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U.S. Supports India's Efforts To Modernize Air Traffic Control

Bilateral agreement focuses on promoting space-based navigation

The United States has pledged to provide India with further technical assistance and other support for developing and modernizing that country's air traffic control system.

Under an agreement signed November 13 in New Delhi by the two countries, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) committed to helping India advance the development of ground-based Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN), which, coupled with the Indian satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS), will constitute an independent satellite navigation system.

This project is the cornerstone of India's efforts to modernize its air traffic control system and civil aviation in general, according to experts. The technology has the potential to increase the capacity, safety and efficiency of the country's air navigation by allowing precision approaches to India's airports and direct routing between destinations. More specifically, it enhances navigation in all phases of flight, makes routing more flexible and efficient, increases safety of landing and offers better guidance at lower cost. In the future, combined with U.S. and other national efforts, GAGAN can be the backbone of a global system endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

"India is an important player in our effort to create a seamless global satellite navigation system," said Marion Blakey, FAA administrator, who signed the agreement on behalf of the United States.

"I am pleased that we can help them develop their aviation infrastructure to support the growing needs of both India and the international community," she said in an FAA news release.

The United States has worked with India since 2000 to identify synergies in the two large and expanding aviation systems, according to another FAA official.

India is the third-fastest-growing domestic aviation market in the world and is projected to grow by 20 percent per year through 2009. Its international passenger traffic is expected to grow by 10 percent per year through 2010, according to the release.

The main goal of U.S. partnership with India is to promote harmonization of the two satellite navigation systems to make them interoperable, the second official said in a November 13 interview.

An Indian official said that the GAGAN system is intended to bridge the gap between the coverage provided by European and Japanese satellite navigation systems and to facilitate seamless air navigation between East and West.

"India then can become a provider of satellite-based aviation services in neighboring countries in Asia-Pacific," the official wrote in a July 2005 issue of Coordinates, an Indian trade publication.

In 2004, the U.S. company Raytheon won the contract for the first phase of the GAGAN project - construction of a ground-based network of computerized stations designed to increase the accuracy of navigation applications. In July, the company successfully completed a preliminary test of the network, according to its news release.

The Raytheon project uses the Wide Area Augmentation System technology developed by the FAA.

The FAA said that U.S. support for the certification of GAGAN for use in India's airspace could be the first project under the new agreement.

The agreement also provides for U.S. air traffic control training for India's controllers and cooperation with that country's aviation experts on aviation safety regulations, standards and other issues.

A press release on the agreement can be found on the FAA Web site.

Text of the Raytheon press release on the testing of GAGAN is available on the company's Web site.

Source: U.S. Department of State