FPS-115 Long-Range Missile Detection Radar Set - A Long-Range Missile Detection Radar set built by Raytheon in the late 1970s. Designed to detect sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). Deployed in a system called Pave Paws.
The initial concept had two FPS-115 systems deployed in the continental United States in 1980, one on the east coast at Cape Cod AFS and one on the west coast at Beale AFB. The concept expanded in the mid-1980s with two more sites, one at Dobbins AFB Georgia and one at Eldorado AFS, Texas. Coincident with the end of the Cold War both of the later sites were closed in 1995. The equipment at Eldorado AFS, was relocated to Clear AFS, Alaska to replace the FPS-50.
Additional FPS-115 Pave Paws radars were installed in the 1990s at BMEWS sites at Thule, Greenland, and Fylingdale Moor, England.
Winkler, David F., Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, USAF Hq Air Combat Command, 1997, 192 pages, Pdf, page 54-56, 86, 105, 111, 122, 158.
Links:
Bad Links /museum/parseequip.php?html=fps-115.html&type=equip_html AN/FPS-115, AN/FPS-120, AN/FPS-123, AN/FPS-126]
