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. Air Force 21st Contracting Squadron at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., announced a $51.4 million order Tuesday to InDyne in Sterling, Va., to exercise option year two for the management, operation, maintenance, and logistical support of 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.
Related: Raytheon to upgrade radar signal processing for missile-defense system in Thule, Greenland
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; and Royal Air Force Fylingdales, and will be finished by April 2021.
For more information contact InDyne Inc. online at www.indyneinc.com, or the Air Force 21st Contracting Squadron at www.peterson.af.mil.
