Radar SLEP

This is not a new start. FY 2026 mandatory (reconciliation) funding established this program. This program element (PE 1203909SF) modernizes existing Ground Based Radars (GBR), which includes five Upgraded Early Warning Radars (UEWR), one Perimeter Acquisition Radar Characterization System (PARCS), Cobra Dane (AN/FPS-108) and the AN/FPS-85 Phased Array Radar (Eglin). The Upgraded Early Warning Radars (UEWR) are a critical component of the United States' missile defense strategy. These systems currently have a mixture of three missions (Missile Warning/Missile Track (MW/MT), Missile Defense (MD), and Space Domain Awareness (SDA)) involving two activities. The first mission MW/MT, provides early warning and attack assessment of Ballistic Missile attack, enables accurate, timely, continuous, unambiguous Integrated Tactical Warning/Attack Assessment (ITW/AA) to correlation centers for combatant command integrated C2. The second mission is MD, performing Ballistic Missile midcourse detection, acquisition, tracking and classification. The third mission is the SDA Mission, detecting, identifying, and tracking man-made objects in earth orbit. The USSF, jointly with Missile Defense Agency (MDA), is modernizing eight (8) critical GBRs, including five UEWRs, PARCS, COBRA DANE, and Eglin AFB Site C-6 Radar through the Ground-Based Radar Digitization (GBRD) Program. GBRD will digitize these radars for enhanced battlespace awareness, reduced sustainment costs, and resolution of sustainment challenges. These aging systems are nearing obsolescence, necessitating technological upgrades to meet the modern requirement and threat. GBRD will modernize the entirety of the radar system from behind the physical antennas to the communications out. Space Domain Awareness (SDA) is one of five core competencies of the Space Force and includes the effective identification, characterization, and understanding of any factor, passive or active, associated with the space domain that could affect space operations and thereby impact the security, safety, economy, or environment of our nation.