A Colorado Springs division of defense giant ITT Corp. will participate in a massive project to modernize the nation's air traffic control system with satellite-based technology.

On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration awarded a contract worth up to $1.86 billion to a team led by White Plains, N.Y.-based ITT.

The company's systems division, which is based in Colorado Springs, will help oversee the deployment of a new air traffic communications network across the United States, said Steve Gaffney, ITT's vice president and the president of its defense unit.

"They'll be the ones making sure that happens," Gaffney said.

A handful of ITT's roughly 1,000 workers in the Springs area will be involved in the project. Aside from the systems division, ITT has a branch of its advanced engineering and sciences group in the Springs. The company also has more than 100 employees in Boulder.

ITT's team, which includes AT&T Inc., will take on the mammoth task of upgrading the system used to manage commercial and general aviation traffic. The goal is to reduce congestion on runways and in the skies, increase safety, reduce operating costs and handle an expected increase in air travel.

The current system uses 50-year-old analog radar technology that handles about 85,000 flights a day. That number is expected to hit 111,000 flights daily by 2020.

The satellite system will be able to handle about three times current air traffic levels, creating "broader areas of coverage for air traffic and surveillance," Gaffney said.

The upgrade involves creating a network of field radio sites, data processing centers, network operations centers and other equipment that will route data to air traffic controllers.

ITT, which beat out teams led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co., will receive $207 million for the first three years of its contract.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.