Raytheon, XM bid to modernize air traffic system

MARLBOROUGH -- A strange-bedfellows alliance -- defense giant Raytheon Co. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., a company known for broadcasting Oprah Winfrey's self-improvement advice -- is bidding for a contract that could help ease flight delays by overhauling the air traffic control system.

The contract, expected to be awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration as early as next week, could be worth more than $2 billion over the next two decades for Waltham-based Raytheon if it's chosen to lead the team replacing today's World War II-era network of ground radars with one based on global satellite positioning technology.

"This is a transformation of the air traffic control system," said FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto. "We've made quantitative leaps over the years, from flags to bonfires to radars and now to satellites."

The contract would be only the first of several aimed at creating a new technology infrastructure. Overall, the FAA estimates it will spend $15 billion to $22 billion by 2025 on the satellite technology known as ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, as well as on new data communications and information management systems, which would let pilots in passenger jets communicate better with one another and with control towers.

The FAA projects another $14 billion to $20 billion in spending on new avionics, cockpit electronics linked to the satellite technology.

"Even in today's environment, these are large contracts," said Jon B. Kutler, founder and chief executive of Admiralty Partners, a Los Angeles private equity firm specializing in aerospace and defense. "It's an attempt to bring the air traffic control system into the 21st century. Anybody who's flown this summer knows that the air traffic control system in the United States is just behind in capability."

While weather and overcrowding are cited as the main culprits in airline delays, the problem is aggravated by aging technology -- much of it built by Raytheon itself -- in control towers and at ground installations across the country. Raytheon, which has about 100 engineers and other staffers working on ADS-B at its Network Centric Systems plant in Marlborough, hopes to pioneer the new technology.

With ground-based radars turning once every 4.7 seconds in many cases, their signals degrade over distances. Satellite signals, by contrast, are updated every second. They are beamed directly to planes and transmitted via ground antennas to control towers.

Raytheon is competing against two other bidders for the air traffic control contract. One is Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md., the nation's largest defense contractor. The other is ITT Corp., an engineering and technology company in White Plains, N.Y. All three use technology that has the potential to boost air traffic efficiency and reduce airport delays -- though no one can say by how much -- by enabling more jets to fly closer together safely.

Within 50 miles of airports today, passenger aircraft are required to maintain a minimum "separation standard" of three miles. At high altitude, the minimum standard is five miles. While a new standard has yet to be determined, FAA officials say the satellite technology will permit narrower separation.

"This means that air traffic control will be able to move planes through the system much faster than they can today," said Charles E. Keegan, director of future air navigation systems for Raytheon's Network Centric Systems division. "It's a real game-changer."

Changing the game will be necessary as demands increase on airlines and airports. The number of people flying each year in the United States is projected to increase from 740 million today to 1 billion by 2015 and to 1.5 billion by 2025, when installation of the new satellite system and new avionics is set to be complete, according to the FAA. "We can't go into the future with the current system," Takemoto said.

Raytheon's bid includes XMWX technology, which would enable pilots to use XM's satellites to track weather fronts through overlaps on moving maps in their cockpit displays. The technology has been in use for the past three years in private and business aircraft flying in the general aviation sector and has helped to reduce accidents in hard-to-navigate places like Alaska.

And unlike its competitors, which have proposed a system operating on separate frequencies for smaller planes and big airliners, Raytheon's system would work on a single frequency that would be compatible with air traffic systems being readied in Europe and Asia.

ITT spokesman Andy Hilton noted, however, that FAA officials proposed a dual-frequency system back in 2002. "We're providing an approach that supports that decision," Hilton said. Raytheon officials countered that the FAA modified its requirements to accommodate Raytheon's single-frequency approach.

Anna M. DiPaola, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, cited the company's experience with ADS-B technology and said it is offering the FAA "a certified, realistic, achievable solution."

XM, which expects to complete its merger agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. by the end of the year, seems an odd fit in the world of aviation systems. It has built its core business around subscription-based talk, music, and sports radio programming that's transmitted via the company's two satellites. To diversify, the company has started using its satellites for new applications, such as beaming weather and traffic information to cars and small planes.

Roderick MacKenzie, XM's vice president of advanced applications, said the company has begun a satellite service that broadcasts live radio programs for JetBlue and AirTran Airways.

"In many cases, the pilots -- or their passengers -- could be listening to XM radio while they're using our weather systems," MacKenzie said. "A single receiver can let the pilot keep tracking the weather and keep the passengers entertained."

Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com.