The AN/TPS-43M radar of the Mobile Air Control Group reaches 1,000 operational hours in the area of operations

• The Air Force Detachment in Romania reaches a new milestone

The AN/TPS-43M radar of the Mobile Air Control Group (GRUMOCA) deployed in Romania as part of the NATO air policing operation reached 1,000 operational hours outside Spanish territory.

The Tigru Detachment radar arrived on 20 October after a complicated one-week multimodal crossing. Once deployed in Romania, it took only three days to acquire the system's in-area operational capability, integrated with the Balotesti Surveillance and Control Centre. Since then, it has logged 1,000 hours of service monitoring allied airspace.

The AN/TPS-43M radar has been operating in the GRUMOCA, providing service to the Air Force since 2001. Over the last 20 years, as a mobile element of the Command and Control System, it has been deployed to restore the surveillance capacity of the Air Surveillance Squadrons (EVA) whenever required and has participated in different exercises and activations, such as the Sirio, the Romeo-Sierra operation, the Spanish-American Summit and the Eagle Eye.