The Czech Republic and Hungary have commissioned two Lockheed Martin-built Air Sovereignty Operations Centres (ASOC), the centrepiece of a multi-national air defence system upgrade and the first of seven such centres to be established in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania in the next two years.
The Hungarian system is sited underground near the city of Veszprem, and the Czech system at air force headquarters at Stara Boleslav. ASOC will combine data from the Soviet-built air defence radar system and civil radars, and will present a real-time military air situation display. The NATO-compatible system will be integrated with three new long-range three-dimensional radars in the next phase of development, which, together with the other units, will form an axis across central Europe from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
The Hungarian Ministry of Defence has funded construction of the system, with aid from the USA. Lockheed Martin won a $10.6 million contract in 1997 to develop hardware and software to convert radar data into ASOC compatible digital information.
Source: Flight International