Future space-based surveillance provider Aireon announced agreements with two Russian organizations to evaluate the benefits of using its automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system in Russian Federation airspace. The evaluation could lead Russia to join Aireon’s international grouping of air navigation service providers (Ansps).  

In a June 20 release, Aireon said it signed a memorandum of agreement with Moscow-based JSC Azimut, a provider of radio communications and ATC automation systems to the State Air Traffic Management Corporation—Russia’s Ansp—and JSC Infocom-Avia, which operates aviation information services in Russia.

Partnered with Ansps, Aireon will provide a surveillance system over oceanic and polar regions using ADS-B receivers carried as hosted payloads on new Iridium Next satellites. The McLean, Va.-based company is a joint venture of Iridium Communications and Ansps Nav Canada, the Irish Aviation Authority, ENAV of Italy and Naviair of Denmark. Other named launch customers include UK NATS, Air Traffic and Navigation Services of South Africa, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Curacao’s DC-ANSP.

Plans call for the space-based ADS-B service to begin operating in 2018, shortly after the Iridium Next constellation is deployed. The first Iridium Next launch is scheduled for September 12, when the company will launch 10 satellites using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier this month, Aireon announced that manufacturer Harris Corporation has completed production of all 81 ADS-B payloads for the satellites.

“This is an extremely important step for Aireon,” Cyriel Kronenburg, the company’s vice president of aviation aervices, said of the latest agreements. “The Russian Federation’s airspace spans over 26 million square kilometers and accounts for over 12.5 percent of the world with over 1.4 million flights per year. With Russia’s remote, polar and oceanic areas, Aireon is the logical next step in air traffic surveillance for this vast region.”