Shared situational awareness to meet future airspace security mission needs

Airspace security is a mission that is shared by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and National Airspace System (NAS) users among others including civil airspace users. Because events can unfold rapidly in the air domain, Shared Situational Awareness among the players is needed to facilitate rapid decision-making that can have life-or-death consequences. The current airspace security operation relies heavily on telephonic coordination with limited shared situational awareness, and treats potential threats in a "one-size-fits-all" manner, rather than focusing on highest risk. The future vision is the Next Generation Air Transportation system (NextGen) Secure Airspace concept, which is part of a multi-layered, adaptive security service that is risk-informed, is integrated into trajectory- based operations, and operates in a net-enabled environment. This paper describes the airspace security mission, the future concept, mission partner perspectives for information sharing, and challenges and opportunities in improving shared situational awareness.