The Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM) and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have signed a US$1.3 million non-project agreement to provide pilot technical assistance in local aviation weather forecasting, national radio VOV reported on Thursday.

Of the $1.3 million, the USTDA will fund more than $1.06 million while U.S. contractor I.M System Group, Inc. will provide $294,000.

Under the signed agreement, meteorological forecasters will be able to access advanced forecasting technology, including products noted for high accuracy as well as being suitable for deployment needs.

The USTDA’s technical assistance project aims to test a properly designed solution in line with the export potential of the United States, thereby being of national interest.

In the next step, the VATM will work alongside the contractor to agree on the project implementation, which is expected to start within 21 months from the date the contract is signed, but no later than December 31, 2023.

The aeronautical meteorology service is one of five flight operations assurance services provided by the VATM.

In line with the direction of the Vietnamese government and the Ministry of Transport on orientations and development plans for aviation meteorological services, the VATM has focused on carrying out plans aimed at improving the aviation weather forecasting capacity in recent years. 

Aviation weather forecasting is crucial to ensuring the safety of flight operations within Vietnamese airspace.

However, the VATM has admitted that the overall quality of the aviation weather forecasting and warnings have seen little improvement due to the continued use of outdated methods.

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