An Anchorage based aviation high technology development firm will assist a major contractor in one of the largest FAA support contracts ever awarded.
ADS-B Technologies, LLC of Anchorage was picked by General Dynamics to participate in a $1.2 billion-plus contract that will assist the FAA in its NexGen modernization program aimed at dramatically improving the safety and efficiency to the U.S. airspace system over the next ten years.
“This is the first time that an Alaskan company will be involved with a major player in the world of aviation technology development on a nationwide basis,” said Robert “Skip” Nelson, president of ADS-B Technologies. “We have a deep understanding of a significant part of the work the General Dynamics Team will be asked to do and are looking forward to incorporating some of the lessons we have learned here in Alaska into the National Airspace System.”
Nelson’s company specializes in the field of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, a radically new and efficient digital air traffic control system that was first perfected here in Alaska under the guidance of the FAA Alaskan Region’s “Capstone Program”. The use of ADS-B and Capstone technology is credited with reducing accidents 45 percent in the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta, an area not served by conventional air traffic control radar.
The company, based at Merrill Field in Anchorage, will assist General Dynamics a Fairfax, Virginia company who has contracted with 23 other companies in a team effort to design, deploy and develop a new airspace navigation and surveillance network for the United States.
Nelson and members of the ADS-B Technologies team were also named as recipients of the coveted Robert J. Collier Award by the National Aeronautic Association in 2007 for their part in the development of ADS-B Technology.
ADS-B Technologies LLC was founded in 2004. It was the first company to demonstrate ADS-B on both the Asian and African continents. In 2006, it installed ADS-B in Central China where it currently supports the largest privately owned air traffic surveillance network in the world with ground stations spanning more than 1,200 miles across Central China. The company maintains offices in Anchorage, Beijing and Hong Kong.
Rob Stapleton can be reached at: robstapleton@alaska.net
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