BAE Systems to continue upgrading and maintaining long-range early warning missile defense radar
PETERSON AFB, Colo. – Radar experts at BAE Systems will continue maintaining, upgrading, and operating a global distributed radar network that provides missile defense and early warning of enemy ballistic missile launches and potential threats in space.
Officials of the U.S. Air Force 21st Contracting Squadron at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., announced a $48.5 million contract modification Wednesday to the BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services segment in Rockville, Md., to manage, operate, maintain and logistically support the Solid State Phased Array Radar Systems (SSPARS).
These radar systems -- once referred to as the Phased Array Warning System (PAVE PAWS) and the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) -- consist of radar, computer, and communications system for missile warning and space surveillance.
SSPARS sites are located at five separate locations: Beale Air Force Base, Calif.; Cape Cod, Air Force Station, Mass.; Clear Air Force Station, Alaska; Royal Air Force Station Fylingdales, England; and Thule Air Base, Greenland.
Related: Air Force eyes upgrades to PAVE PAWS, BMEWS, and PARCS ballistic missile warning radar
BAE Systems won a $49.6 million contract one year ago to maintain, upgrade, and operate the SSPARS through August of this year.
Air Force radar experts have been considering technology refresh for the front-end and remoting capabilities of those radar systems, which have received significant upgrades to their data- and signal-processing subsystems.
The SSPARS is a ground-based radar system that provides U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Neb., with warning and attack-assessment information on all intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched throughout the world that might be headed for U.S. territory.
The system also helps warn USSTRATCOM and NATO authorities of submarine- and sea-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) attacks and provides data to help evaluate the severity of ballistic missile attacks.
Related: Air Force asks Exelis to EMP-harden long-range ballistic missile warning radar systems
A sister system -- the Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System (PARCS) is a large radar installation in North Dakota that provides ballistic missile warning and attack assessment, as well as space surveillance data to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., as well as to USSTRATCOM and regional combatant commanders.
On this contract modification BAE Systems will do the work at Beale Air Force Base; Cape Cod Air Force Station; Clear Air Force Station; Thule Air Base; and Royal Air Force Fylingdales, and will be finished by August 2018.
For more information contact BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services online at www.baesystems.com, or the Air Force 21st Space Wing at www.peterson.af.mil/Units.
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
