Liza Atillasoy

On Wednesday, November 14, the U.S. military announced its plan to station a technologically advanced radar in Australia’s Harold E. Holt Naval Communications Station to track space debris threatening satellites. According to Reuters, the U.S is working toward placement of this telescope due to the U.S’s deepening military ties with Australia.

This announcement follows an agreement between the two countries last year, which provides a rotating training presence of up to 2,500 U.S. Marines in Darwin, a northern Australian tropical city.

U.S Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Australia’s Defense Minister Stephen Smith hope to move this new radar, called the C-band radar, Australian in 2014 from its present location in Antigua. The Pentagon has stated that the C-Band radar has the ability to identify over 200 objects a day, including other satellites and potential threats.  C-Band radar will be the first low-earth orbit space surveillance network sensor in the southern hemisphere.

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also has plans to move another advanced piece of equipment that they developed, the Space Surveillance Telescope, to Australia. Discussions are also in place for Australia to give the U.S more access to their satellites in orbit.  

Australia is currently preparing their defense policy based on uncertain security outlooks concerning Asia, though it has downplayed how these actions may antagonize China.