Radar techs keep combat zone airspace safe

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Andrew Gates
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  The sky over here is filled with aircraft around the clock -- A-10 Thunderbolt IIs share airspace with cargo aircraft and helicopters.

Keeping those aircraft safe is an important and daunting task; but a team of Airmen recently installed new equipment to make that task a little easier.

“We installed equipment to provide a remote tower display to air traffic controllers,” said Staff Sgt. Phillip MacMillen, one of three radar technicians who installed the new equipment. “This equipment gives the controllers a basic picture of the local airspace. They can better see where the aircraft are and keep them separated.”

The equipment, the Mobile Radar Navigation-25, was developed in 1998. This particular unit was the second of three built for the Air Force so far, Sergeant MacMillen said. The first is used for training at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., the radar team’s home station. The third is also being set up in Afghanistan at Kandahar.

It contains both precision-approach and airport-surveillance radar. The approach radar provides controllers the information they need to give pilots precise guidance for landing, and the surveillance radar surveys the traffic in the area around an airport. With a combined radar system and one operations shelter, the equipment takes a lot less airlift to bring into theater.

Since it is smaller, it also takes less time to set up.

“It takes four people a few hours to set it up and ... tell the system exactly where it is on the Global Positioning System,” Sergeant MacMillen said. “Once the equipment is aligned and flight-checked, the equipment is ready to conduct operations, usually in a matter of days instead of about a week.”

Maintaining the equipment is as easy as setting it up, said Senior Airman Wade Evans, the other member of the Bagram team. A built-in testing program tells what equipment needs to be fixed, though the team sometimes needs to troubleshoot tricky problems.

“The most I have ever had to do is replace cables and motors -- simple stuff,” he said.

The equipment works with the tactical air traffic control radar equipment previously used at Bagram, Sergeant MacMillen said. The old equipment contains approach radar that can focus on longer ranges, while the new one is specifically for obtaining a local-area picture. Combined, the two allow the air traffic controllers to maintain visibility of all the airspace.

“We use the (new system’s) approach radar for daily operations, as well as the remote tower display, since (it) is more precise,” he said. “We use the (old system’s) airport surveillance radar, since it can ‘see’ a bit farther.”

The equipment’s precision is a key element to making it extremely effective here, Airman Evans said.

“You can tell within a few feet how far the aircraft is off the correct course,” he said.

That precision helps the air traffic controllers here get accurate airfield information. The remote tower display gives controllers a visual means of seeing what happens on the airfield, Sergeant MacMillen said.

“It’s a lot easier to look at a radar scope to see what’s going on in the (space) around the airport than it is to use binoculars and visually examine the field,” he said. “It also helps during nighttime operations -- many times aircraft here may not use lights at night for operational safety. This radar display gives the air traffic controllers precise information on where the aircraft are at night.”

In addition, the Airmen are teaching the civilian air traffic management team here how to operate and maintain the equipment. Soon, they will turn the new system over to the Air Force contract augmentation team that controls air traffic, Sergeant MacMillen said.