FOX-A Radar Site

Canada / Nunavut / Tununirusiq /
 military, early warning radar
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Constructed in 1956 and activated 1957 as an "I" or Intermediate on the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, the FOX-A or Bray Island site was a "gap filler" station equipped with AN/FPS-23 doppler radars which were intended to bolster the low-altitude coverage of the airspace between the adjacent Long Range Radar Sites at FOX-1/Rowey Island and FOX-2/Longstaff Bluff. Manned by four crew year-round, the isolated site was resupplied and re-crewed primarily by means of DC-3 flights from the FOX-MAIN station at Hall Beach, though the site airstrip was often rendered unusable by blowing snow drifts during the long Winter season. As with all DEW Line sites, the primary resupply and repair efforts were carried out at FOX-A by amphibious craft during the brief Arctic Summer.

Operating in its I Site role with the FOX Sector of the DEW Line for six years, FOX-A along with the rest of the Intermediate sites was shut down at the end of the Summer of 1963 when their primary mission was made superfluous by improvements to the radar coverage capabilities Long Range sites. With the majority of its infrastructure left in place until being razed and remediated in the 1990's, the site was reactivated as part of the North Warning System and now operates as an autonomous short-range radar facility equipped with AN/FPS-124 radar systems.

lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/foxa.htm
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Coordinates:   69°13'27"N   77°13'51"W
This article was last modified 10 years ago