Oro navigacija and Aviation Equipment Manufacturer, Indra, are developing a Centre of Excellence in Vilnius

The Lithuanian Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) SE Oro navigacija and the aviation equipment manufacturer Indra have signed a Memorandum of Understanding whereby they have agreed on evaluating possibilities of developing a Centre of Excellence in Vilnius and have also defined the fields of activity in which they intend to collaborate.

“We seek to combine our knowledge, capacities and experience, in order provide our potential customers not individual products and services but the entire package of services of ATM system. For this purpose, at the beginning of March we signed a document consolidating our collaboration”, says Mindaugas Gustys, CEO of SE Oro navigacija.

Both Indra and Oro navigacija plan involvement in Research and Development, customisation of products such as ATM systems developed by the iTEC Alliance, whose member Oro navigacija is, to the needs of other ANSPs, testing new functionalities and training.

In the Memorandum of Understanding, the scope of activities and distribution of functions have been envisaged: Oro navigacija will be responsible for provision of technical consultations in the operational domain to other ANSPs, while Indra for creation of systems, product development, and search for new clients.

It has been planned that in the initial phase the following four fields will be developed: assistance to air navigation service providers in development of new ATM systems (technical consultations, training material, lessons learnt in implementation of iTEC system), security management (investigating potential vulnerabilities of ATM systems to develop effective protection mechanisms), introducing iTEC products to potential customers, and conducting Research and Development on improvement of tools of ATM system and iTEC algorithms. Joint research on integrating drones into airspace is also being planned.

Now Oro navigacija and Indra are drawing up a Project Management Plan (PMP). They have to envisage milestones of project implementation, assign a project team, plan the resources as well as communication on the project. It is envisaged that PMP implementation will start at the end of 2019.