Pinning down the AISMART is part of an $875 million, 12-year contract awarded to Boston-based Air Space Intelligence in June. The contract also covers a Flow Management Data and Services system to replace the current system in the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia.

Air Space Intelligence claims its Flyways AI platform already helps manage over 40 percent of all US air traffic through partnerships with customers like Alaska Airlines. That platform incorporates a 4D digital twin of US national airspace to predict air traffic and weather. It is unclear what AI models are used in SMART.

Mann wants to know whether the SMART rollout is still limited to managing aircraft flying at 24,000 feet and above. “What I will be watching is what evidence gates the next expansion: performance under real workload and degraded data rather than demonstration conditions, and a written answer to who owns the outcome when a prediction is wrong,” Mann told Ars.

The plan comes as the FAA manages a multi-billion-dollar effort to upgrade aging equipment, including replacing hundreds of radar systems dating back to the 1980s.