Detachment 'Tigru' exceeds 10,000 hours of aerial surveillance in Romania

• The air surveillance radar is deployed in the NATO Enhanced Air Policing-RDR mission.

The AN/TPS-43M surveillance radar of the Mobile Air Control Group (GRUMOCA), deployed in the Romanian town of Schitu, has exceeded 10,000 hours of aerial surveillance.

After more than 15 months of deployment, the 'Tigru' Airborne Detachment is effectively fulfilling its mission, ensuring the availability and sustainment of an air surveillance radar in Romania and thus contributing to strengthening the Allied presence on NATO's Eastern Flank.

Fully engaged in air defence

Being responsible for the operation and maintenance of the AN/TPS-43M radar, the 'Tigru' Detachment has been playing a key role in ensuring the high operational readiness of the weapon system, as well as the effective integration of radar data into the NATO Air Defence System through the Bucharest-based CRC (Control and Reporting Centre) Crystal.

Technical Skills and Staff Preparation

The high operational readiness achieved during the deployment period once again demonstrates the effectiveness of the training plans and technical training of personnel, as well as the rigorous technical evaluations carried out on an ongoing basis by the Air Surveillance and Air Control System of the Spanish Air and Space Forces on National Territory.

In this way, GRUMOCA, supported by personnel assigned to the Air Surveillance Squadrons, faces this challenge with the same guarantees with which they face the permanent mission of surveillance and control of national sovereign airspace on National Territory (24 hours a day, 365 days a year).

For its part, and based on the national Logistics Concept, the Air and Space Army's Logistics Centre for Transmissions (CLOTRA) continues to lead the logistics chain with great effectiveness.

Innovations and Technological Improvements

Throughout the 15 months of deployment, the 'Tigru' Detachment has implemented significant improvements to develop its operational capabilities. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the implementation of the Radar Performance Analysis Software (RPAS) tool for the analysis and recording of radar data, which has strengthened the aerial surveillance capability, enabling, in addition, the optimisation of the quality of the data obtained.

The infrastructure of the detachment has been upgraded to ensure greater autonomy in the event of a commercial power supply failure. Likewise, adjustments have been made to the air conditioning system of the weapons system, ensuring adequate environmental conditions for the sensitive and complex technology associated with the air surveillance radars.