Fullerton Hughes Unit Wins German Pact : Trade: Air-traffic control system will be modernized for $5.75 million. Other deals may be in the pipeline.

A Hughes Aircraft Co. division here has taken a small but significant step toward doing business with Eastern Europe, landing a $5.75-million contract to modernize an air-traffic control system in what used to be East Germany.

“The barriers have come down,” Hughes Ground Systems spokesman Dan Reeder said Friday. “There is a lot of opportunity in Europe, and we hope this is the first of many sales.”

The contract calls for Hughes to upgrade the electronic system that monitors air traffic in Berlin and neighboring areas of what used to be East Germany. Because Berlin will become the capital of newly reunified Germany, the traffic volume is expected to increase, Reeder said.

Hughes will provide 36 of its TracView systems to airport towers and approach-control facilities. The systems include color computer displays and provide instant access to computer data. Hughes plans to install the equipment at three sites, beginning in March, 1991.

The Ground Systems unit has made air-traffic control a high marketing priority in a bid to lessen its dependence on defense contracts.

In 1988, Hughes lost in bidding for a $3.6-billion federal contract to modernize the U.S. air-traffic system. A year ago, however, Hughes won a $325-million contract to modernize Canada’s system.

Reeder said the company beat out a West German firm, AEG Aktiengesellschaft, for the German contract.

Reeder said the company is also bidding to supply such systems to Czechoslovakia, in a contract that would be valued at $10 million.