It was only two weeks ago that the Obama Administration scrapped a plan to build a “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out. The program — under development by Boeing and slated to cost $7 billion — was designed to harness video cameras and other sensors to deter border crossings. The Department of Homeland Security said it would opt to use commercially available gear instead.
Wednesday’s top two contract announcements from the Pentagon seemed to echo that failed program:
This “space fence” is the nickname for the Air Force Space Surveillance System, slated to use ground-based radars to track debris from wrecked satellites and other stuff passing overhead in an effort to avoid collisions. It will replace a 50-year old system that has been tracking about 10,000 space objects with one capable of tracking 150,000, some baseball-sized. The good news: neither contractor is Boeing. The bad news: it’s going to cost at least $3.5 billion.