More than one-third of the 138 air traffic control (ATC) systems run by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are “unsustainable” — with outdated systems in need of significant modernization to function, according to a report by a government oversight agency.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its Sept. 23 report that it considered a system unsustainable if it has “significant shortages in spares, shortfalls in sustainment funding [or capability], and little or no technology-refresh funding is available.”
In addition to the 51 unsustainable systems, 54 (39 percent) are “potentially unsustainable,” a designation meaning that the system has “possible shortfalls in sustainment funding or capability, but technology-refresh funding is available,” the GAO report said.
The nation’s air traffic control officers (ATCOs) “rely on a myriad of complex technologies and sys…
