FAA Qualifies Three Competitors for U.S. ADS-B Program

The FAA qualified a Lockheed Martin team along with competing vendors, Raytheon and ITT, to propose their programs to implement ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) across the U.S. as a cornerstone component of America's next generation air transportation system, now called NextGen.

ADS-B is a system by which airplanes constantly broadcast their current position and altitude, category of aircraft, airspeed, identification, and maneuvering information, to air traffic controllers and other aircraft over a dedicated datalink.  NextGen - also known as NGATS - is the FAA's plan to transform the nation's airspace system through 2025, primarily by transitioning from a ground-based system to a satellite-based system.

This announcement came shortly after the FAA's Joint Resources Council (JRC), approved funding for the second segment of the surveillance system's implementation, which runs from 2009 to 2014.

In the first segment that is running through 2008, the FAA will be installing ADS-B at Philadelphia, Louisville, and Juneau, and on oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.  Segment one also includes the expansion of ADS-B broadcast services along the East Coast, throughout North Dakota, and parts of Arizona and Southern California.  The development of ADS-B separation standards and software to interface between ADS-B and other air traffic control systems, are included in the first segment as well.

In July, following final contract negotiations, and assuming a positive investment decision, the agency will award one of the three competitors a contract to build and maintain the ADS-B ground infrastructure and provide its services.  The contract will be performance-based, and the FAA will pay "subscription" charges for the ADS-B services which the private vendor will provide.

By making ADS-B a service provision contract, the agency expects to accelerate its deployment and remove some of its costs from government books.  "This approach minimizes FAA's risk and provides it with greater flexibility, because the agency will rely on private industry to install and maintain equipment," said Sue Corcoran, Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions' vice president of aviation solutions.

As expected, the JRC also approved moving the Alaska Capstone project into the national ADS-B program, but also expanding Capstone services within the state.  The operational evaluation of ADS-B, along with other safety services, under the auspices of Capstone, saw a dramatic reduction in Alaska's fatal accident rate; the FAA says it wants to build on this success.

The JRC also validated cost savings resulting from the ADS-B back-up plan that was finalized late last year.  The plan calls for maintaining 50 percent of the FAA's secondary radars, which will provide air traffic services in case of a loss or degradation of GPS signals.  The FAA says this move will save money in the program's baseline by allowing the agency to remove half of its current secondary radars.  02-26-2007.

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