FAA AWARDS CONTRACT FOR RADAR SYSTEM : FIVE AIRPORTS INCLUDED IN AIR-TRAFFIC UPGRADE.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services Air traffic control systems at hundreds of airports - including five in the Southland - will be upgraded under a contract worth nearly $1 billion, the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control announced Monday. The deal calls for installation of new radar terminals and other electronic equipment at 172 FAA airport towers and 199 airports operated by the Defense Department. Prime contractor for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System The Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) is an air traffic control automation system currently being used in many busier TRACONs around the United States. - STARS - will be the Raytheon Co., Equipment Division, of Marlborough, Mass. ``Consumers will see fewer delays, the system will be safer, more reliable and will grow as traffic grows over the next decade,'' said Transportation Secretary Federico Pena. FAA Deputy Administrator Linda Hall Daschle said the contract will be worth about $950 million and could go higher if all options are exercised. The first of the new units is expected to be operational by December 1998 at Boston's Logan International Airport For the Logan airport in Billings, Montana, see . Logan International Airport (IATA: BOS, ICAO: KBOS, FAA LID: BOS) in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States (and partly in the Town of Winthrop, Massachusetts), is one , and the system should be completed by 2007. Airports in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, that will receive the updated equipment are Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , Burbank, Ontario, John Wayne in Orange County, and San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . The transition is scheduled to begin after Jan. 1, 2003, said FAA spokeswoman Diane Fuller. ``All of these airports use the Terminal Radar Approach Control system now,'' Fuller said. ``The idea is to augment this system, to make it safer by adding redundant radar coverage.'' The new units are designed to handle aviation in the terminal area, within 50 miles of each airport. The units provide color displays for air traffic controllers with additional data on aircraft, weather and other factors. Aircraft operating beyond the terminal area are handled by en route traffic control centers, which are being upgraded separately. Raytheon's bid won out over competitive proposals from Lockheed-Martin and Boeing, the FAA said. Contract officer Dave Ford said all the proposals were strong and considerations in choosing the winner were ``technical, management, past performance and cost. . . . Technical won out.'' Subcontractors include Hughes Information Systems of Fullerton; Magnavox Electronic Systems Co., of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Sun Microsystems Federal Inc. of Mountain View; and UFA Ufa (  fä`), city (1989 pop. 1,082,000), capital of Bashkortostan, E European Russia, at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers. Inc., Lexington, Mass.
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