MANAUS, Brazil, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso today inaugurated the initial operating capability of the System for
the Vigilance of the Amazon (SIVAM), a $1.4B system that provides
comprehensive electronic surveillance of Brazil's immense and relatively
undeveloped Amazon region.
The ceremony, held in the city of Manaus in the heart of the Amazon, comes
five years to the day after Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) and its partners,
Embraer and ATECH, began work on SIVAM. The project will provide real time
information on conditions across the breadth of the region to a wide range of
government agencies, research institutions and other users. It includes the
capabilities to build one of the world's largest environmental databases.
Under the auspices of the Federal Government in Brasilia, SIVAM is the
first step in Brazil's long range effort to protect and control this unique
natural area that encompasses over half of the country's landmass. The event
is a significant milestone in the realization of Brazilian commitments made at
the UN Conference on the Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in
1992, and SIVAM is a critical asset for maintaining Brazilian sovereignty over
its national territory.
The newly operating SIVAM system uses a diverse array of equipment to
monitor both the surface of the vast Amazon jungle and the national airspace
above it. SIVAM data will be used to support essential Brazilian government
programs, university and private scientific research efforts, and sustainable
development initiatives. It will also help to address the health, educational
and economic needs of Brazilian families and individual citizens. Tied
together by an innovative satellite telecommunications infrastructure, the
system combines data generated by space-based, airborne and surface sensor and
support systems. Satellite remote sensing data are received through the
Government's ground station at Cuiaba and image processing site at Cachoeira
Paulista, which have been upgraded by the National Space Research Institute
(INPE) and Raytheon.
Raytheon-supplied sensors -- including synthetic aperture radars,
multispectral scanners, optical infrared sensors, high frequency direction
finding equipment, and communications and non-communications exploitation gear
-- have been installed onto three remote sensing aircraft, modified versions
of the Embraer ERJ- 145. These jets give users the opportunity for remote
mapping through the dense jungle canopy, forest fire detection, and
photoreconnaissance. On the jungle floor and in the waters of the Amazon
river system itself, Raytheon provides an array of weather and environmental
monitors that provide a real time and comprehensive picture of regional
environmental conditions ranging from meteorological and lightning information
to water characteristics and air and river pollutants.
SIVAM's air traffic control (ATC) and associated airspace surveillance for
the first time provides Brazil with a comprehensive monitoring capability
throughout the region. The system will contain 14 state-of-the-art Raytheon
fixed base air traffic control radars and six transportable radars,
supplemented by five existing government-furnished ATC radars. These ground-
based radars are augmented by five newly developed SIVAM airborne radars, also
adapted ERJ-145s, outfitted with Raytheon and Swedish sensors. Collectively
these radars provide an area-wide monitoring capability permitting vastly
enhanced counter-smuggling, border surveillance and law enforcement operations
over an area the size of the United States west of the Mississippi.
Data from the various airborne and ground-based sensors are sent to and
processed in an Air Surveillance Center located in Manaus, Regional
Coordination Centers located in Manaus, Porto Velho, and Belem, and a General
Coordination Center to be located in Brasilia.
Dick Nelson, Raytheon vice president for SIVAM, said, "Working with the
extremely professional members of the Brazilian Air Force - led by Brigadeiro
Teomar Fonseca Quirico, and earlier by Brigadeiros Marcos Antonio de Oliveira
and Jose Orlando Bellon -- over the past five years has been one of the
highlights of the project. Their operational, technical, and program
management expertise so evident during the development and installation of the
project ensures that SIVAM will meet all of the expectations that the
Brazilian Government had in mind when the system was first conceived over a
decade ago."
With headquarters in Lexington, Mass., Raytheon Company is a global
technology leader in defense, government and commercial electronics, and
business and special mission aircraft.
Contacts:
Patricia Perlini Dave Shea
260.429.5547 703.284.4245
SOURCE Raytheon Company
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Related links:
http://www.raytheon.com
CONTACT:
Patricia Perlini, +1-260-429-5547, or Dave
Shea, +1-703-284- 4245, both of Raytheon
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