FAA Backs Off Plans to Develop New System for Plane Landings
WASHINGTON — After an investment of 27 years and $400 million, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it is scrapping development of a system to guide airplane landings because the program has been overtaken by an alternative technology.
The move came as the agency was preparing major changes in a troubled multibillion-dollar contract to modernize the computers in the nation’s air traffic control system. Officials said the agency plans to announce today that it will scale back efforts to develop new equipment and focus on buying “off-the-shelf” technology that it hopes will lower costs.
The Microwave Landing System (MLS) had been intended to replace the instrument landing system (ILS) now in use to guide planes to runways under conditions of limited visibility. But the FAA reached a conclusion long espoused by some aviation industry groups that satellite-based technology has greater potential.
The FAA on Thursday canceled MLS contracts with Raytheon Corp. and Wilcox Corp., saying the move would save taxpayers $59 million through 1997.
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