Indian Air Force Soldiers will Train with this Aircraft, Equipped with Numerous Features
The first Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 series production aircraft, TH 4001, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, flew in Bengaluru on Friday.
The ATCs' Guild has raised concerns over the current failure of the Automatic Message Switching System at IGI Airport, describing it as "more than a technical glitch in India's air traffic infrastructure."
In a letter to the Civil Aviation Minister, the Guild stated that the fiasco was a reflection of inadequacies in the nation's aviation communication and navigation preparedness.
The disruption, which occurred between November 6 and 8, 2025, required ATCs to manually handle more than 2,500 daily aircraft movements, including in excess of 1,500 scheduled flights and about 1,000 overflying aircraft.
Describing the failure as "infrastructural, a clear lapse in system maintenance and timely replacement", the Guild noted that the AMSS supplied by Electronics Corporation of India Limited failed because of technical reasons and was restored only after direct ECIL intervention. The system had already surpassed its OEM-supported validity period, while procurement and upgradation had been delayed.
The letter criticized the Airports Authority of India for maintaining an expensive, manpower-heavy model in its Communication, Navigation and Surveillance systems. It stated that while OEMs such as Thales, Indra, Raytheon, ECIL, Honeywell, and BEL offer global lifecycle support with smaller teams, AAI employs approximately 500-600 CNS personnel just to manage about 50 MSSR radar systems. By comparison, OEM ELDIS Pardubice functions radar systems worldwide with only about 250 staff.
The Guild argued that this domestic approach doubles AAI's costs without improving competence, calling for OEM-backed maintenance and support contracts to guarantee accountability and dependability.
It also cautioned that such outdated infrastructure and procurement delays could have extensive safety implications. "ATC is the only real-time safety-critical service in AAI governed by ICAO and DGCA guidelines, where minor errors have direct safety consequences".
The Committee's 380th report, tabled in August 2025, recommended urgent review and modernization of air traffic automation.
To avert future breakdowns, the Guild proposed more than a few structural reforms, including a government-led investigation into the AMSS failure, holding officials accountable, and reviewing automation upgrades at other major airports such as Mumbai and Bengaluru. It also urged the acceptance of redundancy systems, such as parallel AMSS servers and modern automation tools, to guarantee operational continuity.
The Guild stated that despite the AMSS malfunction, ATCs guaranteed safe operations under extreme pressure by generating flight plans manually and coordinating closely with the Air Defence and ECIL engineers for restoration.
Source: NDTV
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