The United States experienced a series of problems with vital services this Friday, the 13th. Initially, there was a national grounding of takeoffs caused by communication failures in air traffic control. Subsequently, the National Weather Service (NWS) also reported facing internet and communication issues across the entire country.
Through a statement published on its website, the meteorological agency warned users that they might find outdated data or have difficulty accessing certain products and services available on its platforms. Technical teams are mobilized to resolve these failures.
This incident adds to the list of problems recorded in American systems during the day, although there is no confirmation yet that the NWS failures are directly linked to the disruption that affected air traffic control.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, stated that there were no signs that the communication failure resulted from an intentional attack. The government's preliminary analysis indicated a telecommunications problem, but Mullin emphasized that investigations are ongoing and that no hypothesis has been completely ruled out.
The event also raised questions about the technological infrastructure used by American aviation. In some areas, air traffic controllers lost radio frequencies and automated systems used to monitor aircraft and manage flight flow.
This national grounding reignited the debate about the need to modernize the United States' air traffic control systems. Last year, Congress allocated US$12.5 billion (equivalent to approximately R$66.3 billion) to update FAA infrastructure, which includes replacing obsolete communication equipment and cables.
Despite these financial contributions, extensive work remains to be done. Secretary Sean Duffy informed that an additional US$30 billion (about R$159 billion) is needed to complete the modernization process.
The general suspension of takeoffs is considered an extraordinary situation. The last time something like this occurred was in January 2023, when a failure in the FAA pilot alert system resulted in the interruption of departures nationwide.
