Yes, ADS-B is significantly more precise than civilian primary radar returns. That's why the FAA is trying to move away from radar. The JetBlue near miss was about 150 miles from Curacao ATC which is beyond what most ASR systems cover (around half that).

Military radar is a different beast, but even then you're still trying to figure out what the returns mean. ADS-B explicitly says hey there are two aircraft in a tiny space. Civilian radar is likely not precise enough to identify two aircraft that close.

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rkomorn 19 hours ago | parent [-]

Isn't altitude information also one of the important things about ADS-B that radar lacks?

Although ADS-B is self reported and "vulnerable" to bad/spoofed info.

My CFI and I once saw ADS-B data from one of the startups near Palo Alto airport in California reporting supersonic speeds... at ground level, no less.

Edit: still have it in my email, heh. It was a Kitty Hawk Cora, N306XZ, reporting 933kts at 50'.

	▲	inferiorhuman 18 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Civilian vs military. The military can get altitude information from primary radar.