DARC is a partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, designed to create an all-weather, global system to track very small objects in geosynchronous orbit to protect critical U.S. and allied satellite services. The trilateral Memorandum of Understanding was signed Sept. 27, 2023, will last 22 years, and is a practical example of what the partners can achieve when working together to enhance mutual defense capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region.
Construction of the first site, in Western Australia, was completed in December 2024, three months ahead of schedule, with mission system integration and test activities now underway.
"The collaboration between all parties for the DARC project has been outstanding and is an example of what can be done when we work with our partners on a common goal for the advancement of Space Domain Awareness across our three nations," said Michael Hunt, assistant secretary Space Systems Branch for the Australian Department of Defence, who also serves as the Australian representative on the DARC steering committee.
Allied partnerships in space are increasingly critical given emerging threats from adversaries and pacing challengers, noted Lt. Col. Nicholas Yeung, chief of Capabilities Development for Space Systems Command's International Affairs office.
DARC is just one of several key partnership efforts facilitated by SSC's IA office, and it's particularly critical as it addresses innate challenges in GEO coverage.
At 22,236 miles above the Earth, an object in geosynchronous orbit takes 24 hours to orbit the planet. This keeps the satellite "parked" in the same spot, appearing stationary to ground sensors. This makes GEO important "real estate" for several satellites, but because GEO is so far above the Earth, it's more difficult to monitor space debris and/or adversarial actions that could potentially disrupt or deny space-based capabilities in that orbit.
Yet another challenge is that the U.S. can only cover a limited portion of the sky based on its geography, which is one of the reasons international partnerships are so important. The DARC program demonstrates how allied partnerships can overcome both technical and geographic challenges while accelerating the delivery of advanced space technology in support of combined operations.
Commodore Dave Moody, head of Space Capability for U.K. Space Command, said, "DARC leverages the geography and commitment of key partner nations to deliver persistent, comprehensive space domain awareness."
"One year on, the talent harnessed between the nations has begun to field a more capable technology that will protect and defend the international ways of life," Moody said. "Alongside the United States and Australia, the United Kingdom will continue to take deliberate steps that ensure DARC enables a collective ability to operate decisively in space."
DARC is a unique collaboration between the three countries to get after first-of-its-kind capability that can do something that not only is needed from an operational perspective but has never been done before.
One of the main benefits of radar is that it operates 24 hours a day, in all weather and can make observations through clouds and during the daytime - something optical telescopes cannot do. An ongoing challenge of radar versus telescope, however, is that the further out your radar goes, the larger the power required to transmit and the bigger the receiver arrays must be. DARC addresses this challenge by using multiple smaller arrays that combine the signals from space to act as one large array. This ground-breaking concept was initially demonstrated by the USSF through its DARC technology demonstration at White Sands Missile Range in 2021.
"The completed DARC system will enhance our Space Domain Awareness enterprise architecture by adding a critical element," said Brig. Gen. Chandler Atwood, deputy commander of Space Operations Command. "DARC will ensure the U.S., its allies, and partners can effectively characterize the movement of objects traveling in, from and to space, allowing us to mitigate the risk of debris-causing events that could hold the world's space-enabled capabilities at risk. Increased Space Domain Awareness will also bolster our vital ability to attribute malign activity from irresponsible actors in the space domain when and if necessary."
Construction of the first site in Exmouth in Western Australia began in October of 2023. The site infrastructure has been completed, including the radar power plant.
Spectrum licenses and airspace approvals for the Australian site also have been completed, as well as the first receiver and transmitter antennas. The first open-air transmit of the first antenna was completed in September 2024 and the Australian site is expected to become fully operational in 2027.
The speed at which the DARC construction and commissioning has occurred could only have been achieved through an open and collaborative relationship between the three nations and Australian industry. The construction site in Exmouth is remote and austere with difficult conditions for the workforce to operate in. Despite the challenges, the respective teams have adopted an attitude that focuses on delivery of capability at speed.
SSC recently awarded Northrop Grumman a contract for the second site currently proposed to be located at a U.K. Ministry of Defense site in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Environmental assessments and town planning processes are underway for this site which are required for the final siting approval. A third site will be located in the Continental United States, at a to-be-determined location, pending the completion of environmental and air space studies. The entire DARC system is currently expected to be complete by 2032.
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