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I think that the article's implication that radar is being 'replaced' refers only to the daily work of controllers, not to the technical system. Both the FAA an
by jcrawfordor 7y ago
I think that the article's implication that radar is being 'replaced' refers only to the daily work of controllers, not to the technical system. Both the FAA and the Air Force have strong motives to keep the primary radar system, and it would take many years to decommission it even if they wanted to - but near-100% availability of ADS-B does mean that controllers will use it as their primary source of data, instead of relying on the radar returns which even in areas with good coverage can sometimes come in and out and generally be finnicky.
Consider that controllers currently rely primarily on secondary radar, which while more difficult to spoof than ADS-B is still quite subject to malicious manipulation. They are well aware that a primary radar return with no corresponding secondary radar information is something to sort out, and this won't change with a switch to ADS-B.
- briandear 7y agoNobody is even suggesting eliminating radar. ADS-B is primarily for aircraft identification, not terminal area location information. A side effect is that it helps with airborne traffic information for airplanes without radar or TCAS.