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RAF Fylingdales BMEWS
The two BMEWS (Ballistic Missile Early Warning System) are collateral sensors in the SSN’s network (as noted above, a third radar in Clear, Alaska is officially classified as a BMEWS radar, although its characteristics are same as a PAVE PAWS radar), and are essentially larger versions of the PAVE PAWS. Located at Fylingdales in Britain (54.36˚N, 0.67˚W) and Thule in Greenland (76.57˚N, 68.32 W˚), these radars’ primary mission is early warning of ballistic missile attack. The radar in Greenland has two faces, providing 240˚ degree azimuthal coverage, while the radar in Britain has three faces, providing 360˚ coverage. Both of these radars have received upgrades that allowed them to be incorporated into the United States’ ground-based national missile defense (GMD) system.
Technical Characteristics
Each radar face is bore-sited at 20˚ above the horizon, and can provide elevation coverage from 3˚ to 85˚. Each octagonal BMEWS radar face has a diameter of about 25.6 m and contains 2,560 active transmit/receive modules (the total number of elements, including passive ones, is 3584). Each face has a peak power of 850 kw and an average power of 255 kw (corresponding to a duty factor of 0.3). The radar’s beam width is about 2.0˚
The BMEWS transmit/receive modules have a maximum duty factor of 30% and can produce pulses with lengths between 0.25 and 16 msec. The BMEWS radars use pulse lengths of 0.3 and 6 (typical) msec. in search and pulse lengths between 1 and 16 msec. in track.[10] Search bandwidth is 0.3 MHz (Britain) and 0.6 MHz (Greenland) and track bandwidths are 5-10 MHz respectively. The radars operate using a 54 msec. resource periods.[11]
BMEWS Performance Claims
3,000 nmi range coverage.[12]
[1] Donald J. Hoft, “Solid State Transmit/Receive Module for the PAVE PAWS phased array Radar,’’ in Edward D. Ostroff, Michael Borkowski, Harry Thomas, and James Curtis, Solid State Radar Transmitters (Artech; Dedham, Mass., 1985) pp. 246-249 (reprinted from Microwave Journal, October 1978); Michael T. Borkowski, “Solid State Transmitters,” in Merrill Skolnik, ed., Radar Handbook, 2nd. Ed. (McGraw-Hill: New York, 1990), pp. 5-3, 5-8, 5-25, and 5-26.
[2] U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Environmental Impact Statement, National Missile Defense System, Appendix H, Upgraded Early Warning Radars Analysis, July 1, 2000, p. H-1-7. Available at: (http://www.mda.mil/global/documents/pdf/env_gmd_eis_append_h.pdf)
[3] MDA, “Environmental Impact Statement,” p. H-1-8.
[4] Marvin N. Cohen, “Pulse Compression in Radar Systems,” in Jerry L. Eaves and Edward K. Reedy, eds. Principles of Modern Radar (Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York, 1987), p. 475.; F. Shackford, Technical Seminar, MIT Defense and Arms Control Studies Program.
[5] MDA, “Environmental Impact Statement,” pp. H-1-8, H-1-9.
[6] R. Sridharan and Antonio F. Pensa, “U.S. Space Surveillance Network Capabilities,” in C. Bruce Johnson, Timothy D. Maclay and Firooz A. Allahdadi, Image Intensifiers and Applications; and Characteristics and Consequences of Space Debris and Near Earth Objects, Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 3434, July 1988, pp. 88-100.
[7] USAF Scientific Advisory Board, p. 9.
[8] “Pave Paws, BMEWS Radar Site Updates Will Broaden Missile Threat Coverage,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, December 9, 1985, pp. 52, 54.
[9] Ross Kerber, “Making (Radar) Waves, Boston Globe, July 2, 2001, p. C1.
[10] Cohen, “Pulse Compression in Radar Systems,”; F. Shackford, Technical Seminar.
[11] Shackford, Technical Seminar. It is unclear if this applies to BMEWs or PAVE PAWS or both, but is consistent with the 16 msec. maximum pulse length and a 30% duty factor of BMEWS.
[12] Shackford, Technical Seminar.
This entry was originally made by George Lewis at MostlyMissileDefense.com and is used here with permission.
| Sensor Name | RAF Fylingdales BMEWS |
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