Northrop Grumman awarded $200M contract for second space radar facility

Northrop Grumman has received a $200 million contract to provide a deep space radar capability to U.S. Space Force.

The company will develop a facility in the U.K. as part of the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability, according to the Pentagon’s Friday awards digest.

The U.K. facility is known as Site 2. In 2022, Northrop won a $341 million contract to develop Site 1 in the Indo-Pacific Region. Site 1 was part of a competitive process, but Site 2 is a sole-source award.

The program known as DARC is part of a trilateral initiative of the U.S., U.K. and Australia. The facilities will detect, track, identify and characterize objects in deep space.

The memorandum of understanding among the countries was announced in 2023 and will run until 2050.

According to a Space Force announcement from 2023, DARC will have greater capabilities than current systems and will provide global monitoring beyond inclement weather and daylight. Current systems can be hindered by weather and sunlight.

“The capability will also be used to protect the essential services that rely on satellites and communication from space, including everyday aspects of modern life such as mobile phones and TV,” Space Force said in that announcement.

Northrop will design, integrate and test of the second DARC radar site that will be within the European Command area of responsibility.