The Federal Aviation Administration is putting a price tag on the brain of its next generation air traffic system, confirming that the management contract guiding the overhaul will be worth $1.5 billion. The move elevates a behind‑the‑scenes integrator into one of the most consequential players in U.S. aviation, with responsibility for knitting together new radars, software and procedures while keeping the current network running safely.
The contract sits at the center of a broader modernization push that already involves multibillion‑dollar appropriations from Congress, new radar partnerships and a warning from officials that even more funding will be needed. How that $1.5 billion is spent, and how tightly it is tied to performance metrics, will shape how quickly travelers see relief from chronic delays and staffing strains in the nation’s skies.
The $1.5 billion brain of the overhaul
Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford has now put a firm figure on the management deal that will coordinate the air traffic control transformation, describing a contract worth $1.5 billion. That figure underscores how much of the modernization risk the FAA is shifting onto a single integrator, which will be judged on cost control and management metrics rather than simply delivering hardware. In public remarks, Bedford has framed the deal as a way to impose discipline on a sprawling technical program that touches everything from radar feeds to controller workstations, while still giving the agency leverage to hold the contractor accountable.
The FAA has been explicit that this is not just another IT support award, but the organizing framework for what it calls the Brand New Air Traffic Control System. Officials have tied the management contract to a broader push to standardize performance benchmarks across facilities and to reduce the need for emergency fixes that have plagued the legacy network. In parallel coverage of the same announcement, the FAA again pegged the value at $1.5 billion, reinforcing that the contract’s scale is central to its strategy for reshaping the system’s governance as much as its technology.
Peraton’s role and the BNATCS blueprint
The company at the center of that strategy is Virginia based Peraton, which won the competition to oversee the modernization of the airspace’s aging technology and infrastructure. The Department of Transportation selected Peraton as the prime integrator after casting the overhaul as a once‑in‑a‑generation chance to replace brittle systems that have been patched for decades. Officials highlighted the company’s experience integrating complex technology platforms for federal agencies, arguing that this background would be essential to avoid unnecessary delays or poor performance as new systems come online.
Peraton’s award is structured as an IDIQ contract for the FAA’s Brand New Air Traffic Control System, often shortened to BNATCS, giving the agency flexibility to issue task orders as specific projects mature. A separate description of the deal notes that Peraton’s integrator IDIQ for the Brand New Air was updated in Jan, reflecting how the Department of Transportation is refining the scope as it learns more about the legacy network’s constraints. Together, these arrangements position Peraton as the operational brain of BNATCS, responsible for sequencing upgrades so that controllers and airlines can adapt without compromising safety.
Radars, surveillance and the hardware backbone
While the management contract grabs headlines, the physical backbone of the new system is being built through separate awards that will replace some of the oldest equipment in the network. Earlier this year, the FAA tapped RTX and Indra to help replace more than 600 radars by June 2028, creating what the agency has described as a new surveillance backbone for the modernization project. Those radars, some of which date back to the 1980s, are central to how controllers track aircraft, and their replacement is meant to improve both reliability and the precision of the data feeding into BNATCS.
The radar work sits alongside a broader package of hardware and facility upgrades that Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Bedford have been rolling out in WASHINGTON, D.C. In a joint announcement, the U.S. Department of Transportation Department of Transportation, Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration leaders highlighted how the new radar contracts would phase out equipment that dates back to the 1980s and integrate seamlessly with BNATCS. A separate briefing from Trump’s Transportation Secretary emphasized the chosen company’s expertise with integrating complex tech platforms and its track record with federal agencies, arguing that this would help avoid unnecessary delays or poor performance as the hardware backbone is swapped out.
Money in, money needed and the politics of pace
Even with the $1.5 billion management contract and major hardware deals in motion, the FAA’s own leaders are clear that the current funding picture is not enough to finish the job. Bedford has pointed to the fact that Congress has provided the FAA with $12.5 billion for the modernization project, a sizable sum that still leaves gaps once long term maintenance and contingency costs are factored in. In a separate push, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has argued that the air traffic control overhaul needs an additional $20 billion, warning that without it, rising passenger volumes and new aircraft types will outstrip the system’s capacity at major airports including Newark.
Those warnings are not abstract. FAA officials have linked the modernization to a long promised overhaul that is supposed to reduce chronic delays and staffing stress, particularly in busy corridors along the East Coast. In public comments, Transportation Secretary Sean has reinforced the funding push, tying it directly to passenger experience and the risk of gridlock if the system is not upgraded in time. That political framing matters, because it turns the $1.5 billion management contract into a test case for whether large, performance based awards can deliver visible improvements quickly enough to sustain congressional support.
Controllers, Canada and the human stakes
Behind the numbers, Bedford has repeatedly stressed that the modernization is also about fixing the human side of the system, particularly the strain on air traffic controllers. In one recent briefing, he identified a key issue as the need to reduce reliance on overtime and six day weeks, a point echoed in a summary that quoted him directly on the burden of overtime and six. The FAA has linked those staffing pressures to the need for more automated tools and better scheduling systems inside BNATCS, arguing that technology upgrades must be designed around controller workload rather than simply adding new screens.
International dynamics are adding another layer of pressure. Bedford has been engaged in a high profile dispute with Canada over business jet approvals, and he has threatened to levy a 50% tariff against Canada on any aircraft sold in the U.S. if regulators there do not move more quickly. In the same context, Bedford also provided an update on the modernization program, underscoring that the FAA’s credibility abroad depends in part on how effectively it can manage its own transformation. A related account of the dispute noted that the 50% tariff threat came as the FAA was touting its December announcement about the overhaul, tying together trade leverage and domestic modernization in a single narrative.
