19.07.2020.
Minister Vulin: After 21 years, airport lightingsystem renewed at the Batajnica Airport
The Minister of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin, visited works on thereconstruction of the runway lighting system at the Batajnica Airport “Colonel-Pilot Milenko Pavlović”.
Minister Vulin pointed out that 21 years after the bombing of the Batajnica Airport during the NATO aggression, we have finally renewed its lighting system and we have finally made it safer, more secure, better and equalized it with all military airports in Europe and the world.
- As of tonight, this airport is safe for our pilots to fly both at night and in bad weather. As of tonight, flying at the Batajnica Airport will be much safer and the conditions under which our pilots work will not differ from their colleagues’ around the world – the minister of defence said.
We will continue to invest in military aviation and airport infrastructure, Minister Vulin said.
- We will not stop until we fully equate our pilots’ working conditions with their colleagues’, regardless of what superpowers the latter fly for. This is a big victory for us, this is a historic night, this is a moment when we have returned the Batajnica Airport to where it was before the bombing and significantly improved it. This is state-of-the-art lighting, these are the best world solutions, and we have always had the best pilots in the world. Besides having the best aircraft, they now have airport infrastructure like any other airport in the world, Minister Vulin pointed out, adding that we will continue to invest in infrastructure and aircraft, but also in people, because they are what is the best and the most important.
Assistant Commander for Operations of the 204th Air Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Dejan Beda said that the first phase of reconstruction of the airport lighting systemhas been completed at the “Colonel-Pilot MilenkoPavlović” airport and that Runway 1 and a part of the manoeuvringareas have been completed during this phase.
- For the first time since 1999, Runway 1 has got a lighting system again and usability at night-time and in poor visibility for military aircraft, while for civil aircraft only in conditions of visibility or poor visibility with higher meteorological minima.The lighting system that is being installed at the airport consists of modern lamps and it is applicable everywhere in the world and it meets both civil and military standards of the East and West. This is very important for the 204th Air Brigade because this will increase the number of night operations – said Lieutenant Colonel Beda and added that, in addition to that, the airport received a modern system that can be upgraded in the future.
According to him, this is also important for the training of young pilots because they are brought to the levels that have been applied in civil and other aviation in keeping with current trends.
Reconstruction of the lighting system is divided into six phases, according to the project, and currently, the first phase has been completed with Runway 1 being put into operation for military aircraft only, for the time being.
In the first phase, a completely new lighting system,which was completely destroyed after 1999, is being installed on Runway 1, and on Runway 2, the existing one was reconstructed.
In the first phase, edge lighting has been installed on Runway 1, as well as taxiway lighting on aprons A and B, lighting system control station has been reconstructed, as well as new approach lights and PAPI lighting system with wind cones, which did not exist on this part of the runway before.
In the second phase, which has begun, the reconstruction of the existing system on Runway 2 is being carried out, as well as a reconstruction of a part of manoeuvring areas for the needs of the duty unit.
In phases 3-6, attention will be paid to the reconstruction and construction of the remaining elements of the lighting system on specific parts of the airport, after which conditions will be created for the airport to fully meet all the standards of international civil air-traffic and military standardsof STANAG and GOST systems.
The airport was also visited by State Secretary Bojan Jocić, Deputy Commander of Air Force and Air Defence, Brigadier General Željko Bilić, Commander of the 204th Air Brigade, Colonel Brane Krnjajić and Head of the Infrastructure Department, Colonel Radmilo Kravić.
