Dhaka airport to get better eyes in the skies

Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport will have a new radar system that will cover the entire airspace of  the country.

Sources at the airport said the country's airspace is  now controlled with a 38-year-old radar system and sometimes it is  difficult to detect planes flying over Bangladesh.

With the  installation of the sophisticated radar system at a cost of Tk 730.13  crore, such problems will be over, said officials of Civil Aviation  Authority of Bangladesh.

The existing radar cannot detect all  planes making overflights in Bangladesh's airspace, especially over the  Bay of Bengal. The International Court of Arbitration awarded Bangladesh  the rights to an area of about 19,000 square kilometres in the Bay.

As  a result, Bangladesh cannot collect overflight fees properly, said CAAB  officials. Bangladesh charges a minimum of $500 in overflight fees.

"The  country's airspace will be more secure, aviation will be safer, and  revenues from our aviation sector will go up with the setting up of the  new radar and ATC [air traffic control] towers," said CAAB Chairman Air  Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman.

He said 87 percent of the radar  installation work has been completed. "We have a plan to open the radar  system in October this year."

Mafidur, however, said it may take  another year to make the system fully operational as software  integration work will continue and the whole project will be done by the  middle of 2024. The system is being set up by Thales LAS, a French radar-manufacturing company.

When the radar system will be fully operational, Bangladesh will have full control over its airspace, the CAAB chief said.

Mafidur said, "The existing system is very old. There are many complaints about it."

The CAAB boss said officials were sent to France for training on the radar operations.

"The country's airspace will be more secure, aviation will be safer, and revenues from our aviation sector will go up with the setting up of the new radar and ATC [air traffic control] towers."

— Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman CAAB Chairman

He  added that the base has already been completed where the radar system  will be set up. The tower construction work is going on and it will be  finished on time.

State Minster for Civil Aviation M Mahbub Ali  said the new sophisticated radar would bring the entire airspace of the  country under surveillance.

On October, 2021, CAAB signed an agreement with Thales LAS.

Asked,  aviation expert ATM Nazrul Islam said installation of the new radar  will enhance the capacity of air traffic management system and smooth  air space management within the coverage and expedite traffic  movement.

He added that within territorial airspace, the new radar will help reduce traffic violations as well.