Florida lawmakers push DOT, FAA on modernization of state’s air traffic control infrastructure

As commercial and military airspace activities expand in Florida, congressional members from the state are raising concerns about fragmented communication processes and inefficiencies at the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration. 

In a letter sent Tuesday to DOT Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, two dozen lawmakers representing Florida urged the agencies to create an interagency body, along with expediting modernization of the state’s radar and air traffic control infrastructure. 

“There exists a level of fragmentation and inefficiency that poses significant risk to the economic integrity of our state,” the lawmakers wrote, “These proposals are essential in preserving Florida’s leadership role in ensuring the United States’ superiority in the global space race, and necessary to help our nation beat China in the second space race to the Moon and beyond.” 

The proposed interagency body, or Airspace Coordination Team (ACT), would facilitate communication and coordinate activities of commercial airspace, defense and tourism partners “who operate within the airspace and waters around Cape Canaveral.” The ACT would give stakeholders more of a say and “ensure operational confluence,” the lawmakers argued. 

The 24 lawmakers, from both sides of the aisle, pointed out that the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center reported 93 launches last year, with nearly 1,400 orbital assets sent from Florida to space. 

“With the demand for launches expected to significantly increase in the coming years, challenges associated with the inefficiency of communication amongst those who operate within and around the vicinity of Cape have exposed our commercial, defense, and tourism partners to unnecessary risk and delay,” the lawmakers wrote. 

The letter, led by Republican Rep. Greg Steube, was signed by 22 other members of the House, and GOP Sen. Ashley Moody. Only six members of the Florida delegation did not sign the letter. 

The lawmakers further pushed the FAA to certify the Space Data Integrator capability as operational. The SDI, according to the FAA, is an operational prototype that will receive and distribute launch and reentry data to “enable improved situational awareness and airspace management decision-making.” 

Traditionally, the FAA has used manual processes for communicating space data. The SDI offers an automated feature for the process. Lawmakers said the FAA’s 2019 Airspace Access Priorities Advisory Rulemaking Committee recommended the agency extend air traffic control specialists’ access to SDI data no later than 2022. 

“As the rate of space launches surge, the SDI would provide immense benefit to the entire airspace industry, given its capability to accurately track launch trajectory, reentry operations, and other data points critical to effectuating an open and safe airspace. Expedited certification and approval of the SDI is essential to meeting these needs,” the letter stated. 

While complimenting the FAA and DOT’s work to modernize the air traffic control systems, the lawmakers emphasized the promotion and incorporation of products must continue “without unnecessary delay.” The letter gives the agency until Nov. 14 to answer a series of questions about their efforts to increase coordination, the status of certifying the SDI capability and how an ACT could be created. 

The DOT did not respond to FedScoop by the time of publication. The FAA responded with an automatic reply, stating the agency is not responding to “routine media inquiries” as a result of the government shutdown.