AI Image
US aviation shutdown blamed on L3 Harris installed router
Reuters • • general
Key Points:
- A nearly five-hour shutdown of the US aviation system disrupted over 20,000 flights and was linked to a faulty router installed by government contractor L3Harris during routine telecom maintenance.
- The incident exposed vulnerabilities in the aging FAA air traffic control telecom system, which relies on outdated copper wire infrastructure that is being gradually replaced by fiber-optic technology.
- The new routers caused excessive connection attempts, overwhelming FAA en route centers and forcing a nationwide ground stop due to data communication instability, though no centers went completely offline.
- The FAA has received $12.5 billion from Congress to upgrade its air traffic control systems and is seeking an additional $50 billion, as the current system still depends on decades-old hardware and software, including floppy disks and paper flight strips.
- Similar disruptions have occurred recently, including a 2023 nationwide ground stop caused by accidental file deletion and a September outage from equipment failures and fiber-optic cable damage.
