United States President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a sweeping modernization of the country’s air traffic control infrastructure. During his remarks, Trump described the current system as “obsolete,” noting that it has long been plagued by outdated technology and inefficient management structures involving hundreds of competing contractors.

“They spend billions and billions of dollars trying to patch the system together,” Trump said. “They had hundreds of different contractors and the contractors were all fighting with each other.” To solve this, Trump declared that the new system will rely on “one great, big contractor,” potentially Raytheon or IBM, to manage the entire operation.

The President criticized the past approach of using fragmented service providers, asserting that it led to delays, wasteful spending, and heightened safety risks. He emphasized that with the right equipment in place, incidents such as “a helicopter crashing into a plane at 400 feet, when it's supposed to be 200 feet” could be prevented entirely.

The new initiative involves building an entirely new, interconnected air traffic system where all control towers across the United States—and internationally—would be linked. This integrated design will allow for real-time communication and coordination, including what Trump described as an “ear-shattering sound” alert when planes get dangerously close to one another.

By unifying control systems and deploying modern hardware and software solutions, the administration aims to significantly enhance air safety, reduce bureaucratic overlap, and improve efficiency across U.S. and global skies. The reform is presented as a key infrastructure milestone in Trump’s ongoing efforts to modernize national systems under his renewed term.