Harris Corp. Wins Huge FAA Contract : Aviation: The $1.66-billion award is for a communications system for airplanes.

WASHINGTON —  The Federal Aviation Administration awarded a $1.66-billion contract Tuesday to Harris Corp. for development of a communications system to control airplanes as they fly between U.S. cities.

The 15-year contract calls for equipment to be installed over the next four years, beginning with the FAA’s technical center in Atlantic City, N.J.

The FAA said the new radio and telephone voice switching system would replace aging communications systems that it now leases.

Spokeswoman JoAnn Sloane said the new system was not related to the telephone equipment failure that shut down New York’s three major airports Sept. 17. The failure disrupted air routes across the nation.

Harris Corp., based in Melbourne, Fla., produces high-tech electronic systems, semiconductor products and office equipment as well as communication systems.

The voice switching and control system will provide a computer-controlled voice system for communications between flight crews and controllers and between controllers. Harris said the new system could handle more than 2,800 calls per minute--twice the anticipated load--and would be flexible enough to accommodate from 50 to 430 controllers at a time.

The new system will be installed at 22 air route control centers, the New York radar approach control facility and at the FAA’s aeronautical center in Oklahoma City, Okla., as well as the technical center.

The en-route centers, which control planes as they pass between U.S. cities, monitor thousands of domestic flights each hour.

The aeronautical center in Oklahoma City also is the site of the FAA’s school for air traffic controllers.

Harris was selected in a process that began in 1986 when the FAA selected Harris and AT&T; Technologies Inc. of Greensboro, N.C., to develop prototypes.