FAA awards air traffic controller training contract to Raytheon

The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Tuesday that it had awarded the second of two major contracts that will reshape the nation's air traffic control system.

Comment on this article in The Forum.The agency gave Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Mass., a 10-year, $437 million contract to support air traffic controller training. The pact replaces two agreements that are about to expire: a University of Oklahoma contract for initial training, and a Washington Consulting Group award for in-the-field training.

FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto said consolidating the contracts would make it easier to adjust training methods for younger employees and new systems. Training will be updated continuously, even after controllers are out in the field, he said.

"We're finding the new gen of controllers comes with a facility for modern technology already built in, so we've been able to adapt our training methods to incorporate that, and to shorten training time," he said.

Under the new contract, Raytheon will be responsible for managing and updating the materials used in controller courses, supporting classroom instruction and simulator training in the field, and providing administrative support for FAA. The agency will maintain control of content and verifying controllers' aptitude.

"Our systematic approach to designing training solutions will help the FAA provide safe, uninterrupted travel for air travelers," Raytheon program manager Charlie Keegan said. "The training we will deliver to the FAA is built on more than 40 years of experience delivering a full range of training to the air traffic control community."

Raytheon has done extensive work on Canada's air traffic control system, and bid on another major FAA contract -- that one to develop the agency's new Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system -- in a partnership with XM Satellite Radio.

That contract, worth as much as $1.8 billion over 18 years, went to ITT in August 2007. The tool uses location and navigation data provided by a Global Positioning System network of satellites to update air traffic controllers every second, compared to every six seconds under the current radar-based system. GPS units in airplane cockpits will broadcast and receive location data so pilots can avoid collisions.

Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which has criticized FAA for focusing on technology instead of controller staffing and training, said the union had no comment on the new training contract.