FAA’s aggressive 4-year overhaul of ancient air traffic tech sparks safety concerns
By isabelle // 2026-01-12
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  • The FAA is launching a massive $32.5 billion overhaul of the national air traffic control system.
  • The plan aims to replace obsolete World War II-era radar and analog technology within four years.
  • A government report found that most current air traffic control telecommunications systems are unsustainable.
  • Aviation experts warn the aggressive timeline is a high-stakes gamble for system safety.
  • The project must modernize thousands of sites nationwide while keeping daily flights operating.
The skeletal framework of American aviation is showing its age. While passengers endure endless delays and controllers grapple with chronic shortages, the true crisis is buried in the infrastructure itself. Now, in a high-stakes technological race, the federal government is launching a breathtakingly expensive and urgent mission to rebuild the nation’s air traffic control system from the ground up. This is the story of a $32.5 billion scramble to replace technology from the World War II era before the system holding up our skies finally buckles. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is spearheading what he calls the most consequential infrastructure undertaking in decades. The plan is as simple as it is massive: completely overhaul the core technological backbone managing U.S. airspace within three and a half to four years. The Federal Aviation Administration says the program will touch nearly 5,000 locations nationwide, aiming to strengthen safety and reduce delays. The need is not theoretical. A recent government report found 51 of the FAA’s 138 air traffic control telecommunications systems were unsustainable. The agency has been spending most of its $3 billion equipment budget just maintaining a fragile old system. Some components are so old the FAA has had to search for spare parts on eBay. Technical failures have already caused major disruptions, like when radar failures at a key facility led to thousands of cancellations and delays at Newark Liberty International Airport last spring.

The scale of the decay

The statistics are jarring. The project will replace more than 600 radar systems that have exceeded their intended service life. "The primary radar system—that goes back to World War II, and that’s still in use," said Margaret Wallace, a former military air traffic controller and assistant professor at Florida Institute of Technology. "That’s basically detecting that there is something in the air. You can’t always tell what it is." Beyond radar, the work includes replacing copper telecommunications lines with fiber optics, deploying more than 25,000 new radios, and installing 462 digital voice switches. Wallace notes the U.S. still relies heavily on analog radio frequencies. "These are basically like the AM/FM radios you have in your car," she said. Shawn Pruchnicki, an aviation safety expert at Ohio State University, highlighted the danger of congested, single-channel communications where pilots can struggle to be heard during emergencies.

A compressed and risky timeline

Congress approved an initial $12.5 billion last July, and Duffy is seeking an additional $20 billion to finish the work. The aggressive timeline, however, is drawing concern from aviation professionals who agree the upgrades are necessary but worry about the pace. Aviation attorney Greg Reigel called the schedule "probably aggressive," describing it as one of the most ambitious infrastructure efforts in U.S. history. "I think it’s a good thing. I think they’re on the right track," Reigel said. "I just hope that they’re doing this the right way, and that safety is first and foremost." Wallace was more skeptical, stating a full overhaul in four years is unrealistic given the need for testing and training. "You can’t just say, ‘Let’s flip the switch,’" she said. The FAA has already taken concrete steps, appointing national security contractor Peraton as the prime integrator to manage the overhaul in December. This follows the earlier, stalled NextGen modernization program. On January 5, the agency announced it awarded contracts to RTX and Spain’s Indra to begin replacing those 612 radars by June 2028, prioritizing high-traffic areas. "While our air travel system is the safest in the world, most of our radars date back to the 1980s. It’s unacceptable," Duffy said. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford echoed the sentiment. "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 project is a monumental gamble. It is an attempt to compress decades of delayed modernization into a single presidential term, swapping out the physical nerves of the National Airspace System while planes remain in the air. The goal is a system fit for the 21st century. The risk is that the breakneck pace of change in one of the world’s most complex safety environments could introduce new perils. For every traveler who has sat on a tarmac wondering why we can’t do better, this $32.5 billion answer is now hurtling down the runway. The nation will soon find out if it can truly get off the ground. Sources for this article include: YourNews.com AerospaceGlobalNews.com Reuters.com ABCNews.go.com
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