Overview
- Federal officials unveiled the Surface Movement Radar Model 4 at Newark on Tuesday, making it the fifth U.S. installation of the new system.
- The SMR-4 lets controllers track aircraft and vehicles on runways and taxiways in low visibility, replacing a roughly 30-year-old radar that is increasingly hard to maintain.
- The FAA plans to deploy 53 SMR units across the nation’s 44 busiest airports as part of a wider modernization program that will move telecom from copper to fiber and digital platforms and is expected to finish by the end of 2028.
- The new radar is built in Syracuse, New York, a point officials highlighted as returning manufacturing and jobs to the United States.
- FAA data show 1,102 runway incursions so far in fiscal 2026, down from 1,197 a year earlier, and officials say the new systems combined with hiring and procedural work should cut incursions, reduce delays, and make operations more predictable for travelers and neighbors.