Article Posted on : - May 15, 2023

Indian Naval Ship Hansa, a Naval Air Station, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 05 Sept 1961. Photo: Indian Navy/Facebook

PANAJI (PTI): Goa-based INS Hansa has become the first Joint-User International Aerodrome in the South-Asia Pacific region to be augmented with the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approach, a senior Navy official said on Friday.

The Indian Navy spokesperson said that the RNP approach will reduce dependency for navigation on ground-based equipment such as Very-High Frequency Omni Directional Radio (VOR) and Instrument Landing System (ILS).

"This RNP approach will provide near Category-I ILS accuracies, thereby aiding unhindered flying operations even when the aforementioned equipment are unserviceable/ under maintenance," he added.

The spokesperson further said that this capability was achieved through dedicated and concerted efforts of the Indian Navy and Airports Authority of India (AAI).

"A team of AAI officials visited the Air Station between April 7-8, 2022, towards formulation of Letters of Agreement (LOA) between INS Hansa and Manohar International Airport," he said.

During the discussions, the AAl offered to revise all the Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs) of INS Hansa and also design RNP approaches for both the runways, the spokesperson added.