FAA extends conflict‑detection horizon to two hours, unveils AI‑ and radar‑layered ATC overhaul

Air traffic control works by keeping planes separated in time and space, and the Federal Aviation Administration is now testing software meant to spot conflicts much earlier. (theaircurrent.com) The program is called Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories, or SMART, and it is being developed as part of the agency’s broader air traffic modernization effort. People familiar with the project told The Air Current it is intended to push conflict detection from about 15 minutes to as much as two hours. (theaircurrent.com) That longer horizon would let controllers and traffic managers reroute aircraft earlier, before congestion or weather squeezes options down to a few last-minute fixes. The FAA has also been awarding contracts for new radar work and naming Peraton as prime integrator for a wider system rebuild. (faa.gov 1) (faa.gov 2) The modernization push also includes the Notice to Air Missions system, which distributes urgent flight-safety notices about hazards, outages and airport changes. The FAA’s new NOTAM Management Service began operations for early adopters on September 29 and replaced legacy functionality in a broader cutover completed on April 18. (faa.gov) (nms.aim.faa.gov) That change matters because the old NOTAM system failed in January 2023 and triggered a nationwide ground stop. The new service is cloud-hosted, built for near-real-time data exchange and designed around redundancy and resilience. (aopa.org) (nms.aim.faa.gov) The safety backdrop has grown sharper this month after the National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings on the March 22, 2026 collision at LaGuardia Airport. The board said Air Canada Express Flight 8646 struck Rescue 35 on landing, killing the captain and first officer. (ntsb.gov) (data.ntsb.gov) Investigators said red runway entrance lights were illuminated before the collision, but the airport’s surface-alert system did not generate an alert because the fire truck did not have a transponder. That finding has added pressure on the FAA to show that modernization is reaching both software and ground-safety systems. (data.ntsb.gov) (ntsb.gov) The FAA has not publicly named a final SMART contractor, but outside reporting says Palantir, Thales and Air Space Intelligence are competing. Administrator Bryan Bedford has made the program a central part of his case for rebuilding how the national airspace system runs. (theaircurrent.com) (faa.gov) For airlines, controllers and passengers, the immediate change is not a visible new screen at the airport. It is a federal bet that earlier warnings, sturdier notice systems and newer radar can reduce the strain on a network still running on layers of old and new technology. (faa.gov) (nms.aim.faa.gov)