The American firm Raytheon which has developed the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system and Tomahawk missile has won a tender to supply air traffic control systems to the International Airport at Manas, the website of the US Embassy to Kyrgyzstan reported.
"The contract for the supply of an air traffic control system was assigned to Raytheon. In August the US Congress approved the financing of the refurbishment of the air traffic control system in Kyrgyzstan," KyrTAG quoted the Embassy as reporting.
The Embassy says the new system will help strengthen the independence and increased competitiveness of the Kyrgyz Republic and help the country get additional revenue from commercial air transportation that may increase the country's wealth.
"Raytheon engineers and technicians and the US Government will cooperate closely with the state enterprise Kyrgyzaeronavigatsiya to complete the project. Once the project is over, the air traffic control system will be passed fully over to Kyrgyzaeronavigatsiya, which will manage this system aimed at enhancing the safety of every passenger," the report reads.
The Manas Airport project envisages the construction of a new control tower with up-to-date aeronautical equipment. As reported earlier, the project is valued at $30 million.
Kyrgyzaeronavigatsiya reported the equipment currently in use by the Airport's dispatcher service is obsolete and needs to be refurbished.
Raytheon is the US Defence Department's big supplier. It is the developer of anti-aircraft missile system MIM-104 Patriot, and missiles Tomahawk and MIM-23 Hawk.