In 2019, a contract was signed for the supply of a functional ATM system and a simulator for APP (approach) and TWR (tower) for the Department of Civil Aviation Myanmar at Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw, airports in Myanmar. We participated in the project with our strategic business partner from Japan, NEC Corporation, a supplier of radars and hardware. We have successfully cooperated with NEC Corporation for more than 10 years on international projects, e.g. in Bangladesh, Malawi or Nepal.
The project in Myanmar was supposed to be completed in October 2021. Due to the global Covid pandemic, restrictions on air transport and due to the security situation in Myanmar, the project had to be suspended after internal FAT tests. At the beginning of 2023, the work was resumed, and in a short time the project team managed to prepare the system and travel to the customer in Myanmar. We successfully deployed our system at all three airports, trained technicians and operators.
It was the first complete deployment of the modern ICZ LETVIS ATM system with new applications ICZ LETVIS CWS, ICZ LETVIS MST, ICZ LETVIS URDI and other modules. The delivery also included a simulator that allows controllers to train air traffic control and at the same time can fulfill the function of a backup system.
The series of business trips was successfully completed in July 2023 by signing the SAT tests and confirming that the supplied system meets the technical specification. The trial operation of the system was successfully completed in mid-July 2023.
Cooperation with NEC Corporation has been very successful for a long time, and together we manage to implement orders in exotic territories and contribute to making air transport in Asian and African countries as safe and reliable as possible. For ALES, this project has another benefit. In that for several team members it was their first foreign project and they gained a lot of essential work experience. In addition to their work duties, colleagues had the opportunity to get to know an unconventional and relatively unknown country. As evidenced by the attached photos.
In the words of Katarína Galajdová, Director general of ALES a.s.:
„The implementation and completion of this project is a milestone for our core product. It represents the first ever deployment of a complete new generation system – ICZ LETVIS ATM. In particular, the system implementation phase at three airports at the end user – Department of Civil Aviation Myanmar, was challenging. The installation of the system and the training of operators and technicians were not without capacity problems, due to the health problems of our workers, which affected them directly in Myanmar. Added to this were technical problems, primarily the absence of a stable connection between individual airports on the user’s side. Despite this, it was possible to adhere to the planned schedule and complete the delivery, as evidenced by the successfully implemented Site Acceptance Tests. In October 2023, an inspection flight will take place, which is the last step to verify the correct operation of the radar equipment supplied by NEC and the ATC system supplied by our company. To the entire project team as well as to all workers who in any way participated in the implementation and completion of this project, thanks for their work and great efforts.“
Myanmar is a mainly Buddhist country in Southeast Asia with a population of over 53 million. Before 1989, it still bore the colonial name of Burma. The capital has been Nay Pyi Taw since 2005. Myanmar´s government has extended the state of emergency. Also for that reason, the accomplishing of the contract was a big challenge for the project team, starting with travel, staying in the country and the actual implementation of the works.
