military transport aircraft of the Argentine Air Force will transport the RPA-200MC to Nigeria, being the first export of an Argentine radar.
After intense days of preparation, packing and loading, the primary 3D radar, for civilian use, finally left for the African country where it will be then deployed. This is the first radar to be supplied by INVAP to Jampur International FZE, a company from the United Arab Emirates, which is responsible for the provision of airport equipment required by the Federal Ministry of Aviation of Nigeria to improve the safety of civil aviation operations in that country.
The Hercules will make a number of refueling stops and is scheduled to land on April 6 in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, where final integration and customer trials will take place.
As for the radar, its modern design places it at the forefront of this type of radars. These systems make use of techniques considered state-of-the-art in the field, known as Software Defined Radars. It has cutting-edge solid-state amplifiers and an antenna active with Digital Beam Forming.
It can operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with high availability, minimum preventive maintenance and low logistical and operational costs throughout its life cycle. The radar can be remotely operated and is integrated with air traffic management (ATM) systems as well as multi-sensor command and control systems, minimizing the number of personnel required to operate it.
The Engineer Darío Giussi, Manager of the Defense, Security and Environment Area, said: “We consider this high-tech export a milestone for our company and an achievement for the country. This achievement has been driven by the government investment in the development of radars, led by INVAP and a group of national companies and scientific and technological entities. This process, developed during more than 20 years, has generated personnel, knowledge and capabilities of the highest value and potential. It has already materialized in successful programs within the scope of the Ministry of Defense, including space radar technology and the implementation of the National Aerospace Surveillance and Control System (SINVICA in Spanish) for the defense of our sovereignty; and those aimed at aviation safety, as well as the meteorological radars program, among others. And, as in all our activities, the institutional support and the guarantees for exporting that the Province of Río Negro always provides us with are essential for the successful completion of our projects.”
This great step, a historic one in INVAP’s activity, also taken with the support of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, allows the company to access a new market in the African continent, and thus to advance in its development as a supplier of radar technology and mission-critical systems at international level.
