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 …

[My other car WAS an IAV Stryker]

Budget

Out of the $12.5 billion allotted, and $20 billion more estimated, I hope we don't end up with a situation where the hardware is built, software is written and tested (both with simulated and real-hardware inputs), but there are no funds left for actual installation and/or training the FAA staff (paying both trainers AND trainees for the time), plus removing the old stuff.

Projects like this make me afraid of cart-before-the-horse situations, where control towers are left with no functional system (for even a single hour) OR a system that functions but they can't use.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Budget

>RTX already develops the AN/SPY-6 family of radar kit used by US Navy ships, and various other military radar systems.

That's why they chose an experienced supplier.

When was the last time a US Navy procurement project failed ?

[Claptrap314]

Re: Budget

What time is it?

[RobThBay]

What?? No AI?

You'd think AI would have been mentioned.

Just think of the cost savings....

- no people needed.

- therefore, no consoles, workstations, lunch rooms, washrooms, etc needed either.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good luck with them tariffs..

Yes, you heard me.

[M.V. Lipvig]

That may be my job gone then

My company maintains a lot of the FAA'S circuits, which still ride on DS0 and DS1 circuits. Probably a third to half of the circuits I work on support them. New systems will require more bandwidth than you can get on a DS1, which means ethernet circuits.

I ain't worried though. I was planning on retiring this coming summer. I may wait on them to walk me out the door instead now as the layoff package is pretty nice.

I'd already be retired were it not for Obamacare as standalone insurance used to be reasonable. Obamacare requires that I have to pay for all coverages instead of just the few I had planned on, my retirement was put on hold. I don't need reproductive services (we're both old and the necessary parts were either disconnected or removed) and we don't plan to fight the Reaper, so the coverage we needed would have been cheap.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: That may be my job gone then

Wow, I didn't think such circuits were still in use or supported!

[vogon00]

Re: That may be my job gone then

It's amazing how old tech hangs around. Back in the mid to late 2000s, myself and my colleagues had to support a bit of gear (CMUX2, if you remember that) that transported the very old and very analogue signalling we knew as 'Gen-Gen' over E1/DS0. It seems some people at the Stock Exchange were still using it!

I'll hazard a guess that SDH/PDH transmission will still be a thing for quite a while yet.

[that one in the corner]

President Trump's drive to modernize our skies safely at record speed.

Well, we all know the Modern Way to achieve things at record speed don't we, boys and girls?

Yes, it will be Agile and "move fast, break things" all the way.

What do mean, "Minimum Viable Product" isn't supposed to be the final deliverable? The plane got off the ground safely, didn't it? Landing? Landing? Nope, not in our scope for this sprint, that is all responsibility of the destination airport.

[mcswell]

Re: President Trump's drive to modernize our skies safely at record speed.

Dr. Henry Jones, Sr: "I didn't know you could fly a plane."

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr: "Fly, yes. Land, no."

[Claptrap314]

Re: President Trump's drive to modernize our skies safely at record speed.

That's how they did it on 9/11/2001...

[vtcodger]

A prediction

Replacement of the "antiquated US Air Traffic Control system" seems to be announced every decade or so. Never seems to happen. At least this time it's only the radars which may indeed be major maintenance problems. A safe prediction would be that the project will be over budget, late, and won't achieve all its objectives.

[mcswell]

I am sure that the system needs to be replaced, but:

1) "At record speed" does not engender trust. (Although as someone else pointed out, it's been in the works for years.)

2) The fact that the contractor also built the Navy's combat radar system makes it seem likely that classified information will get into the new unclassified system. It's possible to put a wall in place to prevent this, but it also seems possible that the wall will be porous. ("Hey, Joe, a question for you. When you built AN/SPY-6, how did you handle X?" "Here, let me show you the code.")

[anothercynic]

To be honest, RTX (Raytheon) has decades of experience with aviation, so it's not something bad that they've been pulled in.

At least they *know* what they're required to work with/replace/improve.

[An_Old_Dog]

"At Record Speed"

One can have a speed record of, "It's never been done so slowly before!"

That said, I wouldn't want them taking shortcuts on this just to finish by a politically-mandated deadline.

[Mark Exclamation]

Definitely won't be complete by June 2028.

[An_Old_Dog]

U.S. ATC Problems

I had thought their problems were not with the RADARs themselves, but with the communications and data presentation systems.

[Antron Argaiv]

Re: U.S. ATC Problems

...and the computers (and code) that run them, or so I've heard.

[goblinski]

"...Dear passengers, this is your aircraft speaking.

Now that we have reached 30000ft we can finally share with you that you are being flown in the very first fully automated commercial passenger aircraft. There are no human pilots in the cockpit.

Everything, from take-off, through flying and navigation, to landing, is automatic...atic...tic...tic...ttt..."

[Claptrap314]

"Welcome to WestLines. Where nothing can go wrong. Go wrong. Go wrong. ..."

[Anonymous Coward]

Budget: $12.5B. Estimated cost $32.5B

What's the record they're trying to break for "modernizing our skies" ?