Lockheed Martin’s Space Fence System has passed the Air Force’s critical design review, marking the end of the design phase and the beginning of radar production and facility construction, the company announced Sept. 28. The large-scale digital radar, turn-key facility, and other parts of the system passed the review after a demonstration of a small-scale system that detected and tracked objects orbiting in space. The Space Fence will use S-band ground-based radar to detect and track objects and debris in space to prevent collisions, and will replace the existing Air Force Space Surveillance System. Lockheed in M?arch began construction on a Space Fence site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Initial operational capability is now scheduled for late 2018.
Recent Russian and Chinese tests of space weapons are a "natural consequence of military behaviors," and the U.S. must now "mitigate this threat," the Space Force's operations chief said. “When you are behind, you look for ways to seek vulnerabilities of your adversary and your competitor so that you can…