FAA Selects Collins, Indra for Radar Contracts

Pushing forward with its ambitions to overhaul the U.S. air traffic control system on an expedited timeline, the FAA has awarded contracts to RTX’s Collins Aerospace and Indra Group USA to replace the nation’s network of ground-based radars. The agency will tap into the $12.5 billion in funding Congress furnished the agency for ATC modernization in July to pay for the new contracts.

Plans call to replace up to 612 radars by June 2028 with “modern, commercially available” surveillance radars. The work is to begin this quarter with replacements prioritizing high-traffic areas, the agency said.

Collins Aerospace and Indra will work with Peraton, which last month was named as the prime integrator for the overarching modernization program.

RTX valued its portion of the contract at $438 million and said Collins would install the Condor Mk3, a cooperative surveillance radar capable of communicating directly with aircraft transponders, along with the ASR-XM, a non-cooperative radar that detects aircraft using reflected signals. Both radar systems have met FAA surveillance requirements through prior test-site certification activities, RTX said, adding that more than 550 of its radar systems already operate in the National Airspace System.

For its part, Indra Group USA received a $342 million contract for the FAA’s Radar System Replacement program. The systems will be produced at Indra Group USA’s new manufacturing facility in the Kansas City area, the company said, adding that it is replicating its approach taken for the recently awarded radio contract from the FAA by transferring technologies, processes, and expertise to the U.S. for long-term production and sustainment.

In November, Indra won an FAA contract valued at up to $244.3 million to manufacture, test, and qualify up to 46,000 new radios, as well as provide support for 10 years. Under the contract, Indra is replacing legacy analog radio systems with next-generation digital radio equipment capable of both analog and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operations.

The new radars will replace multiple legacy systems with a unified, cost-effective, and adaptable architecture, RTX added.

“While our air travel system is the safest in the world, most of our radars date back to the 1980s. It’s unacceptable,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in announcing the contract awards yesterday.

“Many of the units have exceeded their intended service life, making them increasingly expensive to maintain and difficult to support,” added FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “We are buying radar systems that will bring production back to the U.S. and provide a vital surveillance backbone to the National Airspace System.”