State-of-the-art radar to be installed at DMIA

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The country will have its first state-of-the-art aviation radar to be installed here early next year.

"The new radar from Italy is now packed and ready for shipment here. It will be able to pick up aviation movements within a radius of 80 miles which is much wider that the 30-mile radius capability of radars at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport," said Adelberto Yap, Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president and chief executive officer.

Yap said the state-of-the-art radar from Italy’s Alenea cost some $9.5 million.

The radar acquisition was initiated by the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), led by its president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Angeles, before the CIAC was revived to manage and operate the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) at the Clark special economic zone.

The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) recently approved the training of 22 DMIA personnel in the handling of the radar by Alenea experts in Italy next month.

"It will take about 15 days for the radar to be shipped to the country. Then about three months will be needed to calibrate it before it can be issued an operational clearance by Alenea, the Air Transportation Office and the CIAC," Yap said.

In 1994, former President Ramos designated Clark as "the future site of the country’s premier international airport," alongside plans to built a modern railway system between Clark and Metro Manila.

Earlier, former NAIA general manager Edgardo Manda urged the DMIA’s full development, saying the NAIA is "not technically ready" for new large aircraft to be fielded by Singapore Airlines in 2006.

"NAIA’s main runway 06-24 can absorb the impact of the double-decker Airbus 380, but the aircraft’s wingspan is so wide that it would reach up to the taxiway. This means that all other aircraft would have to wait until the Airbus 380 has either parked or taken off, thus resulting in delays of flights," Manda said.

Manda said the 2,500-hectare DMIA has two runways, each 3.2 kilometers long, but its passenger terminal, left behind by the US Air Force which abandoned this former military base in 1991, can accommodate only about 1.5 million passengers a year.

The government is also developing a modern railway system between Clark and Metro Manila to complement plans to transform the DMIA into a premier international airport.