NSpOC: Sovereign Sensor - Active RF Radar Capability

Scope as published

**This notice supercedes UK3 Planned Procurement Notice reference 2026/S 000-078126, which was issued on 3rd August and modified on 17th of August.** **This contract is an Exempt Contract within the meaning of the Procurement Act 2023, in accordance with Schedule 2, paragraph 25 of the Act (national security). Accordingly, this procurement does not constitute a covered procurement and the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 relating to covered procurements do not apply. Where any provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 are expressed to apply more generally to a “procurement”, the Authority has determined that those provisions are inapplicable in the circumstances of this procurement, having regard to the fact that the application of any such provision would be inconsistent with, or would undermine the operation of, the national security exemption. Any reference by the Authority to concepts, procedures or terminology derived from the Procurement Act 2023 is for convenience only and does not consititute an acknowledgment that the Act, or any particular provision of it, applies to this procurement or any resulting contract. ** 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 capped at £25,000,000 exclusive of VAT and will cover the following elements: * Radar hardware (including, but not limited to, antenna systems, signal generation/timing/processing hardware, power systems, cooling and thermal management) * Radar software (noting the Authority is likely to specify software covers both edge and cloud elements, with a 10 year licence including free security and basic maintenance updates) * Software development to integrate software with wider Government systems (including capture and implementation of user stories/change requests to better exploit the equipment provided) * Two separate training courses - one focused on tasking/sensor capabilities and one focused on hardware support and maintenance * Obtaining spectrum rights and permissions: whilst the Authority will support the appointed contractor with this, responsibility will rest with the appointed contractor * Software and hardware support and maintenance for the initial 3 year contract term * Cyber assurance * Project and contract management (including interface with the infrastructure contractor) * Collaboration around installation and commissioning at final deployment location The following is currently expected to be in scope of the infrastructure and enabling …

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