US FAA to spend $6 billion on air traffic telecom, radar

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - ⁠U.S. Federal Aviation ⁠Administration ‍head Bryan Bedford said on Tuesday the agency is committing $6 billion by year-end on air traffic control telecom infrastructure and radar surveillance systems ‍that will be deployed by the end of 2028.

Congress approved $12.5 billion ​to reform the aging U.S. air traffic control system and the administration wants another $19 billion or more ​to complete the effort. The FAA's air traffic telecom system has been hit by a series of failures, including serious outages covering Newark traffic.

FAA Administrator Bedford also defended the agency's decision ​to require flight cuts during a prolonged government shutdown and told a U.S. House aviation subcommittee hearing he would ensure the safety of air traffic ​in Washington despite legislation that could allow more military helicopter flights.

Bedford said the FAA is compressing radar and telecom ‌modernization into a three year timeline, down from 15 years, and had already transitioned more than one-third of its copper infrastructure to ​fiber.

Last month, the FAA said it has picked ⁠Peraton, a national security company owned by Veritas Capital, as project manager to overhaul the aging U.S. air traffic control system. ‌Congress approved funding after decades of complaints over airport congestion, technology failures and flight delays.

Bedford said at the hearing that President Donald Trump had demanded Peraton accept $200 million less than initially ‌planned to oversee the contract. Peraton did not immediately comment.

A 2023 report said the FAA's communications ‌system has been outdated for years and it can no longer get spare parts for many systems. Of the FAA's 138 air traffic control telecoms systems, 51 were unsustainable, a separate ‍report said last year.

The FAA said Peraton will begin work on initial priorities such as setting up a new digital command ⁠center and transitioning to modern fiber from copper infrastructure.

The FAA's $15-billion "Next Gen" project to overhaul air traffic control, begun more than two decades ago, has faced numerous delays, cost overruns and is less ambitious than initially envisioned, a report showed in October.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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