Raytheon [RTN] submitted its proposal recently for the Air Force’s next generation space debris-tracking radar system, according to a company statement.
The system, called Space Fence, will be a S-band radar tracking orbiting objects and other debris passing over the United States that could damage satellites. It will replace the Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS), or VHF Fence, that has been in service since 1961.
Raytheon and Lockheed Martin [LMT] are the two companies gunning for the Space Fence contract. Lockheed Martin’s partners for the Space Fence program are General Dynamics [GD], AMEC of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., and AT&T [ATT]. GD will supply structural support, AMEC architecture and construction and AT&T orbital mechanics. A Raytheon spokeswoman said in September the company is partnering with “a number” of companies on Space Fence.
Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) chief Gen. William Shelton said in September the service will “likely” award a Space Fence contract in spring 2013.
The Air Force values Space Fence at more than $3.5 billion. Service spokeswoman Leslie Finstein said the $3.5 billion estimate includes two radar sites outside the continental U.S. and one consolidated operations center located in the continental U.S. Finstein said nothing has been negotiated nor finalized regarding the consolidated operations center.
The service will put one sensor site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands with a possible second site in western Australia, but the Air Force has said nothing has been negotiated nor finalized regarding a second site. Finstein said the tally for the first radar site and the ops center is $1.9 billion over seven years.
The Defense Department also said recently the U.S. and Australia agreed to place a C-band space radar system in western Australia. Australia will operate the Air Force C-band, mechanical-tracking, ground-based radar system, which DoD said will provide a critical dedicated sensor for the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN).