Czech firm Eldis, AAI set up radar maintenance facility

National airports operator AAI has set up a repair and maintenance facility for Eldis radars in partnership with the Czech radar manufacturer at an investment of around Rs 30 crore. The new facility, inaugurated by Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra along with Czech Republic ambassador Milan Hovorka Monday is expected to cater to the maintenance and repair requirement of Eldis radars in the Asia Pacific region going forward, an official release said.

The Specialized Maintenance Unit (SMU) will help in reducing the turnaround time of repair of unserviceable modules of the radars, thereby reducing the downtime of the important surveillance facility of Indian air space, the AAI said. More than 80 per cent of Indian air space is under the coverage of radars.

The SMU has been provided with a customised repair facility from Eldis along with required manpower training, hardware/software tools, among others, at a total cost of around Rs 30 crore, it said.