Elon Musk said Thursday that Verizon’s efforts to provide a critically needed upgrade to the FAA’s air traffic control system is failing. And he said that it is important that Starlink, a unit of his SpaceX satellite and rocket company,

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk redirected his criticism of the Federal Aviation Administration’s aging system to L3Harris Thursday, after discovering that Verizon was not the company behind the software.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is testing the use of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet terminals in the airspace system despite a deal it struck with Verizon in 2023. The FAA awarded Verizon a $2 billion deal to improve the national airspace system,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Billionaire presidential adviser Elon Musk on Thursday said a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration communications system operated by Verizon is months away from failure and putting air safety at risk.

Starlink satellite terminals and other equipment have already been installed in FAA facilities as a prelude to its potential takeover of the $2 billion contract — won by Verizon in 2023 — government employees and contractors told the news service.

The FAA is reportedly considering canceling a $2.4 billion Verizon contract for air traffic control upgrades because Musk's team wants SpaceX's Starlink business to handle it.

The FAA is testing Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service. That could raise a possible conflict of interest, experts say.

The FAA could hand the contract to overhaul an integral U.S. air traffic control communications system to the mogul’s satellite company