Space Force picks Texas as US home for trinational DARC space radar network

WASHINGTON ― The Space Force has selected Lake Kickapoo, Texas, as the “preferred” location for the third and final site of the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) space tracking network.

“Pending final planning approvals,” construction at the site “is expected to begin in 2027 following contract award and completion of required approvals,” according to a Space Force press release on Wednesday. “The site is projected to complete civil construction in 2029, followed by technical testing and evaluation, with operational acceptance planned for 2030.”

The planning approval process includes getting a certification from the Federal Aviation Administration that the radar will not interfere with those used by civil aircraft traffic controllers.

“Selecting Texas as the preferred location for the final DARC site keeps us on track to deliver a truly global deep-space sensing network with our closest allies,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess said in the Space Force announcement. “This capability will improve visibility in our contested domain and reinforce our shared capacity to protect the space systems on which our nations rely.”

DARC is based on technology developed by the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to provide global monitoring of geosynchronous orbit in all kinds of weather and, unlike most current radar, even during daylight.

Northrop Grumman won an initial $341 million contract in February 2022 to begin building out the first radar in Western Australia. In September 2023, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding pledging their commitment to working together on DARC for the next 22 years.

In August 2024, Northrop won another contract worth about $200 million to develop a second DARC array in Pembroke, Wales — which on Aug. 25 was modified to provide almost $216 million in additional funds to allow “pre-construction of long-lead items, antenna hardware, antenna manufacturing” for that array, bringing the total contract value to about $495 million.

However, as documented in a series of reports by the Government Accountability Office, the DARC program has been plagued with delays almost since its inception. Last year, GAO said initial operating capability (IOC) for the Australian site had been repeatedly delayed. The Space Force in 2023 had slated IOC for September 2025, in 2024 pushed it back to February 2026, and the current projection is for January 2027, the report said.

In order to get some DARC capability online, the Space Force last May began what it called “early use” at Eglin AFB in Massachusetts ― which it explained as enabling “critical military utility online ahead of the original schedule operational acceptance, employing a phased approach to balance initial operations with ongoing contractor development.”

That August, Northrop Grumman declared that a first test at the Australia facility had confirmed the ability of DARC’s mesh of antennas to work together as one to track multiple satellites. That test, however, involved only seven of the planned planned 27 parabolic dish antennas making up the DARC system.

In its latest report published on July 2, GAO cited service concerns about delays and “unanticipated cost growth for Site 1 due to modifications for various issues, including foreign country requirements” tumbling over to cause delays to construction of the US site. However, according to a July 6 article by Air & Space Forces Magazine, the Space Force said no such delays had occurred.

Meanwhile, construction on the second site in Wales is slated to begin next year, according to the new UK Space Strategy published Monday.

All three DARC sites currently are expected to be fully operational by December 2032, according to the latest GAO report.