Multi-function Array Radar, MAR-I | military, radar station

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The Multi-function Array Radar (MAR) was a phased-array radar designed under an ARPA contract as part of the Nike-X project. MAR aimed to replace the four different radars of the earlier Nike Zeus system (ZAR, DR, TTR and MTR) with a single high-performance radar. MAR would offer long-range tracking, discrimination and individual tracking of both incoming warheads and outgoing interceptor missiles.

MAR was the centrepiece of the Nike-X system, which would have a number of MARs across the US, controlling the overall battle. Targets being tracked on the MAR would then be handed off to the Sprint batteries, who would launch a missile toward the target and guide it until it became visible in the MAR. To maintain tracking and guidance while the missile launched, smaller and much simpler Missile Site Radars (MSR) would provide support. A single MAR would be networked to dozens of batteries and MSRs. An MSR was never built at White Sands, although a related design was tested.

As the technique of switching the many antenna leads from transmit to receive was not well developed at that time, MAR used separate transmitters and receivers. The receivers were mounted to the central dome, while the transmitters were located on smaller domes arranged at the corners of the bounding box. MARs were modular, allowing the installation of one to four transmitter/receiver pairs, as required. For MAR-I, only one pair was installed, on the north-west face (upper left). To save money, only the central 25 feet of the 40 foot antenna was wired up, about 2,500 elements of 6,500. Provisions for a second transmitter/receiver pair, including the transmitter dome and receiver opening, were made facing north-east (upper right), but never installed. As part of the MAR-I test program, a tracking radar from the Nike Hercules was installed on the top of the dome to act as a calibrated radar. A second Hercules radar was installed on a short tower just to the southwest of the MAR, about where the brown building is located today.

The entire site was formerly surrounded by a high circular metal fence that eliminated reflections from nearby hills and mountains, but this has since been removed. The fence ran just north of the power substation to the south-east, and through the middle of the parking lot to the south. No visible trace remains.

MAR-I was the first and only MAR to be completed. A second MAR, MAR-II, started construction on Kwajalein Island, but was abandoned when the Nike-X program was cancelled in 1967. Some time after it was closed, it was decided it's 10-foot thick walls would make it perfect as a fallout shelter for the families at Holloman, some distance to the east. The equipment was removed to make room for the 5,400 people. and sold as scrap. Some of the electronics ended up used for radio astronomy, while others were melted down in the 1980s to extract their gold, about 1 once per box from just over 2000 boxes.

For more information, see the White Sands Missile Range Museum website ( www.wsmr-history.org/MAR-I.htm )