Fence Post

The Pentagon announced this afternoon that Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been awarded separate $107 million contracts for preliminary design work on the Space Fence, which the Air Force says will revolutionize the way space debris is identified.

Inside the Air Force reported last November that Air Force officials had released a request for proposals the previous month for the Space Fence program's preliminary design review. Further:

The Electronic Systems Center released the request for the preliminary design review of the Space Fence program, which will be valued at more than $3.5 billion, according to a service statement. Officials would like to award up to two preliminary design review contracts worth up to $214 million for the program before March, said Linda Haines, the program manager.

"It is going to be a best value award to the government based on mission capability, past performance and price," Haines said, during a Nov. 4 telephone interview. "So obviously, at the minimum I'm looking for an offerer with the most technically solid, mature response to our criteria, obviously with the least risk and a plan that meets our objectives."

The contractor or contractors winning the awards will utilize an 18-month period of performance for activities that include developing preliminary system designs, radar performance analysis and prototypes, according to the statement. The work will address critical manufacturing processes, key technical risks and production costs to help meet the Air Force's initial operational capability need date of September 2015. Final proposals are due Nov. 19.

Later that month, Lockheed and Raytheon each submitted their own proposals, ITAF reported:

Lockheed officials submitted their proposal on Nov. 18 for the preliminary design review of the $3.5 billion Space Fence program, according to a company statement. Raytheon officials submitted their proposal on Nov. 19, which was the last day to file, said Scott Spence, the program director for the company's space fence program.

The Air Force Electronic Systems Center (ESC) released a request for proposal last month. Service officials plan to award up to two preliminary design review contracts for the program before March. The deal could be worth up to $214 million.

The program will use multiple S-band ground-based radars to detect and track space objects, according to a service statement. It will offer improved accuracy in identifying objects, more timeliness and better surveillance.

"We were delighted when the Air Force, after a lot of analysis, selected S-Band because we have been making S-Band projects for a long, long time," said John Morse, the director of Lockheed Martin's space fence program, during a Nov. 19 interview. "We have got over 400 large S-Band antennas out there in the U.S. fleet as well as several international fleets."

Raytheon and Lockheed were among the three companies ESC awarded $30 million multi-contractor concept development contracts in June 2009, according to the statement. That work will be completed in December.