The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is expected to award a £25 million contract for a ground-based space surveillance radar in July 2027. The call, published in late September, follows several changes to the government’s procurement plans for the installation.
According to the call, the contract will cover the development and manufacture of a high-power radar designed to track satellites and space debris in low Earth orbit. The radar will be installed at a yet-to-be-disclosed location in the Southern Hemisphere. According to the tender, a site has already been identified, but “discussions cannot progress further until the actual equipment specification and characteristics are known.”
UKSA had initially planned to award a single £30 million contract covering the radar’s development, manufacture and installation. However, following an industry engagement exercise, the agency decided to divide the procurement into two separate contracts. The first, valued at up to £25 million, would cover the radar hardware and software, while a second, estimated at £5 million, would cover construction, site preparation and installation.
The procurement process has also undergone several revisions relating to eligibility requirements and the government’s use of a national security exemption.
After consulting prospective suppliers, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced in May that it was reconsidering its approach to international prime contractors but still intended to conduct the procurement under a national security exemption.
However, an amendment published in August stated that, following an internal assurance process, the government would no longer invoke the exemption and would instead follow a competitive procedure under the Procurement Act 2023. That decision was reversed the following month.
The latest call once again expressly invokes the national security exemption but does not explain the reason for the reversal.
The UK Space Agency expects to award the contract for the radar’s development on 16 July 2027, with work expected to begin on 1 August. The initial contract will run for three years, with possible extensions through March 2032.
Once operational, the radar is expected to be capable of detecting objects approximately five centimetres across at distances of 1,000 kilometres and producing at least 10,000 object tracks per day.
