TheSolid State Phased Array Radar System[1] (SSPARS),colloquiallyBallistic Missile Early Warning System radar network (BMEWS radar network),[2] is aUnited States Space Force radar, computer, and communications system for missile warning and space surveillance. There are SSPARS systems at five sites:Beale Air Force Base, CA,Cape Cod Space Force Station, MA,Clear Space Force Station, AK,RAF Fylingdales, UK, andPituffik Space Base, Greenland.[3] The system completed replacement of theRCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System when the last SSPAR was operational at then-Clear Air Force Station in 2001.[1]
Under theJoint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), all U.S. military radar and tracking systems are assigned a unique identifying alphanumeric designation. The letters “AN” (for Army-Navy) are placed ahead of a three-letter code.[4]
TheAN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR) is a series ofphased array radar systems used for long-rangeearly warning andspace surveillance, operating as part of theUnited States Missile Defense andSpace Surveillance Network.
Thus, the AN/FPS-132 represents the 132nd design of an Army-Navy “Fixed, Radar, Search” electronic device.[4][5]
The Solid State Phased Array Radar System is a phased array radar with 2500 "solid state transmitter" modules.[6]
It began replacing PAVE PAWS when the first AN/FPS-115 face was taken off-line for the radar upgrade. NewAN/FPS-123 Early Warning Radars became operational at (Beale) and (Cape Cod) in each base's existing PAVE PAWS "Scanner Building".[7]
In 2001 SSPARS equipment included:
After the Fylingdales BMEWS radars had been replaced by Raytheon/Cossor AeroSpace andControl Data Corporation (embedded CDC-Cyber computer) at a cost of US $100M,[citation needed] in February 1995 the "missile warning center atCheyenne Mountain AS [was] undergoing a $450 million upgrade program".[15] The entire SSPARS became operational on 31 January 2001 when the "SSPARS Site"[16] at Clear AFS (separate from the BMEWS site) hadInitial Operational Capability.[17] The Clear AN/FPS-120 was subsequently "upgraded to the AN/FPS-123 model" SSPA Radar,[18] and the SSPARS was modified in theEarly Warning Radar Service Life Extension Program[1] The US approved sale of an[which?] AN/FPS-115 to Taiwan in 2000[19] and it was introduced in 2006.[20]
The UK andAlaska BMEWS stations became SSPARS radar stations when their respective Raytheon AN/FPS-126 radar[21] and 2001 Raytheon AN/FPS-120 became operational.[22] In 2007, 100 owners/trustees of amateur radio repeaters near AN/FPS-123 radars were notified to lower their power output to mitigate interference,[23] and AN/FPS-123s were part of theAir Force Space Surveillance System by 2009.[24]BAE Systems began a 2007 contract for SSPARS maintenance.[25] The SSPARS radar electronics was subsequently upgraded, e.g., the Beale radar[19] and the Fylingdales FPS-126 each became anAN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR)[26] by Raytheon.[27] The Beale AN/FPS-123 was upgraded to a RaytheonAN/FPS-132 (UEWR) with capabilities to operate in theGround-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) ABM system—the Beale UEWR included "Avionics", "T/R modules",[28] "FEX/TTG", "BSG", "Signal Processor", and other changes.[29] After additional UEWR installations for GMD at Thule Site J and the UK (contracted 2003),[30] a 2012 ESD/XRXRequest for Information for replacement, and remote operation, of the remaining "PAVE PAWS/BMEWS/PARCS systems" at Cape Cod, Alaska, and North Dakota was issued.[31] The Alaska AN/FPS-132 was contracted in fall 2012[32] and the Cape Cod installation in 2013.[19]
The AN/FPS-132 Block-5 was ordered by theQatar Emiri Air Force, and is in construction.[33]
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 AN/FPS-132 UEWR |
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BMEWS was replaced by the Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS) in 2001.
Technical Facility/Scanner Building (HAER No. MA-151-A), which houses the AN/FPS-1152 radar and related equipment… PAVE PAWS Site 1 … AN/FSS-7…designed byAvco Electronics Division… The first two PAVE PAWS sites in Massachusetts and California represented the first two-faced phased array radars deployed by the U.S.
AN/FPS-49 has a traditional azimuth bearing assembly (race and steel balls) while the AN/FPS-92 has a hydrostatic bearing (antenna floats on a high pressure film of hydraulic fluid). AN/FPQ-16 Radar Set, Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System - PARCS: PARCS is a single faced phased array radar system consisting of AN/FPQ-16 radar and an AN/FSQ-100 computer system located at Cavalier AFS, ND. The primary mission of the PARCS is to provide theCMC with TW/AA data on all SLBMs penetrating the coverage area. ... FORCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (FMS) PROVIDES THE CONUS NORAD REGION COMMANDER WITH TIME SENSITIVE INFORMATION
in March 1963 an Air Ministry review of ABM systems said of MIDAS that 'performance to date has been disappointing'.78 … A teletype circuit was established between NORAD and the ADOC in Britain to pass information derived from Site 1 at Thule.95 This was supplemented by a voice circuit with agreed formatted messages, and both were operational by October 1960. … AN/FPS-49 Range resolution 240 nm Maximum range 2,650 nm Minimum target at 1,650 m 2.8 m2 Impact accuracy North America 135 nm
North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Space Command command center. ... For more than 30 years, the crews operating the missile warning center inside Cheyenne Mountain have maintained an early warning trip line [for] incoming ballistic missiles
Perimeter Acquisition Vehicle Entry Phased-Array Weapons System (PAVE PAWS)
The PAVE PAWS and BMEWS Beam Steering Unit (BSU), Receiver Exciter (REX), Receiver Beam Former (RBF), Array Group Driver (AGD), Radio Frequency Monitor (RFM), Frequency Time Standard (FTS), and the Corporate Feed (CFD) were built for these five radars in the late 1970s and were upgraded in the 1980s. … The PARCS Signal Processing Group (SPG) has received only "band-aid" fixes since the site's Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in 1975
