Russian hads aircraft being shared to Mitigate Collision Risks

The militaries of at least two Baltic and Scandinavian countries have begun sharing primary radar information with civilian air traffic control (ATC) authorities over concerns of Russian aircraft operating in the region without transponders, IHS Jane'swas told on 17 December.

Russian hads aircraft being shared to Mitigate Collision Risks

Speaking during a media tour of Amari Airbase near the northern coast of Estonia, the chief of the country's air force, Colonel Jaak Tarien, said his country and Finland have begun this sharing of information to try and mitigate the risks these Russian aircraft pose to commercial air traffic.

"It has been a concern for commercial air traffic for a while now that Russian aircraft are flying with no transponders, no flight plans, and without voice contact with ATC. In Estonia we now share our primary radar information with civil ATC. I believe that Finland does this also, but all the nations [in the Baltic region] need to do this now," 

For some months, NATO and Western officials have been warning of the dangers to commercial air traffic from these undeclared Russian flights. At the beginning of November, NATO released a statement on the increased number of Russian military flights in the region that said, "The bomber and tanker aircraft from Russia did not file flight plans or maintain radio contact with civilian air traffic control authorities and they were not using on-board transponders. This poses a potential risk to civil aviation as civilian air traffic control cannot detect these aircraft or ensure there is no interference with civilian air traffic."

This warning was followed in mid-December by reports of near-collisions between airliners and Russian military aircraft on at least two occasions. In the first, which took place earlier in the year, a flight operated by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) came within 100 m of a Russian military aircraft, while in the second, in December, another SAS airliner came close to hitting a Russian aircraft over Sweden. According to Swedish authorities, on each occasion the Russian aircraft was either not fitted with a transponder or had turned it off.

A transponder is a radio receiver that enables a civilian ATC operator to acquire, identify, and track an aircraft on secondary radar. Russian military aircraft transiting the Baltic region without transponders are effectively invisible to civilian ATC, which uses this secondary radar.

While the military's primary radar can detect and track an aircraft, it cannot identify it and its coverage is more limited than secondary radar. Even so, in receiving the military's primary radar information, the civilian ATC authorities at least have an idea that there are aircraft in the vicinity and can clear commercial air traffic around it.