Grant Agreement Signing between VATM and USTDA

The Grant Agreement is entered into between the Government of the United States of America, acting through the U.S Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Viet Nam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM) as the Grantee.

USTDA has approved the selection by the Grantee of I.M Systems Group, Inc. (IMSG) as the Contractor to deliver the Technical Assistance.

Disbursement of Grant Funds will be made directly by USTDA to the Contractor when USTDA has approved the Secondary Contract between VATM as the Grantee and IMSG as the Contractor. Payment will be made in accordance with the deliverables approval by VATM.

The key content of the project is to establish the Numerical Weather Prediction Model via the operation of the eIAWS^® (Enterprise Integrated Aviation Weather System) trial version, of which input data are the data of the global model and the local weather observation data (data from surface weather observation, weather radar, satellite images of cloud…) available in Viet Nam via data assimilation process in order to improve the accuracy of the forecast. During the trial of eIAWS^®, the Contractor will adjust the system parameters to ensure the output’s accuracy for forecast complied with the operational requirements.

The Aviation Meteorological Service is one of five Air Navigation Services provided by the Viet Nam Air Traffic Management Corporation. In recent years, following the direction of the Government and the Ministry of Transport regarding the orientation, development plan of the Aviation Meteorological Service, VATM has been focusing on the development and implementation of the plan to improve the aviation weather forecasting capabilities for the safety of flights operating in the area of responsibility. SYNOP, a traditional forecasting method is currently the main method of weather forecasting, has been improved but still remains some limits.

The Technical Assistance should support improving the weather forecasting capabilities in Viet Nam. Meteorological staff and users who are involved in Air Traffic Management, Air Traffic Flow Management will have opportunities to practice advanced forecasting methods, weather products with high accuracy and more operational relevance. On the other hand, while Viet Nam is studying and investing in new operational capabilities to meet future demand, this Technical Assistance of USTDA shall test a tailored solution and open opportunities for export of the U.S.

The project performance duration is expected to be 21 months since the contract signing between VATM and IMSG and shall finish by 31/12/2023.