The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a $73 million contract modification on Tuesday that will enable Raytheon to update the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) so that emergent Terminal NextGen air traffic control tools can be incorporated.
The contract modification to perform Technical Refresh 1 of STARS will allow for analytics that improve terminal area weather systems to be incorporated, as well as navigation features that allow for more precise flight paths and improvements to the situational awareness of unmanned aircraft systems.
“This upgrade will enable the FAA to develop and implement future air traffic management technologies and increase system capacity and reliability,” Bob Delorge, the vice president of transportation and support services at Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services, said. “These improvements will be especially important in the busy, high-priority Northeast Corridor.”
The FAA and Department of Defense uses STARS to manage the airspace of large terminals in urban areas and small, security-sensitive airspaces in rural areas. Under its Terminal Automation Modernization and Replacement Program, the FAA has also been using STARS to upgrade air traffic control systems across the country. The platform gives controllers the ability to use a “complete, precise picture of the airspace, enabling them to manage aircraft they are tracking with radar or satellite-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast,” FAA stated.