AN/FPS-17

The AN/FPS-17 is a ground-based fixed-beam radar system that was installed at Pirinçlik Air Base in south-eastern Turkey.

This system was deployed to satisfy scientific and technical intelligence collection requirements during the Cold War. The first installation (designated AN/FPS-17, XW-1) at Diyarbakir was originally intended to provide surveillance of the USSR's missile test range at Kapustin Yar south of Stalingrad - especially to detect missile launchings. The data it produced, however, exceeded surveillance requirements, permitting the derivation of missile trajectories, the identification of earth satellite launches, the calculation of a satellite's ephemeris (position and orbit), and the synthesis of booster rocket performance. The success achieved by this fixed-beam radar led to the co-location of a tracking radar (AN/FPS-79), beginning in mid-1964. Together, these radars had the capability for estimating the configuration and dimensions of satellites or missiles and observing the reentry of manned or unmanned vehicles.