Fri, Jun 24, 2005
Increased Safety And Capacity
Air traffic controllers in New York
these days are using the Federal Aviation Administration's new
system to manage oceanic air traffic. Designed and integrated by
Lockheed Martin, the Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures
(ATOP) system safely increases the capacity of international air
routes and automates the manual tracking processes used
previously.
"We are proud of Lockheed Martin's role in helping the FAA get to
this historic day--the beginning of automated control of our
oceanic air traffic," said Don Antonucci, president of Lockheed
Martin Transportation and Security Solutions. "Together, our team
has worked diligently to meet the FAA's challenge to create an
oceanic system that provides increased efficiency and oceanic
airspace capacity to meet growing international air traffic
requirements."
The ATOP system automates the FAA's existing procedures for
managing aircraft separation over the oceans, enabling controllers
to reduce spacing between aircraft while preserving passenger
safety and improving efficiency. When fully deployed, ATOP will
manage approximately 80 percent of the world's controlled oceanic
airspace, including approximately 24 million square miles over the
Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans. Prior to ATOP, oceanic flights
were manually guided with the help of paper flight strips,
requiring controllers to separate flights by up to 100 miles. When
ATOP is fully deployed, aircraft separation requirements for
properly equipped aircraft will be reduced to 30 miles, which will
allow the FAA to reduce delays, support the use of fuel-efficient
routes and accommodate growing international air traffic.
The FAA and Lockheed Martin are also replacing oceanic
procedures with ATOP at the Oakland, CA, and Anchorage, AK, centers
for the Pacific and Arctic regions, becoming fully operational
within the next year.
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