longacre writes "The FAA has awarded the long anticipated first contract for development of its NextGen air traffic control system: a $1.8 billion deal with ITT Corporation, beating out bids from aerospace heavyweights such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Interestingly, and perhaps frighteningly to anyone who has ever suffered shoddy cell phone reception, ITT's design will make use of hundreds of duties specially modified AT&T cellular phone towers which, in addition to their normal communications duties, will relay an aircraft's position to air traffic controllers and other aircraft in real time. The initial contract is only enough to wire and test the so-called ADS-B system in the Philadelphia area and around the Gulf of Mexico — hooking up the rest of the country will take an estimated 20 years with a $20 billion price tag." Link to Original Source
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Last word should read... (Score:1)