Lockheed Martin is still ahead of schedule as it finishes some crucial early stages of FAA's mammoth en route automation modernization (ERAM) program, top company officials say, and Lockheed Martin is also poised to reach important milestones in FAA's oceanic modernization effort.

The most significant recent development in ERAM is the completion of software development and in-house testing of the enhanced back-up surveillance system (EBUS). The handoff of the system to FAA likely will occur at the end of this month, said Sue Corcoran, VP-aviation solutions for Lockheed's Transportation and Security Solutions (TSS) unit. This will let the agency begin deploying ERAM to en route centers in 2005 and 2006. The first center to receive EBUS will be Denver, scheduled in March.

EBUS replaces the current backup system, called the direct access radar channel (DARC). Based on Lockheed's en route automated radar tracking system (Micro-EARTS), EBUS will have much more functionality than DARC. If controllers are forced to switch to backup, it will be much closer to the capability of the primary system, and still will have functions such as conflict alert.

Currently, when controllers have to rely on DARC, "it sends delays into the [aviation] system because separation standards have to be changed," said TSS President Don Antonucci. EBUS "should be a significant operational improvement for the FAA in the event of a primary outage," Antonucci said.

Lockheed is "in the thick of software development" for the main ERAM system, said Corcoran. It recently completed the first of four software development milestones -- known as software drops -- for the main system. The first drop, containing more than 30% of the required software, was finished a month ahead of schedule. The other software drops will occur about once every quarter through 2005, and Lockheed has asked its engineers to be about a month early with all the drops.

So far, the thousands of requirements have not been changed, Corcoran said. Lockheed is also lowering the risk for schedule delays by reusing a lot of code already developed for the user request evaluation tool (URET). About half the URET code will eventually be used in ERAM. Deployment of ERAM systems is scheduled to begin in 2009. ERAM's modular architecture will make it much easier to upgrade. It will also be easier to run ERAM applications such as URET, since the applications will use the same core functions. This will reduce duplication, but if applications malfunction, the core capability of ERAM will not be affected.

Antonucci said ERAM has been designed to meet FAA's needs until at least 2020. Its modular design means it will be easy to add capabilities that "are still just concepts" in the agency's long-range plans.

Corcoran said Lockheed expects to restart the deployment of the URET system at the beginning of next year. FAA put the deployment on hold for funding reasons after it had been delivered to about half the 20 en route centers. Now, program funding is in good shape for next year, and its completion is a high priority for both the FAA and airlines, Corcoran said.

URET lets controllers complete a quicker and more detailed probe of alternative flight paths through multiple centers, allowing more airline route change requests to be granted. This system is providing about $1 million in fuel savings per month in each center where it has been deployed.

Another key en route ATC project, the en route communications gateway (ECG), is also about midway through deployment to all centers. This program is well ahead of schedule, Corcoran said, and each ECG deployment has been achieved about 30 days early.