Article Posted on : - Apr 08, 2016

WORTHAM, TEXAS (BNS): The construction of the 7,000 square-foot radar receive array structure that is part of the US Air Force Space Fence radar system has been completed.

With the array structure complete, the General Dynamics Space Fence team will dismantle the 700,000-pound steel structure and ship it to Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, for reassembly and integration into the Space Fence system, a Company statement said.

Officials from the Air Force Space Fence programme office and representatives from General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies and Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the Space Fence programme, participated in the walk-through.

The structure, built at General Dynamics, Wortham, Texas, precision manufacturing facility,  stands 12 metres tall and is about the size of two regulation NBA basketball courts placed side-by-side.

It is designed to withstand earthquakes, hurricane force winds and extremes in temperature and humidity while maintaining a consistent surface flatness that varies less than one millimetre from one end of the structure to the other and from side-to-side.

The Space Fence radar system is an advanced ground-based system that will help the Air Force detect, identify and track more than 100,000 objects orbiting in space, helping to protect commercial and government satellites, the Hubble Telescope, International Space Station and other space-based assets.

In 2014, Lockheed Martin awarded a contract for the Space Fence ground structures to General Dynamics. The ground structures include the receive array, cooling equipment, radomes and other buildings.

The primary Space Fence system, procured by the Air Force will be located 2,100 nautical miles from Honolulu, Hawaii at the Kwajalein Atoll. The system is expected to begin service in 2018.