FAA Announces Major Contracts for U.S. Radar System Modernization
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on January 6, 2026, that it has awarded major contracts to RTX and Indra to replace 612 aging ground-based radar systems across the United States. This is part of a comprehensive air traffic control modernization initiative.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford revealed that most current radar systems date back to the 1980s and have exceeded their intended service life. “While our air travel system is the safest in the world, most of our radars date back to the 1980s. It’s unacceptable,” Duffy stated.
RTX’s Collins Aerospace division secured a $438 million contract to deliver next-generation cooperative and non-cooperative radar systems. The company will deploy its Condor Mk3 cooperative surveillance radar and ASR-XM non-cooperative radar, both of which have already received FAA certification. Collins Aerospace has been a trusted FAA supplier for over 70 years.
The modernization project will replace up to 612 radars by June 2028 with modern, commercially available surveillance equipment. Replacements are scheduled to begin this quarter and will proceed on a rolling basis, prioritizing high-traffic areas. The initiative will consolidate 14 different radar configurations currently in use into streamlined setups, significantly simplifying maintenance and reducing long-term costs.
The project is funded by the “One Big Beautiful Bill” which allocated $12.5 billion for air traffic control modernization, part of a total $31.5 billion overhaul of the National Airspace System.
Source: FAA Newsroom