Uruguay Air Force starts operating Indra radar installed at Montevideo’s Carrasco airport

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of National Defense of Uruguay has advised that Carrasco Airport’s (MVD) Indra MSSR secondary radar is fully operational. The radar started operating on October 24, after the Uruguayan Air Force successfully verified its integration into the system.

“As of 5 PM today, as we promised in Parliament a few weeks ago, the Indra radar that we leased from Spain and that you saw arriving in the Hercules a few weeks ago is fully integrated. So today, October 27, before the end of October, as we promised in Parliament, it is working with the coverage of, among other places, where we are now at Laguna del Sauce airport. So we said that we had the intention of having this radar ready and working before November 1, as it meant to support the season”, said the Minister of Defense, Javier García.

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The Indra MSSR secondary radar will replace the Selex radar at Carrasco Airport, which is awaiting repairs. Through a two-year lease contract, its acquisition implies an expenditure of 970,000 euros as of January 2022. Thus, the radar manufactured by the Spanish company will serve as backup for Uruguay’s airspace control system.

the transfer of the Indra radar was in charge of the Uruguayan Air Force, which sent one of its recently acquired KC-130H Hercules to Spain. The aircraft, registration FAU 595, was selected to transport the radar from Torrejón Air Base.

Regarding the Selex radar, Javier García gave details on the repair work it will undergo, indicating that “we are also working on the Selex radar, of Italian origin, which is awaiting a card -it is a technical issue- coming from Italy, and the director of Dinacia told me that he expects it to be operational in the next days or weeks.”

When it is added, it will be added to the previous situation, because now we will have all the radars plus a backup, which is a novelty that we thought it was reasonable to have in case of any circumstance, knowing that there is always a possibility of backup to the radar system.”