Mary-Louise Hoffman
Lockheed Martin has opened a facility in Moorestown, New Jersey, to evaluate hardware and software of a ground-based space debris monitoring infrastructure for the U.S. Air Force.
The company said Monday it built the Space Fence test center for verification of the S-band radar’s tools that are designed to help the Air Force track, detect and catalog orbital objects.
Lockheed is constructing the radar system on Kwajalein Island under a potential $915 million contract the military branch awarded in June 2014.
Bruce Schafhauser, Lockheed’s Space Fence program director, said the company has integrated an open architecture into the radar in an effort to help military users adapt to tracking missions with the technology.
The company uses gallium nitride semiconductors in the construction of Space Fence and expects the system to reach initial operating capability by late 2018.
