Now that's a radar

Joined
Dec 8, 2003
Messages
1,526
Location
Grand Forks, ND
I was out exploring ND with the wife yesterday and ran across this guy near Cavalier, ND:

n9612126_32071108_7159.jpg


For comparison, I'd estimate the testbed phased array radar in Norman to be about 1/2 the size of the small white dome on top :O

Apparently, this radar is known as PARCS (largest phased array dish in the world) and can track objects the size of a basketball at 2000mi distance. It is primarily used to track satellites, and incoming missiles. Besides the air force bases in the region, this appears to be one of the few cold war era relics still in operation. Here's a decomissioned minuteman (nuke missile) site:
n9612126_32071103_5410.jpg


There are hundreds of these sites in ND and are quite easy to find. The fence/barbwire with a telephone pole in the middle of nowhere give them away. While the buildings/silos have been bulldozed/plowed over, apparently there are a few anti-missile missile sites that you can still find including their launch tubes and support buildings.



Aaron
 
Good find... more about it is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAVE_PAWS . When I forecasted at Dyess we were responsible for Goodfellow (SJT) and the PAVE PAWS site at El Dorado (near Ozona). Not too many people realize there's one of those things in Texas. Then again, we do everything big down here.

Tim
 
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