El Paso FAA Radar Site

El Paso FAA Radar Site (1963-1990) - A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Long=Range Radar (LLR) site established in 1963 near Horizon City, El Paso County, Texas. The site was used to identify and track military and civilian aircraft movements within a 200-mile radius and to provide air-ground radio communication with those aircraft. Assigned a SAGE System ID of Z-228 and later Z-244 and still later a Joint Surveillance System (JSS) ID of J-27. Deactivated circa 1997. History This site became an FAA radar site in 1963, furnishing radar track data to the FAA ARTCC's and to USAF Direction Centers. The initial FAA ARSR-1 search radar remained in operation and it was modified to become an ARSR-1E. In 1972 a USAF FPS-90 Height-Finder radar was installed at this site to provide target height information to the newly formed Southern Air Defense Sector (SADS). SADS operated from the Houston Manual NORAD Control Center co-located with the Houston ARTCC. The FPS-90 height-finder was maintained and operated by Detachment OL-AH of the 4629th Air Defense Squadron from Luke AFB in Phoenix, Arizona. The FPS-90 later became an FPS-116 before being removed circa 1988. A FYQ-47 Common Digitizer was probably placed in service by February 1973 when the USAF/FAA FST-2 to FYQ-47 replacement program was completed. By 1990 the site was equipped with a Common Digitizer CD-2A and an ARSR-1E search radar. The El Paso CD-2A was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in July 1992. The site was shown as connected to the Albuquerque ARTCC. This site was deactivated circa 1997 after the activation of the Eagle Peak FAA Radar Site (J-27A) and the Deming FAA Radar Site (J-28A). Both of these sites were equipped with the new ARSR-4 3D radars. El Paso FAA Site Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems Scopes Comm IFF/SIF/Beacon ARSR-1 ARSR-1E FPS-90 FPS-116 FYQ-47 CD-2A GPA-127 GRR-24 (6) GRT-22 (6) GPA-124 ATCBI-5 Current Status Closed and in private hands. The FAA building has been repurposed but remains intact, both radar towers are gone. {"selectable":false,"height":"-500","width":"-500"} Location: Near Horizon City in El Paso County, Texas. Maps & Images Lat: 31.68083 Long: -106.19722 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 4,035' GPS Locations: 31.68083, -106.19722 El Paso FAA Radar Site See Also: Albuquerque ARTCC Houston ARTCC JSS System FAA Air Route Traffic Control Centers US Radar Sets Sources: Department of Defense Appropriations for 1974: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Ninety-third Congress, First Session, United States. Congress, pt. 5, U.S. Government Printing Office, Google Books 1973 Pages 770-773 Southern Air Defense Pages 774- Retention of one active BUIC and 11 semi-active 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 158. FAA - Site Listing of Legacy Radars as of 23 Dec 2016 Links: Bad Links El+Paso+%28FAA+Site%29%2C+TX El Paso FAA Radar Site] Wikipedia - Joint Surveillance System Visited: No