Jan 5 (Reuters) – The United States has awarded contracts for new air traffic control radar systems to RTX Corp and Spanish firm Indra Sistemas, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on Monday.
Congress last year approved a $12.5 billion plan to overhaul the aging U.S. air traffic control system. Duffy’s statement did not say how much the contracts were worth.
“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.
The contracts will contribute to replacing up to 612 radars by June 2028 with modern, commercially available surveillance radars. Replacements are scheduled to begin this quarter and will prioritize high-traffic areas, the statement said.
A 2023 report said the Federal Aviation Administration communications system had been outdated for years and the agency could no longer get spare parts for many systems.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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