Watford City FAA Radar Site

Watford City FAA Radar Site (1979-Active) - A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Long-Range Radar (LLR) site first established in 1979 near Watford City, McKenzie County, North Dakota. The site is 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-300, a JSS ID of J-76 and an FAA ID of QWA. Active FAA Radar Site. History This site was established as a Joint-use FAA-operated radar site in 1979, furnishing radar track data to the FAA ARTCC's and to USAF Direction Centers. The initial FAA FPS-67B search radar was configured as an ARSR-60. A USAF FPS-116 height-finder radar was installed here in 1979, operated and maintained by Air Force personnel. In 1983 as the SAGE System was deactivated and the Watford City FAA Radar Site joined the JSS System with a JSS ID of J-76 as one of the original members. The Site is located next to the former Alexander, ND, gap-filler radar site, Z-177B/Z-28E that was active until December 1967. The Watford City FAA Radar Site replaced part of the radar coverage of three USAF radar sites that were closed down in 1979. Fortuna AFS, ND (Z-27) closed 1 Jul 1979, Minot AFS, ND (Z-28) closed 1 Jul 1979, and Opheim AFS, MT (Z-26) closed 1 Jun 1979. The site is located next to the former Alexander, ND, gap-filler radar site, Z-177B/Z-28E. The radar site data is now available to the USAF/NORAD Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F) operations centers (EADS & WADS) as well as the FAA Minneapolis ARTCC (ZMP) and adjacent ARTCCs. Other federal agencies have access to the data under the Homeland Security umbrella. Watford City FAA Radar Site Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems Scopes Comm IFF/SIF/Beacon FPS-67B ARSR-60 ARSR-4 FPS-116 FYQ-47 CD-2 Single Chan (12) Multi Chan (1) GPA-124 ATCBI-5 ATCBI-6M Current Status Active FAA facility near Watford City in McKenzie County, North Dakota. {"selectable":false,"height":"-500","width":"-500"} Location: 14921 HWY-68 near Alexander City in McKenzie County, North Dakota. Maps & Images Lat: 47.67892 Long: -103.78104 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 2,494' GPS Locations: 47.67892, -103.78104 FAA Radar Site 47.67822, -103.78043 Gap Filler Site See Also: Minneapolis ARTCC JSS System FAA Air Route Traffic Control Centers US Radar Sets Sources: 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 146. FAA - Site Listing of Legacy Radars as of 23 Dec 2016. U.S. DoT - Recommendation on Transition from Primary/Secondary Radar to Secondary-Only Radar Capability 1994. FAA - Three Level Weather For ARTCC Displays - Project Implementation Plan, FAA Order 7110.14A, 14 Feb 1990. FAA - SSR/DMTI Modification - Project Implementation Plan, FAA Order 6340.20, 6 Jul 1988. ADTAC Communications Digest, July 1982, Tactical Air Command, page 69. Links: Wikipedia - Joint Surveillance System Visited: No