NSpOC: Sovereign Sensor - Active RF Radar Capability

What the buyer says

**This notice supercedes UK3 Planned Procurement Notice reference 2026/S 000-009745, which was issued on 3rd February 2026. Please note the timetable provided remains indicative and subject to internal approvals** The UK Space Agency (UKSA), as part of the National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) programme, intends to commence a competitive procurement for the deployment of a sovereign, high‑power (~1 MW class) space surveillance radar in the Southern Hemisphere (final location is still to be determined but bidders should note the requirement to deploy into the Southern Hemisphere) to enhance the UK's Space Surveillance & Tracking (SST) and Space Domain Awareness (SDA) capability. It is expected that the radar system will operate as a key national asset, providing enhanced detection, tracking and custody of resident space objects, particularly small-size debris and operational satellites in Low Earth Orbit. It will deliver significant improvements to UK resilience, space safety, collision avoidance, re-entry monitoring, fragmentation detection, and wider civil-military situational awareness objectives. The radar shall be capable of detecting a target with radar cross-section of -22 dBsm (approx. 5cm) at 1,000 km slant range, with probability of detection Pd ≥ 95% and probability of false alarm Pfa ≤ 10⁻⁵, using a Swerling 3 target fluctuation model with a maximum of 100ms integration time. The system shall produce Azimuth (0.01°), Elevation (0.01°), Range (10m), Range Rate (~0.1 m/s) and Radar Cross Section (supplier in m2) measurements. Values in brackets are 1 sigma uncertainties. The requirement is for 24 hour remote, autonomous operation and achieving 10,000 tracks per day at a minimum (equivalent to 417 tracks per hour). The budget for this hardware requirement is…