Excerpts from Keynote of
Jeffrey N. Shane
Under Secretary for Policy - U.S. Department of Transportation
ATCA 50th Annual Conference and Exposition
Grapevine, Texas - October 31, 2005
Annotations by JPDO Communications Team – 10/31/05
A link to Mr. Shane’s full-text speech will be posted here in the near future
… And let me convey both Secretary Mineta’s and my best wishes on the 50th anniversary of ATCA’s annual conference and exposition.
….In January, we will be coming up on another anniversary – the two- year anniversary of Secretary Mineta’s landmark Aero Club speech challenging us to modernize and transform our air transportation system, and if I may quote the Secretary – “starting right now.”
…Transformation has started now and is in full swing. Make no mistake about it. The Next Generation System initiative is the real deal – one of the most important aviation programs that government has undertaken in many years …
…Particularly heartening at this early stage is the unprecedented cooperation among the senior government leaders who are working shoulder to shoulder to align programs and plans to the Next Generation System. And .. the partnerships we are beginning to form with industry. People, like you, are leaving their parochial interests and company badges at the door for the good of our great nation. …
We have now put down a solid foundation for planning and organizing the Next Generation System. The first real product of this groundbreaking effort came in December 2004. Click here to download 3.2MB .pdf of version 1.0 of the Integrated …
This strategic business plan lays out a common vision for the Next Generation System and establishes benchmarks for our success and a structure by which we can design and implement the changes we must make. It will be continually updated and expanded each year …
We have now broken down the Integrated Plan into eight manageable pieces -- including safety, shared situational awareness and an agile air traffic system -- and created an integrated product team, or IPT, for each one. Click for info on the JPDO’s eight IPTs and leaders of the IPTs are on this page. …
…The IPTs will work closely with our stakeholders, like you, to ensure you have an early window into our thinking and that we take full advantage of your expertise along the way. Register with the JPDO to enter your interests in their database – you will receive emails with updates and announcements of opportunities to participate as the NGATS work progresses. I cannot stress enough how important ATCA’s participation is to the success of the Next Generation System.
The primary responsibility for assembling and leading each IPT belongs to the Joint Planning and Development Office or JPDO, one of the Next Generation System’s participating government agencies. The JPDO is responsible for approving the IPTs’ broad strategies as part of the Integrated Plan and ensuring their plans and schedules are consistent with the overall roadmap and enterprise architecture.
… we also envisioned a new and revolutionary way for government and the private sector to collaborate in achieving the Integrated Plan’s objectives. We must make sure that the solutions we derive reflect the wisdom and perspective of the broadest range of stakeholders. …
NGATS Institute
… the Institute is an alliance among organizations representing major aviation stakeholder communities and allows them to get directly involved in the transformation process. Click here for NGATS Institute Website
… Its first task is to help populate the eight IPTs, and that work should be finished early next year. …We will also benefit from the extensive experience industry stakeholders have gained through other agencies’ transformational initiatives. ….
…This process moves the private sector a huge step further than simply observing and commenting. The private sector is joining government as a full partner in the Next Generation System development process – something rarely achieved in government before, but a big priority for the Bush Administration.
…These efforts will guarantee the establishment of a collective enterprise among key stakeholders to achieve the transformation, as well as to ensure that we fulfill our critical obligation to create a process that is transparent and fully open to public scrutiny.
The partnerships involved extend beyond our nation’s borders. …
The opportunity to unite our efforts in creating a modernized, global system that provides interoperability would serve as a tremendous boost to the industry, fueling new efficiencies and consumer benefits, globally.
... we could end up with a patchwork of duplicative systems and technologies that would surely place additional cost burdens on an industry already struggling to make ends meet.
… The JPDO, the FAA and the Commission of the European Communities are working together in hammering out the specifics of a cooperative Memorandum of Understanding.
… to explore opportunities for working toward commonality of Air Traffic Management Systems by implementing compatible technologies in their respective ground and air systems and developing common synchronized timelines for the implementation of the new technology. The key here is global interoperability.
There’s more progress to report – tangible progress. We have already moved from the drawing board to the field and have begun conducting exciting demonstration projects.
For example, last June, we carried out the highly successful Small Aircraft Transportation System, or SATS, demonstration project in Danville, Virginia. …
…A whole new generation of safe and affordable small aircraft will be able to take advantage of the SATS enabling technology and start delivering service where there was little or none before, thereby taking the pressure off busy airports while conveying other benefits to literally thousands of smaller communities.
Over the next year, JPDO will also conduct a Network Enabled Operation, or NEO demonstration project, that is being developed jointly by the FAA, NASA, DOD and DHS. To keep everyone safe and secure, and to keep air traffic moving means that air traffic system users must all be looking at the same picture: the same aircrafts, with the same positioning, and with the same intent. With this new network centric shared awareness, decision makers can quickly respond to threats and other disruptions and keep the system up and running. An ADS-B demo project is also on deck in 2006 that will help us in this endeavor. [For ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast, a surveillance technology that enables applications that allow both pilots and controllers to have a common picture of airspace traffic.) reference materials see the Charlie Keegan Presentation slides 9-11 or click here for FAA references.] …
…. the Next Generation System will be flexible, resilient, scalable and adaptive.
The operational concept also emphasizes end-to-end strategic flow management with minimal individual flight interventions. The Next Generation System will be highly automated and network-centric so that the right information gets to the right person at the right time, keeping the nation safe while retaining smooth-running, air traffic-flow at triple the capacity we currently have.
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…air traffic management services will be tailored and flights will be managed based on individual aircraft and flight-crew performance capabilities. We can reward aircraft that have advanced capabilities and efficiencies, such as precision navigation and automated landing, by allowing them greater operating flexibilities. We can also increase capacity by 300 percent while not only maintaining, but improving safety. It can be that good and it will be that good.
The operational concept is great, but how do we get there? A map always helps and that’s what JPDO created in 2005: the NGATS Capability Roadmap. [See Chapter 5, pages 15-21, of Dec. 2004 Integrated for Roadmap. Click to download 3.2MB .pdf plan document It lays out a high-level path, timelines, key transitions and sequences that direct us to completion of the 2025 system. Based on that roadmap, we developed an initial portfolio of needed policy, research and modernization efforts. This has never been done before.
The JPDO also conducted it first preliminary interagency program review where it identified six means by which interagency collaboration could deliver Next Generation capabilities in the FY 07 budget. These include jumpstarting ADS-B and NEO, synchronizing weather research and defining RTSP [Required Tool System Performance] levels of service. Remember what Secretary Mineta said: transformation starts now, not 10 years from now.
… one of the most important JPDO findings over the past year is that Next Generation System costs are reasonable. Approximately $1.5 billion is spent annually on air transportation-related research. By better coordinating our actions and tying them to the Integrated Plan, we are eliminating redundancies and maximizing the benefits of those private and public capital investments. Every dollar, program, and plan must now further the development of the Next Generation System.
Indeed, in a defining action, the JPDO recently examined the entire portfolio of such research and the Senior Policy Committee, members of Senior Policy Committee are on this page which Secretary Mineta chairs, took the critical initial steps to align departmental/agency resources. ….
In June, Secretary Mineta observed that the Next Generation System initiative may have an impact that is more far-reaching than just about anything he has been involved in throughout his 30-year tenure (and counting) of public service. That observation speaks volumes about what is taking place with NGATS given the Secretary’s long and distinguished career. ….
Thank you …