The delivery of the system took place in an extremely short time, with only 70 days from the signing of the contract in May 2024 to the launch and testing of the radar, a process that usually takes two to five years. The inauguration of the equipment took place in the presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, members of the Tonga Government and other distinguished guests during the Pacific Islands Forum Heads of State Meeting held in the Kingdom of Tonga from 26 August 2024. The Czech company's success was based on the Pacific Meteorological Council meeting in Fiji in 2023, which defined the need for weather radars in a region where they are hugely in short supply despite extreme weather events.

The success of the delivery to Tonga was based on excellent references from the Australian Meteorological Service, which installed a similar Meteopress radar in Brisbane, Queensland and recommended the product to partners in New Zealand. Funding for the Tonga radar was provided by a New Zealand donor, New Zealand MetService, under the New Zealand Government's Weather Ready Pacific Programme and the work was carried out in close collaboration with Tonga Meteorological Services.

The main advantages of Meteopress technology are price, reliability and lower energy consumption and operating costs. The radar has a unique, simpler concept compared to the competition, suitable for transport in a container. The innovative AI-REN SW software solution, using artificial intelligence, refines the weather forecast and transmits information over long distances via GSM or Starlink communication networks with minimal energy consumption. Maintenance and control is remote, the artificial intelligence is constantly learning and the system adapts. In addition, the system meets the strictest sustainability criteria and its operation is fully covered by solar panels, which the Czech company has also installed. The data collected by the radar is invaluable, addressing one of the largest radar data gaps in the world.

Meteopress, whose history began thirty years ago, has supplied 35 weather radar systems abroad in the last seven years, with references in Europe, South America, Africa, Australia  and now the Pacific region. And more projects are in the pipeline. In the Pacific alone, the company plans to tender for the supply of weather radars in five islands such as Fiji, Cooks Islands, Niuve and others.

The installation of the radar at Fua´amotu Airport was not easy, both in terms of the local environment and the difficult logistics that eventually required the transport of the steel structure from our country, but the Meteopress team, together with its partners, successfully completed the deployment and testing of the system in record time. The Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in the Kingdom of Tonga, Mrs. Robina Nakao, and the Czech Embassy in Canberra also contributed to the project.

The delivery of the weather radar to Tonga is an example of a unique innovative solution by a Czech company, which, thanks to its successful reference in Australia, has gained awareness of its quality and technical maturity among experts throughout the region and, through the participation of the UN Secretary-General at the inauguration of the project in the Kingdom of Tonga, worldwide.

Milan Vagner, Economic Diplomat, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Canberra