DARC successfully combines multiple antennas to demo satellite-tracking capability

Northrop Grumman and US Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command’s Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) has successfully combined multiple ground-based antennas at DARC Site 1 in Western Australia in a recent test, Northrop Grumman announced on 12 August 2025.

The test demonstrates technology that will create the world’s most capable deep-space tracking radar system.

During the test DARC’s calibrated antenna arrays operated as a single system to successfully characterise the movement of multiple satellites and demonstrate the effectiveness of the system’s precision radar tracking technology: a significant step forward as the system progresses towards Site 1’s completion and operational capability.

During its demonstration, DARC successfully:

• utilised seven of the 27 antennas at DARC Site 1, bringing the programme a significant step closer to full capability;
• demonstrated mission-enabling technology capable of tracking spacecraft that present potential threats to space assets or the United States and its allies;
• sustained a multi-week campaign of data collection, analysis and adjustment to confirm successful calibration and operational capability.

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 Earth orbit (GEO) to protect critical US and allied satellite services. Once complete, DARC will track the movement of objects in, to and from GEO with the highest precision: an effective and critical capability for threat detection and mitigation.

By leveraging a unique design consisting of multiple ground-based antennas operating together as one, DARC provides unmatched capabilities to enable the USSF’s Space Domain Awareness mission. Unlike the telescopic systems that currently perform this mission, DARC is not affected by clouds and can operate 24/7, during nighttime and daylight hours and in all weather conditions.

Kevin Giammo, director of Space Surveillance and Environmental Intelligence at Northrop Grumman, was quoted in a company press release as saying, “Northrop Grumman’s DARC will provide a strategic advantage at a scale never before achieved in global space domain awareness. Its ability to track multiple small moving objects over 22,000 miles above Earth will offer unmatched persistent and comprehensive capability as the world’s premier deep-space radar tracking system.”