US Space Force officials and UK government have started discussions about the building of a deep-Space radar site in UK, as reported by SpaceNews. The Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC) project started by the US Air Force in 2017 is a network of sensors, which is planned to be developed to track active satellites and debris beyond geostationary orbit.
The Space Force describes it as a 24/7, all-weather ground-based radar system for space domain awareness.
The Space Force recently issued a request for design concepts from contractors. Up to three radar sites could be built in the coming years. One would be in the United States and the other two in other parts of the world.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Wigston, head of the UK Royal Air Force, was recently in the United States for talks over the plans, the Guardian newspaper reported. He said the British were “very interested” in the project and in hosting a US radar station.
“We have recently started exploratory discussions with the U.K. to determine the potential collaboration opportunities with the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability,” the spokesman was quoted as saying.
DARC will have three geographically separated sites around the world, “that will play a key role in moving towards a resilient space enterprise able to deter aggression,” he said. “The DARC program office is working site selection of all three sites in parallel, and has not finalized the location of any sites at this time.”
