66th Air Base Group’s Public Affairs:
Early Warning Radars located throughout the world are undergoing multiple updates to their hardware, software and cyber resilience.
There are five EWR systems. These 10-story, solid state, phased array radars are placed around the globe to provide early warning in the event of a ballistic missile attack and to provide space surveillance.
The Air Force awarded Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems a $40 million contract to modify the Upgraded Early Warning Radar station on Thule Air Base, Greenland, in December 2016. The Thule station will undergo software and hardware improvements, replacing aging processors and delivering cyber security updates. With this installation, all five EWRs will be on the same hardware and software configuration for the first time in almost 30 years.
“These radar stations serve as scouts, looking along the horizon, beyond 2,500 nautical miles to detect missiles,” said Lt. Col. Brian Beecher, program manager in the Strategic Warning and Surveillance Systems Division. “They cast a wide net so we can detect ballistic missile threats as early as possible and begin warning and defensive procedures.”
Processor and software modifications reduce the amount of equipment required to operate the radar, which reduces energy consumption and sustainment costs over the long-term. The Air Force plans to complete all current modifications by 2020.
“We see lifecycle sustainment savings in simply getting rid of older proprietary software and going to a LINUX-based operating system, as well as achieving a common hardware configuration across all five sites,” said Ted McGlynn, UEWR lead engineer.
Beale AFB, California, and Cape Cod Air Force Station, Massachusetts, radars went operational in 1979 and 1980 respectively. Older, mechanically steered EWRs at Thule, Clear AFS, Alaska, and Royal Air Force Fylingdales, United Kingdom, were upgraded to solid-state phased array EWRs in 1988, 1992, and 2001 respectively.
