EADS Defence & Security (DS) has delivered to the flight safety branch of the German Air Force the worldwide first air traffic control network based on the latest EUROCONTROL standard Mode S. This Mode S Cluster guarantees the automatic guidance of civil and military aircraft in an area of 1,700 by 1,500 km.

For the project, RAMOS, Defence Electronics, an integrated business unit of DS, has equipped six long-range surveillance radars with the MSSR 2000 I monopulse secondary surveillance radar systems. These systems provide an overview of the air situation based on interrogations and automatic replies from individual aircraft. MSSR 2000 I is only the second radar in the world certified according to the latest civil and military air traffic control standards.

The MSSR 2000 I systems establish a Mode S Cluster network that safely guides all aircraft in the area. In a Mode S Cluster network, each individual aircraft that is equipped with a Mode S transponder can be identified and tracked automatically without the need for individual radar target acquisition because of autonomous target data handover from one radar station to the other.

In the military field, MSSR 2000 I is used for automatic friend-or-foe identification. It is deployed on German naval vessels and used by the armed and naval forces of France, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Slovakia, Lithuania, Uruguay and Malaysia. For air traffic control purposes it is in service in such countries as Portugal, Bulgaria and the Philippines.