Lockheed Martin To Supply Space Fence Radar To USAF

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $914 million contract to improve the way objects are tracked in space and increase our ability to prevent space-based collisions.

Lockheed Martin's Space Fence solution, an advanced ground-based radar system, will enhance the way the U.S. detects, catalogs and measures more than 200,000 orbiting objects. With better timeliness and improved surveillance coverage, the system will protect space assets against potential crashes that can intensify the debris problem in space.

Lockheed Martin will deliver up to two advanced S-Band phased array radars for the Space Fence program. The Space Fence radar system will greatly improve Space Situational Awareness of the existing Space Surveillance Network.

Construction of the new Space Fence system on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands is slated to begin in early 2015 to meet the program's 2018 initial operational capability goal. The total contract value is estimated at greater than $1.5 billion over an eight-year period of performance if all options are exercised.