DRUGS SHIPS & DRONES ON OUR RADAR
€500m deal for new system ‘close’
THE Government is to buy a new primary radar system that can track down drones, unidentified aircraft and shipping to stop the drug-smuggling gangs.
The Lockheed Martin TPY-4 is expected to cost between €300million to €500million although the final price is not agreed yet.
Analysts believe it woulde take four years before it is fully installed and operational.
Sources say the deal to buy the system should be concluded by the end of this year at the latest.
The radar will be placed at three different locations so targets can be spotted up to 300 miles away in the air and off shore.
The purchase of the primary radar is the most serious step by the State in decades to increase and improve national security.
At the moment any aircraft or drone that does not have a transponder can fly unidentified across our airspace.
Narco gangs have been using drones, small aircraft and ships which the Defence Forces have been unable to identify to smuggle hundreds of millions of euro worth of cocaine into the country.
UNDETECTED
For every major drug seizure, the authorities believe at least five times that amount is landed undetected.
The new system will also help improve the defence of vital deep sea communication cables off the west coast where Russian vessels have been spying in recent years.
A Government source said: “A deal on the radar system is close.
“As everybody can see from the Ukraine war, drones now play a vital role in modern warfare and the radar will be able to spot them.
“But more importantly it will give us extra defence in the war against the Narco gangs and their use of drones and small aircraft to fly and bring drugs in here.
“We will also be able to identify various shipping vessels around our coastline which will make it more difficult to bring drugs ashore. The radar should be able to pick up suspect aircraft and vessels from 300 miles away and track them which will give us plenty of time to deal with them if there is anything untoward going on.”
The Government under pressure from EU partners and the US is fully committed to spending the money.
Once installed the radar will be run by a central command and control system under the auspices of the Defence Forces.
No decision has been made where this will be based yet.
Ireland is currently dependent on the RAF to patrol the skies when unidentified aircraft enter our
airspace. The agreement with the RAF is expected to continue for several more years until the Republic has its own fighter jets.
The Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces recommended the purchase of at least eight fighter jets in the coming decade.
The State has had record drug seizures off the coast in the past year including €157million worth of cocaine on the Panama-registered vessel the MV Matthew.
But insiders put that down to luck and bad weather as much as anything else.
Gardai and the Army Rangers played a huge role in securing ships once they were detected.