Northrop Grumman Receives Second DARC Site Award

Site 2 in the United Kingdom continues DARC’s path to become one of the world’s most advanced radars for tracking objects in deep space. Credit: Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been awarded its Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) Site 2 contract from the U.S. Space Force. The second site, located in the United Kingdom, continues DARC’s path to become one of the world’s most advanced radars for tracking objects in deep space. This award follows the previous competitive award of DARC Site 1.

As a next-generation ground system enabling security and stability in deep space on a global scale, DARC will:

• Monitor objects in geosynchronous orbit 22,000 miles above the equator 24/7 in all weather conditions, providing full global coverage protecting critical U.S. and allied satellites.

• Operate in collaboration across AUKUS partners in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Pablo Pezzimenti, vice president, integrated national systems, Northrop Grumman said: “The DARC Site 2 award expands Northrop Grumman’s support for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) capabilities in an increasingly contested domain. This site brings us closer to achieving global coverage of deep space, which is a critical mission for future security of the U.S. and its allies.”

The DARC global network of advanced ground-based sensors will be hosted and operated by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom in a partnership expanding beyond what individual nations could achieve alone in one of the most critical domains for future security.

Traditional ground-based optical SDA systems only operate at night and are impacted by weather conditions. The DARC program will boost the resilience of the space domain architecture through its adaptability of 24/7 monitoring and all-weather conditions making operational surprise exceedingly difficult for adversaries.