ASECNA, the Agency for Air Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar, and European Space Agency have signed an agreement to deploy a Satellite-based Augmentation System (SBAS) across a service region of more than 16.5m sq. km.
European technology that allows satellite navigation signals to safely guide aircraft down for landing in the majority of Europe’s airports will now be put to use across Africa and the Indian Ocean.
ESA will provide technical support to ASECNA based on Europe’s EGNOS technology and using the Galileo satellites. The system’s initial operational capabilities are projected to enter into service from 2025.
The international cooperation agreement was signed today at ESA’s offices in Paris by Louis Bakienon, Director of the ASECNA SBAS Programme, and Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director-General.
Speaking about the deal, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said: “I welcome this exciting new partnership with Africa. International cooperation has always been an ESA priority; space technology has the potential to improve everyone’s lives, and by working together we get to make that happen. EGNOS technology – designed, developed and demonstrated in Europe – will have its clear safety, environmental and economic benefits extended to African airports, airlines and passengers.”
ASECNA Director-General Mohamed Moussa added: “The implementation of satellite-based augmentation infrastructure will represent a huge step forward towards the unification of the African airspace. Airspace users will benefit across the continent from the most advanced navigation services and will significantly improve the safety and efficiency of their operations, and reduce their environmental impact. This service is sufficiently accurate and reliable to guide aircraft for critical flight operations and will also be valuable across many other important sectors, such as land and maritime transport, precision agriculture, drone navigation, mapping and surveying.”
ASECNA Chairman of the Board Jean Lamy commented: “This programme is part of the Africa-EU strategic partnership on satellite navigation. It provides a solution for the implementation of the navigation and positioning component of the Space Policy of the African Union. It will support the development of a continuum airspace purpose of the single Sky for Africa Project (CUPA Project) developed by ASECNA and which contributes to the African Union’s Single Air Transport Market initiative (SAATM).”
ESA Director of Navigation Javier Benedicto stated: “Together with Galileo, EGNOS is Europe’s other satellite navigation system, which is today in routine use at around 367 European airports and helipads. Through the use of EGNOS, satellite navigation signals become sufficiently accurate and reliable for all kinds of ‘safety-of-life’ uses. ESA, as the original designer of the EGNOS system, is well-placed to advise on the design and establishment of a new augmentation system with our ASECNA partner.”
Didier Flament, overseeing EGNOS for ESA, noted: “Building on past knowhow, this new system will deliver positioning with metre-level accuracy and with a high level of Integrity with a progressive coverage of the continent.”
Louis Bakienon, Director of the ASECNA SBAS Programme, remarked: “SBAS services will enhance navigation operations for all phases of flight, from en-route down to precision approaches, and surveillance operations as well as providing a source of position for terminal and surface surveillance.”
Julien Lapie, Manager of the ASECNA SBAS programme, said: “The ASECNA SBAS programme primarily aims to provide, through a self-sufficient infrastructure, airspace users with advanced navigation services to enhance significantly flight safety and efficiency, reduce their environmental impacts and improve airport accessibility. This programme is a key enabler to the implementation of the Space Policy and Strategy of the Africa Union, and is recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.”
ASECNA provides air navigation services within the airspace of 16.5m sq. km, divided into six flight information regions covering its Member States Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Togo.
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