Alliance Announced At Air Traffic Control Association Conference And Exposition

Lockheed Martin -- along with Boeing, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Harris Corporation -- announced the formation of an industry alliance to help the implementation of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) System Wide Information Management (SWIM) initiative.

Representatives with Lockheed tell ANN the alliance was announced at the 52nd Annual Air Traffic Control Association Conference and Exposition now underway in Washington, DC.

The SWIM Alliance, led by Lockheed, was established to help improve the efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS). The alliance will test existing technologies to further Next Generation (NextGen) Air Transportation System concepts.

By connecting existing, new systems the alliance will improve safety, reduce risk, and enhance decision-making and operational efficiencies for the NAS. Their goals include air navigational service providers and other stakeholders.

"By teaming with the FAA," said Sandy Samuel, vice president for Aviation Solutions for Lockheed Martin, "the alliance can ensure delivery of a seamless, interoperable capability and help provide the vital improvements necessary to take air transportation to the next generation."

The alliance's focus is to build a centralized national airspace based on a service-oriented architecture that will facilitate data sharing.

"As SWIM will define the integration infrastructure tying NAS applications together, the SWIM Alliance is bringing together industry best practices to define information sharing and net-centric operations across aircraft, airline and FAA systems," said Kevin Brown, Boeing vice president and general manager of Advanced Air Traffic Management.

"A critical enabler for our nation's NextGen air transportation system, SWIM will deliver the combined network solutions that meet aviation's information integration challenges for today, tomorrow and beyond," said Harry Part, vice president of Transportation Solutions for CSC's North American Public Sector business unit.

"The alliance is proactively testing existing technologies to deliver vital improvements," said John O'Sullivan, vice president of FAA Programs for Harris Government Communications Systems. "Through collaboration, the SWIM Alliance members will ensure that FAA SWIM systems and products work together."

FMI: www.lockheedmartin.com/, www.boeing.com/, www.harris.com/, www.csc.com/