How the FAA Is Modernizing Air Traffic Communications
The communications infrastructure behind the National Airspace System (NAS) is undergoing one of its most significant transformations in decades.
As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) works toward a new generation of air traffic control technology, aging copper connections and analog communications equipment are increasingly being replaced with fiber, wireless connectivity, digital radios, and Internet Protocol (IP)-based systems.
A recent FAA progress update provides a clearer picture of just how quickly that transition is taking place.
On August 25, 2026, the FAA reported that it has now replaced 63% of targeted copper wiring with high-speed fiber, 5G wireless, or Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity, converted 388 radio sites, and installed 176 IP voice switches across air traffic control facilities nationwide.
Read the FAA’s August 25 air traffic control modernization update
The agency also announced the completion of the first wave of its nationwide Voice Communication System deployment following installation of the 140th CERTIUM Voice Communication System at Rapid City Regional Airport in South Dakota. According to the FAA, that first deployment wave was completed ahead of schedule.
These milestones represent more than individual technology upgrades. Together, they demonstrate how the communications foundation connecting pilots, controllers, facilities, and systems across the NAS is becoming increasingly digital.
Why Communications Are Central to FAA Modernization
The FAA’s air traffic control modernization strategy covers several major operational areas, including communications, surveillance, automation, facilities, and infrastructure in Alaska.
Of those priorities, telecommunications plays a particularly important role because it connects systems and facilities throughout the NAS. The FAA has specifically identified telecommunications as one of the top priorities of its modernization effort.
The scale of the planned communications transformation is substantial.
The FAA’s modernization roadmap calls for:
- 5,170 new high-speed network connections using fiber, satellite, and wireless technologies
- 27,625 new radios
- 462 new digital voice switches
Explore the FAA’s Brand New Air Traffic Control System fact sheet
The objective is not simply to increase network speeds or replace individual pieces of aging hardware. It is to create a more reliable communications environment capable of supporting modern air traffic operations and future technologies.
Moving from Copper and Analog Systems to Digital Infrastructure
For decades, portions of the NAS have depended on copper telecommunications circuits and analog communications equipment.
Modernization is changing that architecture.
The FAA’s current plan explicitly includes converting copper lines to fiber and wireless technologies while transitioning communications systems from analog architectures to digital IP-based infrastructure.
That change creates several potential advantages.
Modern digital networks can provide greater flexibility in how communications are routed, improve scalability, support more centralized management, and make it easier to introduce new capabilities as operational requirements evolve.
For an air traffic system spanning thousands of facilities and an enormous geographic area, those capabilities can become particularly valuable.
But modernization also creates an important engineering challenge: new infrastructure must be deployed without interrupting the systems currently supporting air traffic operations.
Modernizing Mission-Critical Voice Communications
Voice remains one of the most important components of air traffic control.
Controllers need reliable communications with pilots in the air, while facilities also need dependable ground-to-ground communications with other controllers and operational personnel.
The FAA’s Voice over Internet Protocol Communications Enterprise (VoICE) initiative is designed to modernize that infrastructure.
VoICE is replacing aging and obsolete analog voice-switching equipment with modern networked Voice Communication Systems operating over IP. The FAA plans to phase out approximately 450 legacy voice switches across air traffic control towers, Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities (TRACONs), en route centers, and Combined Center Radar Approach Control facilities (CERAPs).
Learn more about the FAA’s VoICE and Voice Switch & Recorder Program
These systems provide much of the interface controllers use to access air-to-ground and ground-to-ground communications.
The FAA categorizes voice switches as both safety-critical and mission-critical because they support the NAS’s ability to safely separate and control aircraft.
That makes reliability fundamental to the modernization effort.
Building Greater Resiliency Through IP Communications
One of the primary benefits of moving toward a networked IP voice architecture is greater operational flexibility.
According to the FAA, VoIP modernization is intended to improve fault tolerance, continuity, scalability, reliability, and operational flexibility. The architecture can also enable more dynamic routing and reconfiguration of communications resources.
For example, digital infrastructure can make it easier to reroute communications capabilities or reallocate resources when operating conditions change.
That becomes increasingly important as the NAS grows more interconnected.
Modern communications infrastructure does not operate independently. It supports and interacts with surveillance systems, automation platforms, weather information, flight data, facility technology, and numerous other capabilities used across the NAS.
The reliability of the network therefore affects the reliability of the larger system.
The Challenge of Modernizing a System That Cannot Stop
Perhaps the most important aspect of FAA modernization is that the National Airspace System must continue operating throughout the transition.
Air traffic does not stop while new equipment is installed.
Controllers must continue communicating with aircraft. Facilities must continue exchanging information. Existing systems must remain available until their replacements have been tested and successfully transitioned into the operational environment.
As a result, modernization often involves maintaining legacy and next-generation systems simultaneously.
The FAA’s Voice Switch & Recorder Program demonstrates this directly. While new IP-based voice systems are being deployed, the agency maintains a Legacy Voice Switch Sustainment portfolio to support existing voice communication equipment until those systems are replaced.
The FAA’s new Air-to-Ground Protocol equipment is also designed to interface with both legacy analog and IP voice switches, illustrating the interoperability requirements involved during the transition.
This is where systems engineering becomes especially important.
Replacing hardware is only one part of the process.
Engineers and technical teams must also consider:
- System integration
- Interface compatibility
- Network configuration
- Testing and validation
- Fault isolation and troubleshooting
- Configuration management
- Cybersecurity
- Technical documentation
- Lifecycle sustainment
- Operational continuity
In a mission-critical environment, successful modernization requires both deploying the future system and maintaining confidence in the system operating today.
Cybersecurity Becomes Increasingly Important
Moving from isolated or dedicated analog infrastructure toward interconnected IP-based systems also changes the cybersecurity environment.
Connectivity provides significant operational advantages, but every additional network connection, interface, and digital endpoint must be properly managed and secured.
Cybersecurity therefore cannot be treated as a separate activity added after a system is deployed.
Security considerations must be incorporated throughout systems engineering, network design, implementation, testing, configuration management, monitoring, and sustainment.
As the NAS becomes more digitally connected, maintaining secure and resilient communications will remain essential to protecting the availability and integrity of mission-critical aviation systems.
The Next Phase of NAS Communications
The FAA’s August progress report shows that this transition is already well underway.
More than half of the targeted copper infrastructure has been replaced. Hundreds of radio sites have been converted. IP voice switches are being deployed nationwide. And the first major wave of next-generation Voice Communication Systems has now been completed.
The work ahead will become increasingly complex as modernization expands into larger and more operationally demanding facilities.
The FAA’s Voice Communication System deployment strategy is structured in three waves. Following approximately 140 smaller towers in Wave 1, Wave 2 is planned to reach approximately 250 medium-sized terminal facilities. Wave 3 will address the NAS’s most complex environments, including Core 30 airports, Tier 1 terminal facilities, CERAPs, and en route centers.
Each phase will require technology, people, engineering expertise, operational knowledge, and careful coordination to work together.
Supporting the Future of the National Airspace System
Air traffic control modernization is not defined by a single technology.
It is the transformation of an interconnected system of communications, surveillance, automation, facilities, networks, hardware, and software that must continue performing safely throughout the transition.
The FAA’s recent communications milestones demonstrate tangible progress toward that future.
For organizations supporting mission-critical aviation environments, they also reinforce the continuing importance of systems engineering, telecommunications engineering, cybersecurity, testing, integration, technical support, and lifecycle sustainment.
We are Quecon.
We support complex federal aviation environments with the technical expertise necessary to help mission-critical systems remain reliable, resilient, and ready for what comes next.
As the FAA continues transforming the infrastructure behind the National Airspace System, strong engineering support will remain essential to connecting today’s operational capabilities with tomorrow’s air traffic system.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How is the FAA modernizing air traffic communications?
The FAA is replacing aging copper and analog infrastructure with fiber, wireless, satellite, digital radio, and IP-based communications technologies. Its broader modernization roadmap includes thousands of new high-speed network connections, new radios, and hundreds of digital voice switches throughout the National Airspace System.
View the FAA’s air traffic control modernization plan
2. What is the FAA VoICE program?
The Voice over Internet Protocol Communications Enterprise (VoICE) program is the FAA’s initiative to replace aging analog voice switches with modern IP-based Voice Communication Systems. Approximately 450 legacy voice switches are planned for replacement across towers, TRACONs, en route centers, and CERAP facilities.
Visit the FAA Voice Switch & Recorder Program page
3. Why are air traffic control voice switches important?
Voice switches provide the primary communications interface controllers use for air-to-ground communications with pilots and ground-to-ground communications with other air traffic facilities and operational personnel. The FAA classifies these systems as both safety-critical and mission-critical.
4. What are the benefits of IP-based air traffic communications?
IP-based communications can provide greater flexibility, scalability, redundancy, fault tolerance, and reliability. Networked systems can also make it possible to dynamically reroute or reconfigure communications resources when operational requirements change or individual components become unavailable.
5. Why must legacy FAA systems remain operational during modernization?
The National Airspace System operates continuously, so existing infrastructure cannot simply be shut down while replacement technology is installed. Legacy and next-generation systems may need to operate together while new technology undergoes integration, testing, validation, and operational transition. The FAA maintains legacy voice-switch sustainment specifically to support existing systems until their replacements are ready.
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