Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

Collins Aerospace is a prominent aerospace and defense company specializing in the development and manufacture of advanced technology solutions. They offer a wide range of products and services, including avionics, aircraft interiors, mission systems, and space systems. 

Pushing forward with its ambitions to overhaul the U.S. air traffic control system on an expedited timeline, the FAA has awarded contracts to RTX’s Collins Aerospace and Indra Group USA to replace the nation’s network of ground-based radars. The agency will tap into the $12.5 billion in funding Congress furnished the agency for ATC modernization in July to pay for the new contracts.
Plans call to replace up to 612 radars by June 2028 with “modern, commercially available” surveillance radars. The work is to begin this quarter with replacements prioritizing high-traffic areas, the agency said.
Collins Aerospace and Indra will work with Peraton, which last month was named as the prime integrator for the overarching modernization program.
RTX valued its portion of the contract at $438 million and said Collins would install the Condor Mk3, a cooperative surveillance radar capable of communicating directly with aircraft transponders, along with the ASR-XM, a non-cooperative radar that detects aircraft using reflected signals. Both radar systems have met FAA surveillance requirements through prior test-site certification activities, RTX said, adding that more than 550 of its radar systems already operate in the National Airspace System.
For its part, Indra Group USA received a $342 million contract for the FAA’s Radar System Replacement program. The systems will be produced at <a href="https://www.indragroup.com/en/news/indra-group-strengthen-presence-us-50-million-investment-new-facility-200-new-jobs">Indra Group USA’s new manufacturing facility</a> in the Kansas City area, the company said, adding that it is replicating its approach taken for the recently awarded radio contract from the FAA by transferring technologies, processes, and expertise to the U.S. for long-term production and sustainment.
In November, Indra won an FAA contract valued at up to $244.3 million to manufacture, test, and qualify up to 46,000 new radios, as well as provide support for 10 years. Under the contract, Indra is replacing legacy analog radio systems with next-generation digital radio equipment capable of both analog and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operations.
The new radars will replace multiple legacy systems with a unified, cost-effective, and adaptable architecture, RTX added.
“While our air travel system is the safest in the world, most of our radars date back to the 1980s. It’s unacceptable,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in announcing the contract awards yesterday.
“Many of the units have exceeded their intended service life, making them increasingly expensive to maintain and difficult to support,” added FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “We are buying radar systems that will bring production back to the U.S. and provide a vital surveillance backbone to the National Airspace System.”

News, issues, personnel, equipment and developments about air traffic management.

FAA Selects Collins, Indra for Radar Contracts

Plans call to replace up to 612 radars by June 2028 

RTX’s Collins Aerospace and Indra were awarded FAA contracts to replace up to 612 aging radars by June 2028. 

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Peraton, formerly part of Harris Corp., will be responsible for steering the massive ATC modernization effort

FAA Awards ATC Upgrade Integration Contract to Peraton

Amy Wilder

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

Region’s first certified digital tower enhances controller awareness

Hamad International Activates Virtual Tower in Qatar

Gordon Gilbert

FCC directed to auction off spectrum in upper C-band

FCC’s Upper C-band Proposal Seeks Aviation Input

David Hughes

A4A backing bill to shield the FAA from another shutdown

Possible Second Shutdown Looms Large over ATC Overhaul

FAA is looking to replace or re-architect STARS and ERAM

FAA Solicits Potential Vendors for ATC Replacements

DOT Secretary confident that he will get necessary funding

Duffy: FAA Still Needs $20B for ATC Modernization

FAA is eyeing a four-layer system

FAA’s Bedford: ATC Apps Key to Innovating Faster 

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