Ready or Not, ADS-B is Coming

Abstract

After two decades of reform efforts, in 2012 Congress authorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize their Air Traffic Management system, transforming how they control aircraft throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). Because of the FAAs exclusive control over American airspace, its air traffic modernization mandates immediately impact Air Force aircraft and the militarys freedom of movement in domestic skies.As part of FAAs NextGen 2020 initiatives, almost all of the Air Forces aircraft inventory will require avionics upgrades, including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology retrofits. Last year, Air Force leadership testified before Congress about its compliance status, and its ADS-B roll-out strategy. Casting this articulated, implementation plan against the Air Forces total inventory of airframes, I explore whether the Air Force is ready for the FAAs January 2020 ADS-B compliance deadline. Because there are still three years until the mandates effective-date, ADS-B procurement time and pricing lead my case-study of the Air Forces compliance priority-schedule. Air Force leadership has placed ADS-B compliance-priority on those aircraft that regularly fly outside of American airspace. Federal acquisition protocols add to the cost and roll-out of ADS-B transponder purchase and installation, and contribute to the likelihood that not all of the Air Force inventory will have ADS-B installed by 2020.Absent an ADS-B waiver, non-compliant aircraft may be given flight restrictions by the FAA, such as flying low, sub-optimal navigation, or denied-entry, which cost the Air Force time, fuel, and readiness. Consequently, with its NextGen 2020 mandate, the FAA stands to effectively impair Air Superiority, which is the exclusive mission of the United States Air Force.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2017
Accession Number
AD1053977

Entities

People

  • Bryan A Culipher

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Cyber
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Air Traffic
  • Air Transportation
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Airplanes
  • Case Studies
  • Commercial Aircraft
  • Commercial Aviation
  • Congress
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • General Aviation Aircraft
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Governments
  • Military Aircraft
  • Navigation
  • Operations Security
  • Procurement
  • Radar
  • Sense And Avoid Systems
  • United States
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Business

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Aviation Safety and Air Traffic Management
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management

Technology Areas

  • Space