Charles Keegan

$875 Million Secret Squirrel

In June 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration handed a 150-person startup, with just $3.5M in annual revenue, and no public track record in air traffic control an $875 million, twelve-year contract to help run the airspace over the busiest air travel market on Earth. The company is called Air Space Intelligence. It's raised a grand total of $37 million from venture capitalists since it was founded. It beat out Palantir — a company that already had a foothold inside the FAA — and Thales, a European defense giant that's been building air traffic systems since before ASI's founders were born. How does a company like that win a contract like this? Follow the money, and the people, and a pattern starts to emerge. A sitting FAA Administrator who just got caught violating his own ethics agreement. A procurement process run partly outside the normal rules. And, at the center of it, a single Alaska Airlines pilot with his hand on both sides of the deal. This is the story of SMART, FMDS, and the $875 million question nobody in Washington seems eager to answer. Sources: ASI Selected by FAA to Modernize the National Airspace System FAA Bets $875 Million On AI To Reduce Flight Delays — Forbes FAA Awards SMART Air Traffic Contract To ASI, Beating Palantir And Thales — DroneXL FAA close to picking ASI over Palantir, Thales — The Air Current Flow Management Data and Services (FMDS) Challenge Based Acquisition — HigherGov FAA Launches Vendor Challenge to Modernize Air Traffic Flow System — FAA.gov "You're going too fast" — Steve Fulton comments, via Will Guisbond/X FAA's AI-Powered Air Traffic Management System Could Debut in September — FLYING Magazine Alaska Airlines Renews Partnership with Air Space Intelligence — PR Newswire Alaska Airlines and Airspace Intelligence announce first-of-its-kind partnership — Alaska Newsroom, 2021 FAA quietly developing AI-enabled predictive air traffic management system — The Air Current (April 17, 2026, breaking the existence of SMART) FAA close to picking ASI over Palantir, Thales for its AI-powered air traffic management system — The Air Current Palantir, Thales, and a startup are competing to build the FAA's predictive air traffic AI — The Next Web FAA Picks Palantir, Thales, and Airspace Intelligence To Build AI That Predicts Flight Conflicts Two Hours Out — DroneXL, April 20, 2026 FMDS-2025-ChBA solicitation package (primary source documents, provided by requester): Announcement of ChBA FMDS RFI (250924); Attachment 1, FMDS Statement of Objectives (250922); Attachment 5, FMDS Concept of Operations (250918); Attachment 11, Business Declaration Form (250918); Attachment 12, Method of Evaluation (250918); Attachment L.2, Minimum Organizational Requirements Table (250922); Attachment L.3, Prior Experience Reference (250918); Challenge 2 Instructions (251113) — available via SAM.gov / HigherGov for public verification Air Space Intelligence Secures $34M Series B Financing Led by a16z FAA Chief Dumps Millions in Airline Stock Months After His Ethics Agreement Deadline — NOTUS Senate Democrats call for ethics probe into FAA Chief Bryan Bedford over stock sale — The Hill Bedford's Violation of Ethics Agreement May Yield the Sitting FAA Chief Millions — Senate Commerce Committee Hold FAA Administrator Bedford accountable for skirting ethics standards — CREW shot on the iPhone 17 Pro, with GVM lighting, and Hollyland wireless microphones.