This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. The US Space Force has added a new radar system that it says will be able to detect objects the size of baseballs in space. The Long Range Discrimination Radar LRDR has been installed at Clear Space Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska. It will support the U.S. missile defence system and provide precise data on its adversaries.
Today is an extremely important milestone for the US homeland defence, according to Jon Hill, the US Missile Defense Agency MDA director. The LRDR has finished its construction, and we can now begin the testing phase that will lead to the full operational use of this vital system. The system is expected to go online in 2023 after a year of testing. Once operational, the radar will give the US Space Force the ability to search, track, and discriminate multiple small, baseball-sized objects in orbit.
LRDR will allow Northern Command to better defend the US from ballistic and hypersonic missile threats, according to Hill. The decision marks the beginning of a significant milestone for the work of the US Space Command and the developing arms race in space. It came after Russia's deputy foreign minister compared the tensions on the Ukraine border to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a time when the world came closest to nuclear war. Sergei Ryabkov said: You know, it really could come to that. If things continue as they are, it is entirely possible by the logic of events to wake up and see yourself in something similar. READ MORE: Britain's Galileo replacement will be made on British soil in huge 2 billion post-Brexit boost.
It came after Russia caught the US off-guard with an anti-satellite ASAT test. It was blasted into more than 1,500 pieces and caused astronauts on board the ISS to have to shelter. Russian officials responded by calling past American military tests in space hypocritical and drew widespread condemnation from U.S. officials. The Pentagon has called for a global halt to ASAT weapon tests. Kathleen Hicks, the US Department of Defense deputy secretary, said: “We would like to see all nations be able to refrain from anti-satellite weapons testing that creates debris.