Space Force picks Texas as US home for trinational DARC space radar network

The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability is the newest US system for keeping tabs on the heavens, with three ground sites. (Space Force Graphic Courtesy of Northrop Grumman)

WASHINGTON ― The Space Force has selected Lake Kickapoo, Texas, as the “preferred” location for the third and final site of the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) space tracking network.

“Pending final planning approvals,” construction at the site “is expected to begin in 2027 following contract award and completion of required approvals,” according to a Space Force press release on Wednesday. “The site is projected to complete civil construction in 2029, followed by technical testing and evaluation, with operational acceptance planned for 2030.”

The planning approval process includes getting a certification from the Federal Aviation Administration that the radar will not interfere with those used by civil aircraft traffic controllers.

“Selecting Texas as the preferred location for the final DARC site keeps us on track to deliver a truly global deep-space sensing network with our closest allies,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess said in the Space Force announcement. “This capability will improve visibility in our contested domain and reinforce our shared capacity to protect the space systems on which our nations rely.”

DARC is based on technology developed by the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to provide global monitoring of geosynchronous orbit in all kinds of weather and, unlike most current radar, even during daylight.

Northrop Grumman won an initial $341 million contract in February 2022 to begin building out the first radar in Western Australia. In September 2023, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding pledging their commitment to working together on DARC for the next 22 years.

In August 2024, Northrop won another contract worth about $200 million to develop a second DARC array in Pembroke, Wales — which on Aug. 25 was modified to provide almost $216 million in additional funds to allow “pre-construction of long-lead items, antenna hardware, antenna manufacturing” for that array, bringing the total contract value to about $495 million.

However, as documented in a series of reports by the Government Accountability Office, the DARC program has been plagued with delays almost since its inception. Last year , GAO said initial operating capability (IOC) for the Australian site had been repeatedly delayed. The Space Force in 2023 had slated IOC for September 2025, in 2024 pushed it back to February 2026, and the current projection is for January 2027, the report said.

In order to get some DARC capability online, the Space Force last May began what it called “early use” at Eglin AFB in Massachusetts ― which it explained as enabling “critical military utility online ahead of the original schedule operational acceptance, employing a phased approach to balance initial operations with ongoing contractor development.”

That August , Northrop Grumman declared that a first test at the Australia facility had confirmed the ability of DARC’s mesh of antennas to work together as one to track multiple satellites. That test, however, involved only seven of the planned planned 27 parabolic dish antennas making up the DARC system.

In its latest report published on July 2 , GAO cited service concerns about delays and “unanticipated cost growth for Site 1 due to modifications for various issues, including foreign country requirements” tumbling over to cause delays to construction of the US site. However, according to a July 6 article by Air & Space Forces Magazine, the Space Force said no such delays had occurred.

Meanwhile, construction on the second site in Wales is slated to begin next year, according to the new UK Space Strategy published Monday .

All three DARC sites currently are expected to be fully operational by December 2032, according to the latest GAO report.

深空先进雷达能力是美国最新的太空观测系统，设有三个地面观测站。（太空部队图片由诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司提供）

华盛顿——美国太空部队已选定德克萨斯州基卡普湖作为深空先进雷达能力（DARC）空间跟踪网络第三个也是最后一个站点的“首选”地点。

根据美国太空部队周三发布的新闻稿，“待最终规划审批通过后”，该项目“预计将于2027年合同授予和所有必要审批完成后开工建设”。“该项目预计将于2029年完成土建工程，随后进行技术测试和评估，并计划于2030年投入使用。”

规划审批流程包括获得联邦航空管理局的认证，证明该雷达不会干扰民用航空器交通管制员使用的雷达。

“选择德克萨斯州作为最终的深空探测能力研究中心（DARC）的首选地点，将使我们能够与最亲密的盟友一起，按计划构建一个真正的全球深空探测网络，”太空作战部长道格拉斯·希斯将军在太空部队的声明中表示。“这项能力将提高我们在竞争区域的可见性，并加强我们共同保护各国赖以生存的太空系统的能力。”

DARC 基于约翰·霍普金斯应用物理实验室开发的技术，可在各种天气条件下对地球同步轨道进行全球监测，而且与目前大多数雷达不同的是，即使在白天也能进行监测。

诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司于2022年2月赢得一份价值3.41亿美元的初始合同，开始在西澳大利亚建造第一座雷达。2023年9月，美国、澳大利亚和英国签署了一份谅解备忘录，承诺在未来22年内共同致力于DARC项目。

2024 年 8 月，诺斯罗普公司赢得了另一份价值约 2 亿美元的合同，在威尔士彭布罗克开发第二个 DARC 阵列——该合同于 8 月 25 日进行了修改，提供了近 2.16 亿美元的额外资金，用于该阵列的“长周期部件、天线硬件、天线制造的预建工程”，使合同总价值达到约 4.95 亿美元。

然而，正如美国政府问责局（GAO）的一系列报告所记录的那样，国防航空航天研究中心（DARC）项目几乎从启动之初就饱受延误之苦。去年，GAO指出，澳大利亚基地的初始运行能力（IOC）已被多次推迟。报告称，太空部队在2023年曾计划于2025年9月实现IOC，2024年又将其推迟至2026年2月，而目前的预计则是2027年1月。

为了使一些 DARC 功能上线，美国太空军于去年 5 月在马萨诸塞州埃格林空军基地开始了所谓的“早期使用”——他们解释说，这是为了“在原计划的作战验收之前，使关键的军事用途上线，采用分阶段的方法来平衡初始运行和承包商的持续开发”。

同年8月，诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司宣布，在澳大利亚进行的首次测试证实了DARC天线网能够协同工作，共同追踪多颗卫星。然而，该测试仅使用了DARC系统计划中的27个抛物面天线中的7个。

美国政府问责局（GAO）在7月2日发布的最新报告中指出，由于各种原因（包括外国要求）的修改，导致1号基地建设延误，并造成“意料之外的成本增长”。然而，据《空军与太空部队杂志》7月6日的一篇文章报道，太空部队表示并未发生此类延误。

与此同时，根据周一发布的英国新太空战略，威尔士第二个地点的建设预计将于明年开始。

根据美国政府问责局 (GAO) 的最新报告，目前所有三个 DARC 站点预计将于 2032 年 12 月全面投入运营。