FAA prepares $875 million AI platform SMART for air traffic controllers

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing to launch a cloud-based AI platform, SMART — Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories. The contract runs for 12 years and is valued at $875 million. The system's main job is to ease the load on air traffic controllers, of whom the country has long been short.

Staff shortages in air traffic control are a multi-year problem with varied causes. Authorities are openly looking for unconventional solutions, and the AI platform is one of them. Earlier this year the FAA announced a new hiring plan, promising to close the accumulated staffing gap; separately, work is underway to modernize outdated air traffic control systems.

SMART is described as a cloud platform that complements existing FAA systems rather than replacing them. The AI assesses airline schedules, weather, airport capacity, airspace conditions and operational constraints.

On that basis, the system predicts aircraft flows and identifies potential conflicts before they arise. This is about early warning, not about analyzing what has already happened.

The developer is the company Air Space Intelligence. Deployment will begin with the Washington metropolitan area, and the platform is then promised to expand to other regions.

Details remain sparse: SMART is described in a one-page document, and launch timelines and technical integration have not been publicly disclosed. Only the direction is clear — the FAA is betting on AI as a tool to support controllers.

Image: Petar Marjanovic CC BY-SA 3.0 · License

Translation editor: Салтанов А.