The U.S. Department of Transportation and FAA released a joint statement today, December 5, announcing that national security and technology company Peraton will be the Prime Integrator of the nation’s air traffic control system modernization plan.
Peraton is a security company with previous contracts for President Trump’s Golden Dome project and is owned by private equity firm Veritas Capital, which has secured hundreds of millions in defense funding from Israel in past months and has partnered closely with DOGE. Sixty percent of Veritas’ revenue comes from government agencies.
“We are thrilled to be working with Peraton because they share President Trump’s drive to modernize our skies safely at record speed,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “Working together, we are going to build on the incredible progress we’ve already made and deliver a state-of-the-art air traffic control system that the American traveling public — and our hard-working air traffic controllers — deserve.”
The new air traffic control system was provided $12.5 billion for the upgrade from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which the FAA and DOT are now calling a “down payment” after Transportation Secretary Duffy mentioned he wanted the government to pay another $19 billion towards the modernization plan.
Now FAA Acting Administration Bryan Bedford is asking for $20 billion more.
According to the DOT’s release, the government contract is designed to reward Peraton’s performance and penalize it for delays to “incentivize smart usage of the taxpayer dollar.”
The plan is estimated to be completed in three years, by the end of 2028.
So what will Peraton do? The company will aid the DOT and FAA in replacing core infrastructure like telecommunications networks, radar, software and hardware to bring the air traffic control system up-to-date: something the previous administration estimated would take ten years or more.
Airlines for America, the corporate association for the nation’s major airlines, praised the announcement, with President and CEO Christopher T. Sununu saying, “U.S. airlines are deeply appreciative of President Trump’s leadership and vision. We look forward to working with the Administration as we continue to advocate for additional funding for staffing and technology to fulfill President Trump’s vision of a new golden age of air travel.”
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