CPS-6 - Medium range combination search and height finder Radar Set. Manufactured by General Electric Corporation. Two separate antennas, one for early warning (EW) detection and the other slanted 45 degrees to provide target height (HF). Initially, the radar was designed to detect fighter aircraft at 100 miles and 16,000 feet. The HF radar used five transmitters that operated at S-band frequencies ranging from 2700 to 3019 MHz to detect target altitude. Variants included the CPS-6, CPS-6A and the CPS-6B. The CPS-6B was the most widely used of the variants.
CPS-6B/FPS-10 Combination Search and Height Finder Radar Facility.
"Radar Set AN/CPS-6B is a fixed station, air transportable, high power, long range search and height finding radar set that is used for aircraft early warning and ground controlled intercept applications. The set has a maximum range of 265 naut mi and a height finding capability of 40,000 ft. Facilities are provided for use of advance filter techniques that eliminate the time lag inherent in passing plots through a filter room. This equipment has provisions for operational use of video mapping, direction finding, and identification equipment. Terminal facilities are also provided for voice, code or telegraph, and radio or wire communications. AN/CPS- 6B is equipped with MTI and many remote operating facilities."
One CPS-6B radar unit and its ancillary electronic equipment required eighty-five freight cars for transport. The Air Force phased out the 6B model between mid-1957 and mid-1959.
CPS-6B Radar Set
CPS-6 Combo Radar
Element
Value
Notes
Nomenclature
CPS-6B
Origins
Variants
CPS-6 CPS-6A
Manufacturer
General Electric Corporation
Type
Combo
Number Made
IEEE Band
S Band
Frequency
2700-3019 Mc
PRF
600 or 300
Pulse Width
1 us at 600 pps 1 or 2 us at 300 pps
Rotation Speed
0 to 15 rpm Continuous variable
Power
900 kw peak 2 megw, peak EW
Type 5586 and 5657 tunable magnetron QK-254 magnetron EW
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 75-76