Video: Between surveillance and detection, why is it important to talk about the radarization of Argentine airspace?

Airspace is a region of thousands of kilometers stretching from the ground to deep space, and monitoring it is essential to ensure national security. In this context, radars have positioned themselves as essential tools.

Information: recently, the Ministry of Defense installed two in Entre Ríos and Tierra del Fuego. Regarding the latter, shortly after its installation, it was able to detect presumed irregular flights from Chile and which would have had the Malvinas Islands as their destination.

THE UNIVERSE BEHIND THE RADARS

In 2004, Argentina approved the creation of the National Aerospace Surveillance and Control System (SINVICA) with the aim of protecting national interests. Since then, the Argentine Air Force has become responsible for the defense, surveillance and control of airspace. Today, the radars operate 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and the information they collect is processed by the Joint Aerospace Command.

Basically, the first part of the process aims to determine the existence of an airmobile in a given space: detection. Then, the staff seeks to identify and decide if it is a declared flight or if it is an irregular aircraft. If he were to deal with the latter, a third activity is activated, which is interception. “This system allows the Argentine Republic to have the capacity to exercise its sovereignty. With these tools, we can see the air movement and the presence of the exercise,” says Vice Commodore Alejandro Avellaneda of Merlo Military Air Base. In this sense, the officer, who is currently the acting head of the base, clarifies that this is a matter that, in order to materialize, involves both sensors and personnel, communications, logistic elements and weapon systems, which in this case are aircraft.

What is interception? “This is the time when the personnel guide their own plane and guide it to the irregular flight with the aim that the pilot can determine what irregularity the plane has. Once intercepted, the information is transmitted to the Security Forces, who will decide whether or not to accompany the plane to where it will land – where the FF will be waiting for it SS.– Or, if offered to you, at your own airfield. evolves”, answers Avellaneda, while specifying: “There are responsibilities which are the responsibility of the Air Force and others which are the responsibility of the Security Forces. We have a complementary activity”.

THE INVAP INTERVENTION

It should be noted that during the Falklands War, radars were a fundamental part of the defense of the archipelago. But, over time, the radars that the country had begun to deteriorate and the various projects that existed for their update never materialized.

The year 2003 was a key moment for this whole process, since it was then that the bases for the production of national terrestrial radars were laid, this time by INVAP, since the firm was able to benefit from the experience of the frequency used in its satellites. Since then, Argentina has been working on mechanisms for observing, controlling and identifying flights that are not declared and that do not comply with reporting mechanisms. Indeed, the Joint Aerospace Command was in charge of air surveillance and control during the CELAC summit.

DEF spoke with engineer Darío Giussi, during a visit to INVAP, and explained that the company has been working on this issue for almost 20 years and that, although it also extends to other areas of defence, three sovereign radar programs are being processed. for Argentina: “In principle, its commercial air traffic, with secondary radars, has given rise to non-collaborative aerospace surveillance and control, which is a defense matter and is operated by the Argentine Air Force. And, finally, the weather radar system which is for civilian use but which has an impact in Argentina due to its importance for the detection of severe climatic phenomena impacting agricultural activities”.

In the words of Giussi, the developed space activity began with a first radar, that of Southcom, which is a synthetic aperture (on a satellite). “We have developed a technology that is extremely important and that few countries in the world dominate, which is used in the field of defense and others. To date, we have produced more than 100 radars: it’s a booming business,” he says from Río Negro. In addition, he adds that, in addition to those mentioned, the company is working on airborne radars for the Air Force’s Pucará Fénix system and for Argentine Navy platforms. “We are working on new Anti-Aircraft Defense radars for the Armed Forces, on a new generation of RPA radars, which we are exporting to Nigeria; which represents a milestone for Argentine technology,” he concludes.

A QUESTION OF SOVEREIGNTY

As Merlo explains, the SINVICA decree, and the resulting program, provides for a finite number of sensors. “Today they are gradually materializing and we are in the process of covering all the provisions of the decree”, explains Avellaneda.

For him, the importance of these tools is due to the obligation we have to preserve our natural resources: “Each country has the obligation to exercise its sovereignty over different points, whether territorial, maritime or aerospace. This allows a State to preserve what belongs to it and, in a certain way, to regulate and control that there are no violations by third parties to seize the natural wealth of the Argentine Republic. In short, the SINVICA capability provides support to the State when it comes to exercising sovereignty in the airspace. According to Avellaneda, its tools allow the state to know who is flying over hotspots in the country, what and when they are entering or what they are leaving and when they are leaving. “The decree grants, in this case to the Air Force, the tools necessary to ensure this exercise of sovereignty”, he concludes.

It should be noted that recently, months after the installation of the radar in Río Grande, the X Air Brigade reopened in the capital of Santa Cruz, Río Gallegos. The Pampa III aircraft was assigned to him as a permanent crew. Thus, after almost 27 years, the unit again had combat aircraft. “In the 21st century, we have the challenge of maintaining our presence, of monitoring and controlling our spaces and of paying attention to scientific, technological and defense development”, acknowledged Minister Jorge Taiana on this occasion.

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