Musk says ATC system "failing rapidly" - wants to cancel the contract to award to Starlink (4 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Musk has been after this contract since 2022 - it's currently held by Verizon. There's no one else that I'm aware of saying the ATC system is failing rapidly. The AP is reporting that Starlink equipment is already being deployed.

1. Special Government Employees like Musk are supposed to not have contractual conflicts of interest
2. Companies can't just go and deploy their equipment "for free" at federal operations because everyone knows this is just the way in the door.
3. None of this is legal under the Competition in Contracting Act

WASHINGTON (AP) — A satellite company owned by Elon Musk has the inside track to potentially take over a large federal contract to modernize the nation’s air traffic communications system.

Equipment from Musk’s Starlink has been installed in Federal Aviation Administration facilities as a prelude to a takeover of a $2 billion contract held by Verizon, according to government employees, contractors and people familiar with the work.

Musk said that the network used by air traffic controllers is aging and requires drastic and quick action to modernize it.

“The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk,” Musk on Monday posted on X, the social media site he has owned since 2022.

The emergence of Starlink as a potential replacement for the Verizon-led effort underscores the extraordinary conflicts of interest inherent in Musk’s position as both a senior White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a business mogul in charge of a sprawling array of companies. It is not clear what role Musk might be playing in helping Starlink parent company SpaceX win such business.

“There’s very limited transparency,” said Jessica Tillipman, a contracting law expert at George Washington University. Referring to Musk, she said: “Without that transparency, we have no idea how much non-public information he has access to or what role he’s playing in what contracts are being awarded.”

Musk has inside track to take over contract to fix air traffic communications system

A satellite company owned by Elon Musk is on a possible fast track to take over a large federal contract to modernize the nation’s air traffic communications system.

apnews.com

 

[Sendai]

Sigh. Yes. Let me re-phrase - who else says the system is nearing catastrophic failure?

The GAO

Air Traffic Control: Urgent FAA Actions Are Needed to Modernize Aging Systems

The Federal Aviation Administration relies on information systems to help air traffic controllers keep the airspace safe and efficient. However, these...

www.gao.gov

 

[MT15]

just providing actual details. The Starlink terminals are being used in problem remote areas. Old system is becoming a problem. Verizon is starting a new contract. Little, if any of what has been posted is particularly accurate.

The Reuters article should have made that obvious.

None of what you just said is accurate, actually. Verizon started this contract in 2023, not today. They said their solution is ready to deploy.

The Reuters article just basically quoted Administration sources without fact checking in some areas, mostly because the Administration is being totally opaque about what they are doing.

The StarLinks in Alaska are being used for weather information-from what I can tell from that short article, not air traffic control.

 

[superchuck500]

The GAO

Air Traffic Control: Urgent FAA Actions Are Needed to Modernize Aging Systems

The Federal Aviation Administration relies on information systems to help air traffic controllers keep the airspace safe and efficient. However, these...

www.gao.gov

Indeed.

This is clearly an FAA problem - Trump's FAA needs to be taking action and doing it promptly and legally. Elon Musk is a special government employee of the White House who isn't supposed to work on anything where he has a conflict of interest, and he clearly does here.

Why is it that Elon Musk is the only American capable of doing anything in this administration?

 

[MT15]

Besides, nothing in that GAO article says there will be imminent catastrophic failure within single digit months. Musk just makes stuff up.

 

[Sendai]

Indeed.

This is clearly an FAA problem - Trump's FAA needs to be taking action and doing it promptly and legally. Elon Musk is a special government employee of the White House who isn't supposed to work on anything where he has a conflict of interest, and he clearly does here.

Why is it that Elon Musk is the only American capable of doing anything in this administration?

Well, obviously he isn’t. As the Reuters article implies.

 

[bird]

Well, obviously he isn’t. As the Reuters article implies.

Obviously, he is a threat. He claims the entire network is failing. The sending of a few for free will be followed by the cancellation of the Verizon contract and the awarding of a new contract to Starlink because some terminals will be there already.

He is claiming something requires him to resolve the “problem”. That you do not see or care about it is completely understandable.

 

[Sendai]

Obviously, he is a threat. He claims the entire network is failing. The sending of a few for free will be followed by the cancellation of the Verizon contract and the awarding of a new contract to Starlink because some terminals will be there already.

He is claiming something requires him to resolve the “problem”. That you do not see or care about it is completely understandable.

Apparently the decision to test Starlink terminals in remote locations occurred before the current administration.

 

[MT15]

According to to the Reuters piece that isn’t happening. They’re looking at Starlink to solve remote area problems and Verizon has the contract.

Reuters doesn’t address the claim from the WaPo article. At all. You posted the entire article from Reuters. All they did was report the fact that Verizon was awarded the contract in 2023 and that the FAA says it hasn’t made a decision on the Verizon contract.

How you get “the FAA isn’t going to pull the Verizon contract” out of that is amazing.

 

[efil4]

Apparently the decision to test Starlink terminals in remote locations occurred before the current administration.

So was the "test run" of up-armored Tesla cybertrucks for $498,000.

That then morphed into a $400mm contract after new administration.

That, once the line item change discrepancy was discovered, actually disappeared altogether.

 

[MT15]

So was the "test run" of up-armored Tesla cybertrucks for $498,000.

That then morphed into a $400mm contract after new administration.

That, once the line item change discrepancy was discovered, actually disappeared altogether.

Yeah, if anything shows that Musk and the Admin are trying to enrich Musk, that would be it.

That was egregious.

 

[RobF]

Apparently the decision to test Starlink terminals in remote locations occurred before the current administration.

"Apparently" doing a lot of work there, because that's not even what it says in the Reuters article you seem determined to misrepresent.

The quote, attributed to the FAA, was, "The FAA has been considering the use of Starlink since the prior administration to increase reliability at remote sites, including in Alaska."

Been considering, not had made the decision to. And that's pretty vague as it is. We don't know who specifically has claimed that - and whether it's true - and we don't know the extent of these "considerations".

 

[MT15]

Okay - so the WaPo article is much more complete than the Reuters one. Sendai, I could see why you would prefer that one but it’s just not as clear. For instance - StarLink terminals are being used in New Jersey as well as Alaska. So it isn’t just remote areas.

Here is the WaPo link, however Chuck has already posted it. It actually seems disingenuous for you to come in and post a very short and incomplete Reuters piece and refer to it as an authority.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/26/musk-starlink-doge-faa-verizon/

‘Verizon was tapped in 2023 to build a system called the FAA Enterprise Network Services Program or FENS, replacing a system that dates to 2002. The contract had a 15-year lifespan, and the system is intended to connect some 4,600 sites, according to the FAA.

The agency was scheduled to make a final decision on whether to start paying Verizon for the contract next month, said one of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Instead, Musk’s team determined the job should go to Starlink, the person said. But the process for unwinding a contract and awarding it to another company is lengthy and has not been followed in this case so far, the person said.

Several senior FAA officials have refused to sign paperwork authorizing the switch, according to the person, who has been briefed on the internal deliberations and resulting fallout, so Musk’s team is now seeking help from the acting administrator of the agency, Trump appointee Chris Rocheleau, and Duffy.”

 

[bird]

Apparently the decision to test Starlink terminals in remote locations occurred before the current administration.

Apparently irrelevant. Musk uses whatever leverage he can. But your acceptance and unconcern are understandable.

 

[J-DONK]

The term of the contract covers ongoing service after the new system goes in. Development of the new application will be a much shorter time period.

What are we talking about here?

Does Sendai have no idea what he is talking about?

This entire thing reads like Verizon was contracted to lay fiber, and bring in carrier grade network equipment. It will take years.

I would not in a bilion years replace that with Starlink.

Starlink would only be viable as a backup.

 

[Incumbent]

This is a screenshot of a highly speculative post and I debated whether to share it here, but it reminded me of Musk's previously stated plans for X. Whether his prediction comes to pass, I think it expresses the concerns that many people have with Musk and the role he has taken on. We are watching as he and his unvetted, unqualified team of hackers dismantle our government, amid reports of how he wants to expand U.S. use and reliance on his products and technologies.

 

[zztop]

Musk is claiming that the entire ATC system is nearing failure and has been publicly critical of Verizon, the current contract holder.

And anyone who knows even a little about him, knows he has a long history of making numerous claims and comments about things that were completely false. And using his 'platform' Twitter, to amplify those false claims. I wouldn't trust his claims about anything anymore.

 

[samiam5211]

It’s actually only about 20% of those types. It’s the 40% of people who are checked out that are the real problem.

Yea, that checked out 40% includes the 25% who never had the balls to use their free will, like Lindsey Graham.