Northrop Grumman awarded $200M deal for deep-space radar that will be hosted in Wales | Space

The Space Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $200 million contract to build its second Deep-space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) that will be stationed in the United Kingdom, the Defense Department announced Friday.

Under development by Northrop Grumman, DARC is an all-weather, ground-based radar system designed to detect and track objects moving through geosynchronous orbit — over 22,000 miles above the Earth’s equator. Expected to serve as a key capability for the U.S. military’s space domain awareness mission, the service plans to position three radars around the world as part of the AUKUS alliance between the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

Contracts posted on the Defense Department’s website Friday detail that the new award to Northrop Grumman will entail “design, integration, and testing of the second DARC radar site” that will be completed by February 2030.

According to the U.K. Ministry of Defence, DARC Site 2 will be located at Cawdor Barracks in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The military installation has been home to the British Army’s electronic warfare unit — 14 Signal Regiment — since 1995. In 2016, the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence announced that the military installation would close by 2028.

However, now that it will host DARC Site 2, Cawdor Barracks will remain open and undergo redevelopment to support the…