The German Armed Forces will receive a transportable air-traffic management system for rapid deployment on international missions, including natural disasters and humanitarian crisis. The “airport to-go” containerised solution is being provided by Spanish company Indra in collaboration with the German company Steep.

One of the first obstacles that any armed forces encounter when intervening in remote locations is the lack of infrastructure, including the lack of well-equipped airports where the necessary aid and materials can be sent.

Indra will work with its partner Steep to provide the German Armed Forces with the air traffic management capability of a major airport enclosed in a system that can be loaded into the hold of a A400M military transport aircraft for rapid deployment anywhere on the planet. 

With this solution, Indra said the German Armed Forces gain a strategic capability that strengthens its autonomy and speed of deployment. It said the solution will be a particularly valuable capability in any international operation or NATO mission, in which a high volume of traffic from several nations generally needs to be managed.

Indra will provide two of the main elements of the airbase, including the air traffic management automation system and a new generation 2D primary military radar. The former gives controllers the tools to manage the approaches, takeoffs and landings, whereas the radar is specially designed to support countermeasures (ECCMs: Electronic Counter-CounterMeasures) and operate in contested environments.

The German company Steep will be responsible for the integration of all of the systems in seven modules (control tower, primary and secondary radars, approach radar, workshops, warehouses).

Indra said the technology will allow both military and civilian pilots to operate safely at night as well as during the day and in adverse weather conditions or in low visibility. With higher levels of security, the frequency and number of air movements that the airport can absorb is greater, thus speeding up deployments and the sending of aid. 

Indra has supplied air traffic systems to 160 countries and is NATO’s leading supplier of mobile radars. It is one of three national co-ordinators for the development program for the European air defence system of the future, the NGWS/FCAS. It is also currently the second-largest supplier of avionic systems to the Eurofighter.