The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded a contract extension to Lockheed Martin to continue to improve transoceanic air traffic management technology.
The one-base-year contract is aimed at enabling safe and efficient travel within US-controlled airspace over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
If all seven, one-year options are exercised, the total contract extension is estimated to be valued at over $500m.
Lockheed Martin has been supporting the FAA’s Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures (ATOP) programme with systems engineering and operational services for the last 12 years.
Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions business Transportation Solutions vice president Sandy Samuel said that through ATOP, Lockheed Martin and the FAA created a new system that modernised oceanic air traffic control systems, provided new tools for safer flights and reduced aircraft fuel burn and carbon emissions.
"With this new extension, we’re continuing our partnership with the FAA, sustaining ATOP and its family of systems into the future and continuing to deploy NextGen air traffic capabilities," Samuel added.
The latest contract extension offers the FAA options for further improvements to transoceanic air traffic management software and hardware, including installing ATOP systems at FAA offshore facilities, and setting up an ATOP simulation and training system.
The options also include providing an ATOP system for the FAA’s NextGen air traffic management facility, which is proposed to be built on the East Coast.
Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace firm engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
Image: The contract will enable safe and efficient travel within US-controlled airspace over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
