The FAA awarded Harris a contract on Tuesday potentially worth $291 million to replace legacy voice switches at ATC facilities with an Internet Protocol-based network under the National Airspace System Voice System (NVS) program, considered foundational to the NextGen ATC modernization effort. Current voice switches, some dating to the early 1980s, operate independently at individual ATC facilities.

The FAA described the NVS replacement as a “major modernization” that will enable the agency to route, monitor and share information from one facility to another. It will also allow the FAA to shift controller workload among facilities as needed.

Harris, of Melbourne, Fla., said it will provide a secure, IP-based voice communications network based on its commercial off-the-shelf systems at ATC towers and terminal and en route facilities. The NVS contract has a five-year base and five two-year options, with a potential overall value of $291.6 million. Harris is already the prime contractor for the FAA’s Telecommunications Infrastructure, and is competing against ITT Exelis and Lockheed Martin for the agency’s pending Data Communications Integrated Services contract award, another NextGen foundational program.