FAA’s Air Traffic Overhaul: Why China Is in the Conversation

The battle over who will build America’s next air traffic control system is increasingly becoming a debate over whether foreign-owned companies should have a role in critical national infrastructure.

A closer look at the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) priorities reveals the wider landscape shaping the competition, one in which companies such as Leidos and RTX are positioning themselves, and where China’s role is both closely scrutinised and more limited than some claims suggest.

The problem being fixed

America's air traffic control is undergoing major transformation as parts still run on aging technology. A September 2024 Government Accountability Office report found that 37% of the FAA’s 138 air traffic control systems were rated unsustainable. An outdated system, alongside disruptions including a shutdown that left controllers unpaid for over a month, has given modernization real urgency.

Today the FAA runs two separate systems. En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) manages high-altitude flights across 20 control centres, while the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) handles approaches and towers. Built in different cycles on separate platforms, their inefficiency and high costs have incentivised the FAA to modernize air traffic control systems.

So, what is the Common Automation Platform?

The Common Automation Platform, or CAP, would merge both systems into one modern, adaptable solution. The FAA opened a Request for Information in November 2025 and signalled openness to almost any technical route, including adapting a platform already used by another country's air navigation provider.

It wants CAP to cover nearly 30 million square miles of airspace, sustain traffic exceeding 45,000 flights per day, and accommodate future users like drones and space operations. This sits inside a USD 19 billion modernization plan, of which USD 12.5 billion was allocated by Congress in July 2025, with deployment targeted within three to four years.

Where China enters

The two American front-runners, Leidos and RTX, are competing against France's Thales, Spain's Indra, and Austria's Frequentis, several of which have deep commercial roots in China. Thales is the clearest case: by its own account, 60% of China's air traffic including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is managed through Thales’ solutions.

Leidos has previously argued that selling the same CAP technology to the FAA used by a key U.S. rival could pose national security risks.

Where China may not

The European firms reject the framing, denying their systems pose any risk. Frequentis says it does not sell these products in China. Their distinction is between doing business in a country and handing it the keys to a foreign system.

Why it matters

There is a legitimate security dimension, since air traffic control is critical infrastructure and China is an active cyber actor. And there is a competitive one, in which that concern doubles as an argument to lock rivals out of a contract worth hundreds of millions.

Congress has responded with bipartisan, bicameral draft legislation that would direct the FAA to look deeper at all contractor’s foreign relationships as part of its award process for the CAP.