FAA Awards $520 Million to Modernize Satellite Air Traffic Control and Runway Safety Radar

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Whitaker announced on Monday the distribution of $520 million in capital grants authorized under the FAA Reauthorization Act to deploy space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) satellite tracking arrays and install high-definition Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI) collision-avoidance radar across forty-five high-density commercial airports.

The investment modernizes critical national airspace infrastructure, eliminating radar blind spots over oceanic flight corridors and equipping air traffic controllers with automated real-time visual alerts whenever aircraft or ground service vehicles stray onto active runways.

Eliminating Near-Miss Incursions and Expanding Airspace Capacity With U.S. passenger air travel reaching record highs of nearly 3 million travelers daily, preventing airfield runway incursions and streamlining flight routing is vital to national aviation safety.

"The American airspace system is the safest and most complex in the world, and our administration is making the modern investments needed to keep it that way," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in Washington. "By investing $520 million in satellite tracking and airfield radar, we are giving our air traffic controllers the cutting-edge tools they need to see every aircraft clearly on runways and in the sky, preventing close calls, reducing weather flight delays, and keeping millions of traveling Americans safe."

Airspace Modernization Packages Funded The $520 million capital package finances:

• 45 Airport Surface Detection Radar Installations: Deploying high-resolution radar sensors at Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Denver.
• Satellite-Based Ocean Tracking Feeds: Integrating real-time satellite ADS-B receivers covering transatlantic and transpacific commercial airline corridors.
• Controller Tower Digital Display Modernizations: Replacing aging cathode-ray radar displays with high-contrast 4K touch consoles across 35 terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities.

Commercial airline pilots associations, air traffic controllers, and airport directors commended the federal funding, emphasizing that surface radar eliminates human error during low-visibility weather operations.