Space Force in Final Test Phase for Second GBOSS Radar Upgrade

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct information about the GBOSS upgrade plan.

AURORA, Colo.—The Space Force is close to transitioning to the next phase of a key upgrade to its Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance radar to operational users, according to the head of Combat Forces Command.

Speaking Feb. 25 at AFA’s Warfare Symposium, Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon said the modernized version of the telescope, dubbed the Ground-Based Optical Sensor, or GBOSS, has double the field of view previously available and can scan the skies faster to view moving targets. It’s also three times more sensitive to light.

“That’s important because you need to see the space to know what’s going on,” he said. “It’s also important because our adversaries don’t want to be seen.”

The Space Force operates nine legacy GEODSS telescopes at three locations in the U.S. and the Indo-Pacific. The service approved the first GBOSS configuration at White Sands Missile Range in Alaska last year, and is in the operational test phase for a second site in Maui, Hawaii. The third site in Diego Garcia has not been upgraded. L3Harris is leading the modernization effort. 

GBOSS is one of more than 50 new or upgraded systems to transition to operations over the past year, and Gagnon said he expects the year ahead to be just as busy. Half of those systems, according to Gagnon, were space domain awareness capabilities, designed to give the military more visibility into what’s happening in orbit. 

Space domain awareness is in high demand from space operators and such capabilities have long been at the top of U.S. Space Command’s priority list. The need will continue to grow as the number of commercial proliferated satellite constellations grows, and as China, Russia and other U.S. adversaries show an apparent willingness to demonstrate aggressive maneuvers on orbit. 

The Space Force operates a mix of ground and space-based sensors that perform this mission. On the ground, USSF has worked both to upgrade existing radars and telescopes and to field new ones. Gagnon highlighted one of those new systems, the Long Range Discrimination Radar, LRDR, which transitioned to operations in December. 

The radar is located at Clear Space Force Station, Alaska, and provides both domain awareness and missile warning and tracking. The system, developed by the Missile Defense Agency, cost $6 billion and took six years to build, but Gagnon said it offers a “massive advancement” in the ability to discriminate between active ballistic missiles and decoys. 

“That’s important if you have an economy of force in the interceptor,” he said. “You need to figure out what to hit.”

The system feeds precision tracking, discrimination, and “hit” data to the Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Fire Control System.

“Its adaptable architecture allows for future upgrades to address evolving threats without significant system modifications,” the Space Force said in a Dec. 4 press release announcing operational acceptance. “Moreover, its continuous threat monitoring ensures operational readiness, even during maintenance, minimizing potential downtime.”

Gagnon noted that the technology advancements demonstrated through LRDR will be foundational to future radar upgrades.