The Federal Aviation Administration announced the deployment of SMART, an AI system designed to streamline air traffic management, on September 17, 2026. It is the agency’s first major initiative to modernize air traffic control systems since its 2022 hiring plan aimed to resolve staffing shortages.
SMART, developed by Air Space Intelligence, is expected to cost $875 million over a 12-year period, according to the Wall Street Journal. The program will use AI to assess airline schedules, weather, airport capacity, airspace conditions, and operational constraints to predict traffic flows and identify potential conflicts before they occur.
The system is built on a cloud-based platform and targets the optimization of airspace management, with its initial rollout planned for the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. "SMART is a cloud-based platform system that enhances existing FAA air traffic management systems," said the article, describing the program’s core function.
The announcement follows the FAA’s earlier hiring plan to address the longstanding staffing shortage in air traffic control. The agency emphasized that SMART is part of a broader effort to modernize the nation’s aging air traffic systems.
The FAA did not specify the exact timeline for full nationwide deployment and raised questions about how the system will integrate with existing infrastructure. The program is expected to expand to other regions after its initial rollout.
Source: techcrunch
