Space Force picks InDyne to upgrade, maintain, and operate long-range ballistic missile surveillance radar
PETERSON AFB, Colo. – Radar experts at InDyne Inc. will maintain, upgrade, and operate a global distributed radar network in place to provide missile-defense and early warning of enemy ballistic missile launches and potential threats in space.
Officials of the U.S. Space Force Space Operations Command's Space Acquisition & Integration Office at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., announced a $80.2 million order Tuesday to InDyne in Lexington Park, Md., for work on 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) -- represent a 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.
Air Force radar experts have been considering technology refresh for the front-end and remoting capabilities of those radar systems, and have received significant upgrades to their data- and signal-processing subsystems.
The SSPARS ballistic missile defense radar 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.
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) at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., as well as to USSTRATCOM and regional combatant commanders.
On this order InDyne will do the work at Beale Air Force Base; Cape Cod Air Force Station; Clear Air Force Station; Thule Air Base; Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Colo.; and Royal Air Force Fylingdales, and will be finished by April 2024.
For more information contact InDyne Inc. online at www.indyneinc.com, or Space Force Space Operations Command at www.spoc.spaceforce.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
