Sequester Shutters System For Tracking Threats From Outer Space

Amid cost-cutting efforts, the Air Force plans to shut down an aging radar system that tracks thousands of objects in space. The fate of a planned $2 billion replacement system is still up in the air.

The Air Force Space Command said that “due to resource constraints caused by sequestration,” it has directed the 21st Space Wing to discontinue operations at the Air Force Space Surveillance System by Oct. 1. Deactivating the system, which tracks satellites and orbital debris, will save $14 million annually.

The Air Force plans to replace the space surveillance system with a new “space fence” that will include new sophisticated radar on Kwajalein Island in the Pacific. "The AFSSS is much less capable than the space fence radar planned for Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands," said Gen. William L. Shelton, commander of the Air Force Space Command. "In fact, it's apples and oranges in trying to compare the two systems."