By David Shepardson and Mrinmay Dey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Billionaire presidential adviser Elon Musk on Thursday said a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration communications system operated by Verizon is months away from failure and putting air safety at risk.
Verizon, which operates the largest U.S. wireless network, said it has only begun work on the system currently run by another company, and rejected the criticism by Musk, who owns the rival SpaceX Starlink satellite system.
“The Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk,” Musk, said in a post on his social media platform X.
Verizon replied: “To be clear, the FAA systems currently in place are run by L3Harris and not Verizon. We are at the beginning of a multi-year contract to replace antiquated, legacy systems. Our teams have been working with the FAA’s technology teams and our solution stands ready to be deployed.”
L3Harris did not immediately comment.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the FAA was close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract awarded to Verizon in 2023 to overhaul a communications system, and awarding the work to Musk’s Starlink. The FAA said it has not made any decision on the contract.
This week, the FAA said it was testing three Starlink terminals at a government facility in Alaska to address concerns about reliable weather information for the aviation community in that state.
“The FAA has been considering the use of Starlink since the prior administration to increase reliability at remote sites, including in Alaska,” the FAA said this week. The agency did not immediately comment on Musk’s tweet.
President Donald Trump named Musk to head a group called DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency.
The FAA fired 350 employees last week as part of a DOGE-directed effort to shrink the government. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said none of the fired employees were air traffic controllers or critical for aviation safety.
A DOGE team of SpaceX engineers acting as special government employees visited FAA facilities last week.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)
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