Development of The Over-the-horizon Air Defence Radar System
Elkins was part of a team of Rome Air Development Center (RADC) engineers that developed and constructed components for frequency modulation/continuous wave (FM/CW) radars capable of detecting and tracking objects at over-the-horizon ranges. A prototype radar was installed and evaluated on 15 September 1970. The system incorporated a Beverage array receive antenna (located at Columbia Air Force Station), a high-power transmitter array (located at Moscow Air Force Station), and an operations center (located at Bangor Airport). This prototype became operational on 30 October of that year. Experimental transmissions from the Maine site covered a 60° sector from 16.5° to 76.5° azimuth and from 900 to 3,300 km in range from the radar.
Based on the success of these early experiments, the Department of Defense proposed to deploy a fully operational radar system. This radar system, covering 180° in azimuth, was built at the same locations in Maine. Initial testing was conducted from June 1980 to June 1981. GE Aerospace (now Lockheed Martin Ocean, Radar and Sensor Systems) received a contract in mid-1982 for full-scale development of the AN/FPS-118 program.
The operational system consisted of multiple OTH-B radars functioning as an early warning system, to detect incoming enemy bombers and cruise missiles. The system, as initially envisioned, was to consist of four sectors:
- East Coast Sector (ECRS): facing east, including a group of three transmitters at Moscow Air Force Station, Maine, a group of three receivers at Columbia Air Force Station, also in Maine, and an operations center located at Bangor International Airport.
- West Coast Sector (WCRS): facing west, including a group of three transmitters at Christmas Valley, Oregon, a group of three receivers at Tule Lake, near Alturas, California, and an operations center at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.
- North Sector (in Alaska): facing north, cancelled prior to completion
- Central Sector (in Texas): facing south
Only months after the system became fully operational, the Cold War came to an end. The military requirement for the OTH-B radar network was therefore greatly diminished. The mission of the ECRS radar system was redirected to counter-narcotics surveillance and drug interdiction, and the ECRS operated in this capacity for several years. The three OTH radars of the WCRS were mothballed, and the incomplete North Sector in Alaska was cancelled.
The Air Force currently maintains the six East Coast and West Coast OTH-B radars in a state called warm storage, which preserves the physical and electrical integrity of the system and permits recall, should a need arise. It would require at least 24 months to bring these first generation OTH-B radars into an operational status.
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