Air Force Space Surveillance System nearing end

Air Force Space Command is telling the 21st Space Wing to prepare to end operations of the aging Air Force Space Surveillance System by Oct. 1 due to budget cuts.

Officials said Monday that equipment won’t be removed until decisions on fiscal 2014 budget issues are final, but deactivating the system by Oct. 1 would lead to cost savings of about $14 million a year.

The system has transmitter sites at Jordan Lake, Ala.; Lake Kickapoo, Texas; and Gila River, Ariz., plus receivers at Hawkinsville, Ga.; Red River, Ark.; Elephant Butte, N.M.; and San Diego.

The Colorado Springs-based contractor operating the sites, Fiver Rivers Services, declined to comment.

The Air Force says it will track space objects using other systems. Development on a new space surveillance system is under way.