AIR SPACE MANAGEMENT

IN RECOGNITION OF THE GROWING SHORTFALL BETWEEN NEEDS AND ABILITIES TO PROVIDE A SAFE AND EFFICIENT AIR NAVIGATION AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM, THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) IMPLEMENTED ITS LONG RANGE PLANNING NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM (NAS) PLAN. THE NAS PLAN CONTAINS A COLLECTION OF MODERNIZATION PROJECTS AFFECTING MOST ELEMENTS OF THE NAS AND POTENTIALLY HAVING SIGNIFICANT IMPCTS ON SYSTEM USERS. AS A PRIMARY USER OF THE SYSTEM, AND ALSO A PROVIDER OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SERVICES, THE MILITARY IS VITALLY INTERETED IN THE OPERATION AND THE PLANNING OF THE NAS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO SPECIFY (1) A MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE TO MEET IMMEDIATE AND FUTURE NAS PLAN INTERFACE REQUIREMENTS; AND (2) HOW THE MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE WILL SERVE TO INCORPORATE THE KEY ISSUES OF NAS/DOD INTERFACE. CURRENT EFFORTS IN THIS AREA BY THE AIR FORCE AND OTHER ELEMENTS OF DOD ARE SOMEWHAT FRAGMENTED AND MAY NOT ASSURE COVERAGE OF DEFENSE ISSUES IN LONG RANGE NAS PLANNING. THIS WORK WOULD BE THE FIRST STEP IN BRINGING THE CURRENT INDEPENDENT AND NON-SYSTEMATIC EFFORTS OF THE MILITARY SERVICES UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF A SYSTEMENGINEERED APPROACH TO LONG RANGE PLANNING OF DOD/FAA NAS MODERNIZATION AND ATC INTERFACE.