Regulatory Alert: FAA Announces $16.5M Investment to Equip Its Airport Ground Vehicles with Transponders
May 13, 2026
This afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced an investment of $16.5 million to equip all of its airport vehicles with vehicle movement area transmitters (VMATs), also known as squitters, which are ADS-B units installed directly onto vehicles to increase situational awareness for pilots and controllers and improve surface safety. FAA will use funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill, which Congress passed last year through budget reconciliation, to equip about 1,900 of its vehicles at airports that have ASDE-X or ASSC or that have or will be getting the Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI). FAA’s investment was reportedly accelerated after the fatal collision at LaGaurdia Airport in March.
As part of the announcement, FAA encouraged airports, airlines, and others who operate on the airfield to also equip their ground vehicles with VMATs and reminded airports that VMATs are eligible for grant funding under the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). Since the recent collision occurred, AAAE has highlighted to FAA and lawmakers the significant costs for airport operators to equip all their vehicles with VMATs, along with other practical challenges. In addition, while VMATs are eligible for AIP funding, airports have already earmarked their AIP funds for other safety-enhancing projects at their facilities. Nevertheless, we expect that this issue will continue to receive significant attention in the months ahead.
You can read FAA’s press release regarding VMAT equipage here.
FAA’s Zero Serious Close Calls Policy. In early 2023, FAA and the aviation industry witnessed a series of near fatal accidents and runway incursions across the National Airspace System, which led to many questions from lawmakers and the public. In response, FAA announced a Safety Call to Action Initiative and set a goal of zero serious close calls, which was effectively affirmed by Congress through section 347 of the 2024 FAA reauthorization law. FAA also established the SAI, which is designed to improve situational awareness and surface safety at airports that do not have ASDE-X or ASSC surface surveillance systems.
FAA Implementation of SAI Systems. As with ASDE-X and ASSC, which have been deployed at 44 airports and in operation for decades, SAI systems use ADS-B to track aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface. The position and call sign of aircraft equipped with ADS-B and vehicles equipped with VMATs are shown on surface displays in the air traffic control (ATC) tower. In October 2024, FAA issued Program Guidance Letter No. 24-01, which expanded AIP funding eligibility for VMATs to airports equipped with approved ASDE-X, ASSC, or SAI systems.
Under the Trump administration, FAA has been aggressively implementing the SAI and incorporated the initiative into its broader ATC modernization effort, which has been named the “Brand New Air Traffic Control System” (BNATCS). As of earlier this year, SAI systems are operational at 50 airports. The agency has planned for SAI to be operational at an additional 94 airports before the end of this year and a total of 220 airports by the end of 2028. Last year, FAA issued a Part 139 Cert Alert promoting and encouraging airport operators to voluntarily equip their vehicles with VMATs.
VMATs for Airport Ground Vehicles. In March, an Air Canada aircraft landed and collided with an ARFF vehicle that was crossing a runway at LaGuardia Airport. Days later, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy commented that the board preliminarily found the ARFF vehicle was not equipped with a VMAT. Homendy’s comments have put a renewed focus on the use of VMATs. In its press release today, FAA noted that the collision accelerated the agency’s plans to equip its vehicles with VMATs, and FAA is “exploring additional ways to get this equipment into more vehicles.” This echoes remarks made by Dan Edwards, Associate Administrator for Airports, at the Annual AAAE Conference in Los Angeles last week.
