Leonardo has announced two new ATC contracts in Africa. The announcement — made at African Air Show 2017 (24th-26th October in Accra, Ghana) — covers ATC systems for Somalia and Sudan.

The first contract was signed with ICAO in Montreal on behalf of the Federal Government of Somalia. Leonardo, with the support of its local subsidiary Selex ES Technologies Limited (SETL, based in Kenya), will provide a national Area Control Centre (ACC) as well as three tower control centres for three major airports, for a total of 16 operator control positions, along with a VHF radio system and satellite network.

The systems are scheduled to be operational by mid-2018 and will guarantee the total management and control of Somali air traffic. The national area control centre will integrate a wide range of products and tools to comply with various operational requirements and Air Traffic Management environments, ranging from large, nation-wide, en-route area control centres to small approach and tower control units.

Leonardo will also provide the Sudan Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) with a nation-wide Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) network and will upgrade four secondary radar systems, which SCAA acquired in 2009 from Leonardo and are currently operational in Khartoum, Port Sudan, Dongola and El Obeid.

The secondary radars will be upgraded to the SIR-S/I model to guarantee unambiguous aircraft identification, improved situational awareness and safety enhancements, with embedded ADS-B functionality in a smaller system that is easier to maintain. The systems and the upgrade will be commissioned starting mid-2018