AN/FPS-50 BMEWS Prototype

Trinidad and Tobago / Diego Martin / Mucurapo /
 abandoned / shut down, Cold War 1947-1991, early warning radar
The original sites used two types of radars, the L band AN/FPS-50, with three fence antennas for initial detection, each 165 feet tall and 400 feet wide, and an AN/FPS-92 fully steerable tracking dish, 85 feet in diameter, installed in a large radome. One fence antenna covered a 40 degree sector of the horizon, for a total site coverage of 120 degrees. A prototype of BMEWS, located in Trinidad, began providing surveillance and tracking of ballistic missiles by 1958, and went operational on February 4, 1959, to gather data on missiles fired at the Atlantic Missile Range, as well as satellites and meteors. The full BMEWS radar network became operational in the early 1960s. Each site had dual IBM 7094 computers for signal processing and impact prediction.



www.fas.org/spp/military/program/track/bmews.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMEWS
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   10°44'33"N   61°36'31"W

Comments

  • I worked in that site for almost 5 years miss the good old days was great living in Trinidad loved it!
This article was last modified 8 years ago