The federal government has picked two companies to replace 612 radar systems nationwide that date back to the 1980s as part of a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the nation’s air traffic control system.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that contractors RTX and Spanish firm Indra will replace the radar systems by the summer of 2028. The administration aims to complete this overhaul by the end of 2028, coinciding with the end of President Donald Trump’s current term in office.
Our radar network is outdated and long overdue for replacement. Many of the units have exceeded their intended service life, making them increasingly costly to maintain and challenging to support, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford stated.
The FAA has been allocating the bulk of its $3 billion equipment budget to maintain the aging system, which still relies on obsolete technology in some cases. Consequently, the FAA sometimes has to source spare parts from unconventional channels like eBay.
Technical failures previously disrupted radar services at Newark Liberty International Airport, leading to thousands of canceled flights and delays, which underscored the pressing need for an upgrade.
Although the FAA has committed more than $6 billion of the $12.5 billion allocated by Congress for this overhaul, Secretary Duffy has indicated that an additional $20 billion would be necessary to complete the project. The agency has already replaced over a third of the outdated copper wiring with modern fiber optic lines and has hired a national security contractor named Peraton to oversee the transition.
