A "minibus" funding bill signed into law Nov. 18 by President Obama will make a number of cuts in this fiscal year to the Federal Aviation Administration's NextGen air traffic control modernization effort, relative to the agency's request made earlier this year.  

NextGen seeks to largely replace radars with Global Positioning System-derived data for tracking aircraft positions. The effort, estimated to cost at least $40 billion through 2025, faces a number of managerial and technological challenges. Aircraft flying into most U.S. airports must have on board avionics capable of relaying GPS signals to ground towers by 2020.

Among the notable cuts made for fiscal 2012, which began Oct. 1 (Congress has been tardy in passing this year's appropriations bills) is no funding for En Route Automation Modernization D Position Upgrade and System Enhancements. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the FAA had asked to spend $64.5 million on ERAM upgrades. The final funding amount is $0.

The upgrade, according to an FAA budget document (.pdf) is meant to correct some deficiencies within the current ERAM system, including automation deficiencies in airplane separation services; not taking full advantage of performance-based navigation, and; insufficient coordination of information between controllers.

The document also says the upgrade is necessary to enable DataComm, another NextGen effort, which seeks to replace voice communication between air traffic controls and cockpits with text messages.

ERAM is software for processing high altitude flight data from radars and was supposed to have been deployed nationally by the end of fiscal 2010. Instead, the FAA has postponed planned ERAM initial operating capability and estimates cost overruns will reach $330 million. Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel has said the FAA took delivery of ERAM from prime contractor Lockheed Martin despite it "lacking some of the key software code."

Other cuts include no funding for Network Enabled Weather (FAA requested $27.35 million, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee) and no funding for NextGen Joint Planning and Development Office research, engineering and development (FAA requested about $14.07 million, according to the committee).

For more:
- go to the "minibus" conference report

Related Articles:
FAA delays ERAM implementation 
Senate appropriators say funding NextGen requires infrastructure cuts 
Auditors question FAA oversight of ADS-B towers