The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has committed to spending $6 billion by year’s end to update critical infrastructure systems across the country, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told a U.S. House aviation subcommittee on Tuesday. The investment is part of $12.5 billion approved by Congress to overhaul aging air traffic control (ATC) systems.
The current round of improvements focuses on ATC telecommunications infrastructure, radar surveillance systems and data management technology. While the modernization effort originally had a 15-year timeline, Bedford said the agency has condensed it to three years, targeting completion by the end of 2028.
The FAA selected a national security contractor as the project’s manager. The company will oversee the rehabilitation of ATC systems nationwide and has agreed to a $200 million contract reduction from the original proposal.
A 2023 report found the FAA’s telecommunications systems outdated, with 51 of 138 total systems deemed unsustainable. The agency can no longer source spare parts for many of its legacy systems, prompting the accelerated timeline.
Initial work will focus on establishing a new digital command center and transitioning old copper wiring to fiber cable. Bedford told lawmakers that more than one-third of the copper-to-fiber transition is already complete.
The three-year project also includes new Tower Simulation Systems at 113 ATC towers and Enterprise Information Display Systems at 435 towers. New surface radars will be installed at 44 airports, and 89 airports will receive Terminal Flight Data Manager technology. Another 200 airports are slated for Surface Awareness Initiative surveillance systems.
While Congress has approved the initial $12.5 billion investment, officials say an additional $20 billion will be needed to complete the full scope of upgrades by 2028. The total cost of modernizing ATC systems within this timeframe is estimated to exceed $32 billion.
The modernization effort traces back to the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) plan, first unveiled more than two decades ago. A Transportation Department inspector general report released in October found the FAA had achieved only 16% of the benefits originally projected under NextGen, with many key programs delayed until 2030 or beyond.
The FAA’s NextGen offices are set to close in 2025, with responsibilities shifting to a new Airspace Modernization Office as the agency pursues its revised approach.
Photo by Davidi Vardi Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5, from Wikimedia Commons
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