NEW DELHI, February 23: The fourth major test conducted on the new state-of-the-art Raytheon radar at the Indira Gandhi International Airport recently has failed. In a report submitted on February 20 to the Integrated Planning Cell of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), controllers pointed out nearly two dozen flaws in the equipment.The test for Aerodrome Surveillance Detection Equipment was scheduled to be conducted for 72 hours beginning on February 16, but as the system would collapse after every 24 hours, it was extended to five days and concluded on February 20.
``The equipment was unable to show the view of the complete operational area which includes the runway, taxiway and apron,'' said a controller.
The equipment failed to give a warning when there were two reciprocal targets moving on the runway. For example, if there was a jeep and aircraft moving in the opposite direction, the equipment failed to give a warning, said a controller who conducted the test.
Hangers 1, 2 and 3 wereindicating permanent targets/objects, whereas according to the specifications, a stationery target should not be shown as a warning. Another flaw in the system was that if a jeep moving on a runway halted for five minutes, the radar would drop its picture. ``If the same jeep moved after five minutes, the picture would not show on the monitor,'' a controller clarified.
Objects less than or equal to one square meter like a man crossing the runway or a two-wheeler could not be captured by the radar. ``We are still very uncomfortable with the equipment as it does not meet the requirement,'' an air traffic controller said.
AAI, member, Planning, K Ramalingam said he was aware that the controllers had prepared a report but had not gone through it. ``I will go through the reports and accordingly ask Raytheon to make amends.''
Three tests conducted on the Raytheon radar failed. The first shake-down test was conducted between October 20 and 24, 1997, the second between October 30 and November 6, 1997 and thethird between January 15 and 17, 1998. In May 1997, a System Site Acceptance Test conducted in the presence of the Federal Aviation Administration on the system failed.
The contract for installing the communication and navigation radar was part of a modernisation project for Delhi and Mumbai airports, which was granted by AAI to the US company Raytheon under an agreement signed on March 19, 1993.
The radar was first to be commissioned on October 31, 1995. The target date was then extended to December 1996, then to March 31, 1997. This was later changed to May and then to October 1997. As a result of the delay, the cost of the project escalated from Rs 352 crore to Rs 423 crore.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
