FAA signs radar deals to drag US air traffic control out of the 1980s

The US government has announced contracts for new radar infrastructure as part of its long-running effort to replace the country's aging air traffic control system. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) disclosed that contracts have been signed with both Indra Group and RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies, to deliver modern radar systems for the overhauled system. Separately, RTX said that its subsidiary, Collins Aerospace, has secured $438 million to support the Radar System Replacement program, while Indra indicated it has been awarded $342 million to manufacture next-generation air traffic surveillance radars. RTX already develops the AN/SPY-6 family of radar kit used by US Navy ships, and various other military radar systems. The news follows the announcement in December that security and technology services company Peraton had been chosen as the prime integrator, with overall responsibility for building the imaginatively named Brand New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS). US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy exclaimed at the time that he was "thrilled" to be working with Peraton because they "share President Trump's drive to modernize our skies safely at record speed." Commenting on the announcement, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said: "Our radar network is outdated and long overdue for replacement. Many of the units have exceeded their intended service life, making them increasingly expensive to maintain and difficult to support." The FAA expects RTX and Indra to deliver replacements for up to 612 sites by June 2028 with modern, commercially available surveillance radar sets. It claims that the first installations are scheduled to begin this quarter, and upgrades will then proceed on a rolling basis, prioritizing high-traffic areas. As well as replacing the radar, the FAA aims to consolidate the 14 different configurations in the current National Airspace System in order to simplify maintenance and logistics. While the US likes to claim that its air traffic system is the safest in the world, it is antiquated, with much of the infrastructure dating to the 1980s or even earlier. There were revelations last year that the system was still running with floppy disks and information on scraps of paper. Garmin autopilot lands small aircraft without human assistance IBM touts progress on tech stack for AI-enabled airline with no passengers or alcohol Munich Airport chaos after drone sightings spook air traffic control French jet left circling while Corsican controller caught Zs Previous attempts at an upgrade proceeded at a snail's pace, with the expectation that they would not be complete before 2030. Last year, Duffy unveiled ambitious plans to accelerate the overhaul after a report revealed that more than a third of the air traffic control systems were in an "unsustainable" state. Funding for this was approved as part of President Trump's budget bill last year, which allotted $12.5 billion for the BNATCS program. It is expected that another $20 billion will be required to finish the job. Welcoming the move, Indra said it was fully aligned with the FAA, the US Department of Transportation, Congress, and the Trump administration in delivering a safer, more resilient, and future-ready National Airspace System. Nate Boelkins, president of Avionics at Collins Aerospace, commented: "As a trusted supplier to the FAA for more than 70 years, Collins is ready to rapidly deploy next-generation radar systems that replace outdated technology with a single, modern and interoperable solution." ®