FAA funds 1,900 VMATs $16.5M

The Federal Aviation Administration said on May 13 it will spend $16.5 million to equip roughly 1,900 FAA airport vehicles with Vehicle Movement Area Transmitters, or VMATs, after a March 22 collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport accelerated the project. The agency said the units will help air traffic controllers identify and track vehicles on runways and taxiways. The deployment covers the 44 airports that already have ASDE-X or ASSC surface surveillance systems and 220 airports that have or will receive Surface Awareness Initiative, or SAI, systems. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency is also urging airports, airlines and other airfield operators to install the same equipment on their own vehicles. ### What is a VMAT, and what changes when one is installed? VMATs are transponders that use Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology to make ground vehicles visible on airport surface displays, according to FAA guidance issued in 2024 and a CertAlert published in 2025. At airports with ASDE-X, ASSC or SAI systems, controllers can see a vehicle’s position and call sign when that vehicle is equipped with a VMAT. Ground vehicles without VMATs may not appear with identifying information, and at SAI-equipped airports they are not displayed, the FAA said. (faa.gov) The FAA said in its May 13 announcement that vehicles without VMATs appear only as blue diamonds on controllers’ screens with no identifying information. Bedford said the transmitters “help prevent dangerous runway incidents” and close “critical visibility gaps” on runways and taxiways. ### Why did LaGuardia push this project forward? March 22, 2026, is the date the FAA cited for the accident that sped up the rollout. (faa.gov) The agency said it had been planning the project for several months but accelerated it after an Air Canada jet struck an unequipped Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle after landing at LaGuardia. ABC7 New York reported that the crash exposed a gap in surface surveillance because the fire truck involved did not have a transponder, and controllers received no alert that the truck and aircraft were on a collision course. (faa.gov) NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said controllers “should have all the information and the tools to do their job.” ### Which airports are covered by the new FAA spending? The FAA said the $16.5 million will immediately fund work on its own vehicles at 44 airports with Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X, or ASDE-X, and Airport Surface Surveillance Capability, or ASSC. The same funding also supports FAA vehicles at 220 airports that already have, or are scheduled to get, SAI surveillance systems. (abc7ny.com) FAA guidance published on October 2, 2024 extended VMAT funding eligibility to SAI-equipped airports, aligning them with airports that already had ASDE-X or ASSC systems. The FAA said that change was intended to support its broader runway-incursion reduction effort under the agency’s 2023 Safety Call to Action. ### Is this only for FAA-owned vehicles? (faa.gov) The FAA’s May 13 statement covers “all its airport vehicles,” meaning FAA-operated vehicles, not every vehicle that moves on an airfield. In the same announcement, the agency reminded airports that they can use federal grant money to install transponders on airport-owned vehicles and said it recommends airlines and other operators do the same. More than 50 airports have already expressed interest, the FAA said. (faa.gov) ABC7 reported that the Port Authority had already announced plans to add the technology at three major airports in the New York region. That would extend the equipment beyond FAA vehicles to other operators working on the airfield. ### What happens next, and how fast? The FAA said on May 13 that it can “immediately begin” equipping its approximately 1,900 vehicles because the money is now available. (faa.gov) The agency did not give a completion date and said the work will be finished “as soon as possible” based on the availability of transponder units. The next milestones are likely to come airport by airport. (abc7ny.com) The FAA said more than 50 airports have already expressed interest in adding the equipment, and the 220-airport SAI rollout remains part of the agency’s broader surface-surveillance buildout. (faa.gov)