COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – May 30, 2023 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) continues to advance the frontiers of sensing technology, successfully completing the Critical Design Review (CDR) and software demonstration for the U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability Program (DARC).

Key milestones completed within 12 months of contract award include:

  • Preliminary Design Review
  • Critical Design Review
  • Initial software demonstration
Northrop Grumman Advances the Frontier of Sensing Technology for Space Domain Awareness
Artist Rendering (Credit: Northrop Grumman) 

Expert:

“DARC will be the first to provide an all-weather, at all times capability in support of the space domain awareness mission that’s critical to national and global security,” said Pablo Pezzimenti, vice president, integrated national systems, Northrop Grumman. “The successful critical design review is demonstration of our ability to develop a complex, advanced system with agility and speed.”

Details:

Following the completion of CDR, the program now turns its focus to the Factory Acceptance Testing of key subsystems starting later this year.

Current ground-based optical systems only operate at night and are impacted by weather conditions. DARC will deliver an all-weather, 24/7 capability to monitor the rapidly evolving geosynchronous orbital environment – providing the nation with enhanced space domain awareness. DARC will augment the military’s space surveillance network as an additional sensor to monitor deep space objects, eventually providing full global coverage.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global aerospace and defense technology company. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with the capabilities they need to connect and protect the world, and push the boundaries of human exploration across the universe. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 95,000 employees define possible every day.