The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering cancelling its $2.4 billion air traffic control and communications system contract with Verizon and will instead join Elon Musk’s satellite company, sources told the Washington Post.
A potential shift to Starlink, a satellite communications infrastructure under SpaceX, comes after General Services Management (GSA) in December Report It highlights the “urgent” need to modernize the outdated FAA system. The founders of SpaceX repeatedly criticized the agency’s air traffic control system and proposed that Verizon’s involvement contributed to the recent fatal aviation accident. (Related: “Waiting for an accident to happen”: The Fed ignored DC Death Strap for years despite dozens of near misses on planes and choppers)
“To make it clear here, the Verizon communications system to air traffic control is falling apart very rapidly,” Musk wrote Thursday. “The FAA rating is a single digit number to a catastrophic breakdown, putting the safety of air travel at a serious risk.”
To clarify here, Verizon’s communications system to air traffic control is collapsed very rapidly. The FAA rating is single digit months for a catastrophic breakdown, putting air travel safety at a serious risk.
The Starlink terminal is sent free of charge… https://t.co/b3xofzerjb
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2025
Verizon announced its partnership with its agents in 2023 through a FAA Enterprise Network Services (FENS) agreement. This is an initiative aimed at communications between the air traffic control system and the agency’s office. The FAA also said SpaceX employees are already working with the agency to update their aging communications infrastructure and test the Starlink system at “unsecured and critical” facilities in Atlantic City and Alaska. Some SpaceX employees already have FAA email addresses, According to To the Washington Post..
“For a long time, Alaska has had problems with reliable weather information in the aviation community,” the agency wrote. “That’s why the FAA has been considering using Starlink since its previous administration to increase reliability at remote sites, including Alaska. This week, the FAA is testing one terminal at its Atlantic City facility and two terminals at its unsafe critical sites in Alaska.”
– faa✈️ (@faanews) February 25, 2025
Starlink plans to install 4,000 satellite terminals on these sites over the next 12-18 months, According to To Bloomberg.
Democrats, including California Sen. Adam Schiff and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, raised ethical concerns ahead of the potential partnership, which Schiff discusses on Feb. 10. letter White House Chief of Staff Susie Wills hope that Musk’s economic benefits in the contract will raise serious ethical issues. Marquee wrote something similar letter I went to the FAA on Wednesday.
“Mr. Musk holds significant economic benefits for private companies, including Tesla, Inc., SpaceX, The Boring Company, Xai, X Corp and Neuralink,” the senator wrote. “Mr. Musk’s businesses are also the subject of at least 20 recent federal agencies’ investigations, increasing the risk that Musk will use his new position to protect him from federal scrutiny.”
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy defended the development of Fox News column On February 19th, the integration of SpaceX infrastructure in air traffic control systems was “just the beginning” of modernization efforts.
“The Government Accountability Office said of the FAA’s 138 systems, 51 is unsustainable and that agents are not planning to complete modernization projects for some of these systems for at least 10 years,” Duffy wrote. “In addition, the FAA has no plans yet to modernize other systems that are bothering them, three of which are at least 30 years old. Despite the obvious need for reform, partisans are criticizing this visit to SpaceX and producing fantastical controversy rather than welcoming progress.”
FAA, SpaceX, and Verizon did not immediately respond to Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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