Northrop Grumman wins $341M contract to develop deep space radar

Falls Church-based Fortune 500 defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. has won a $341 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to develop and test a ground-based surveillance radar in support of its Space Domain Awareness mission, the contractor announced Wednesday.

The Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability is expected to enhance the military’s space surveillance by increasing capacity to monitor deep space objects and will eventually provide full global coverage via three sites, Northrop Grumman said in a news release. The initial contract includes design, development and delivery of a system to be located in the Indo-Pacific and is expected to be complete in 2025.

“The DARC program will field a resilient ground-based radar providing our nation with significantly enhanced space domain awareness for geostationary orbit,” Pablo Pezzimenti, vice president of integrated national systems for Northrop Grumman said. “While current ground-based systems operate at night and can be impacted by weather conditions, DARC will provide an all-weather, 24/7 capability to monitor the highly dynamic and rapidly evolving geosynchronous orbital environment critical to national and global security.”