Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stop to aging infrastructure, specifically citing outdated routers and decades-old technology. He warned that system failures will persist unless Congress approves $50 billion for a comprehensive overhaul.
During a Saturday news conference, Duffy explained that a technical issue may have arisen while federal telecommunications contractor L3Harris performed routine maintenance on an FAA telecommunications line. “At least one of our remote FAA locations, a contractor was doing routine maintenance to switch telecommunication lines from old copper wire, and they were bringing it over to fiber. That contractor that does the work for us is L3Harris. They’re a legacy provider. They’ve been working for the FAA for over 20 years. … The network that we use at the FAA to control the airspace — L3Harris actually owns that network,” Duffy stated.
The secretary detailed that during the transition from analog copper infrastructure to digital fiber optic cables, the FAA’s router at that location experienced a flood of data that overwhelmed it — an issue that rapidly cascaded to routers at other FAA air traffic control facilities nationwide.
US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy holds a news conference after the FAA issued a national ground stop yesterday, at the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC, US, November 14, 2026. (REUTERS/Eric Lee / Reuters)
In a statement, L3Harris confirmed it is supporting the FAA’s investigation. “L3Harris has been modernizing the communications infrastructure supporting the National Airspace System in close coordination with the FAA,” the company wrote. “With safety and reliability as our highest priorities, L3Harris, together with its telco partners and the FAA, has completed more than 70% of the planned airspace communications conversion from legacy copper wires to a fiber optic system.” The company added it takes “the nationwide ground stop and its impact on travelers, airlines and air traffic operations seriously.”
Duffy said investigators are determining whether the cause was operator error by L3Harris personnel or a faulty router. “What we’re working to determine was whether we had incompetence — meaning was it user error or installation error from L3Harris — or did they install a faulty router? We haven’t determined what the fault was. Was it the router, or were they not doing great work for us at L3Harris,” he said.
When asked whether the government’s lead systems investigator oversaw the operation that led to the network failure, Duffy replied, “So this is L3Harris.” He emphasized that the legacy telecom network is owned by L3Harris, adding that the new architecture — backed by the requested funding — would involve major carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen. “But in the meantime, until I can build that, I’m stuck with L3Harris, who owns this network.”
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a national ground stop yesterday, at the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC, US, November 14, 2026. (REUTERS/Eric Lee TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY / Reuters)
Beyond its FAA telecommunications work dating to 2002, L3Harris maintains a broad portfolio of defense technologies and government partnerships. The company provides advanced targeting and ordnance systems to the Department of Defense, along with electronic systems for military applications including ignition safety devices, proximity sensors, and electronic fuzes. It is also one of the largest suppliers of tactical radios and communications equipment to the U.S. military.
Signage outside the L3Harris MAS facility in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Andrej Ivanov/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
L3Harris, a publicly traded corporation formed by the 2019 merger of Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies, reported $6.1 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2026. Major institutional shareholders include Vanguard (just under 12%), BlackRock (10.21%), and State Street (5.1%).