FAA Awards Raytheon Intelligence & Space Contract to Modernize WAAS

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Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business, has been awarded a competitive indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract from the Federal Aviation Administration with a ceiling value of $375 million over the next 10 years. Task orders, valued at $215 million, were executed at contract award to provide technical refresh and Dual Frequency Operation (DFO) upgrades to the FAA's Wide-Area Augmentation System, or WAAS, a space-based precision navigation system, that will enhance safer air travel in support of the National Airspace System.

The Wide Area Augmentation System or WAAS monitors and evaluates all GPS signals over North America to enable pilots to fly using augmented GPS data for safety of life missions like precision landing and en-route navigation. The system allows pilots to safely land in places that were previously inaccessible because of the airport location and/or weather. It also makes airports without ground-based navigation available to pilots.

Under the WAAS DFO-2 contract, RI&S will deliver more modern, and therefore sustainable, processing, system security, and network architecture, while also adding dual frequency service.

"There is no margin for error during take-off, flight or landing," said Denis Donohue, president, Surveillance & Network Systems at RI&S. "Our modernization effort for WAAS will improve system robustness during ionospheric events and ensure safety-of-life requirements continue to be met."

WAAS is a Satellite-based Augmentation System (SBAS), which provides GPS corrections for critical navigation for the aviation community, first responders and other government agencies, ensuring pilots can land safely in austere environments, despite weather challenges. It also provides corrections for SBAS-capable receivers in use across a diverse set of communities, including agriculture, maritime and surveyance, among others.

Raytheon Technologies has been the prime development contractor for WAAS since 1996. Since reaching initial operational capability in 2003, Raytheon Technologies and the FAA have developed and fielded dozens of enhancements expanding WAAS's precision approach capability, coverage area, and reliability, including improvements to the system infrastructure in preparation for Dual Frequency service. WAAS Dual Frequency service will enable increased system accuracy, integrity, and availability when subject to ionospheric perturbations, including solar storms.