Former BAR-C DEW Line Radar Site

Canada / Northwest Territories / Aklavik /
 abandoned / shut down, early warning radar
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Built in the mid-1950's as an Intermediate or "I" site in the BAR Sector of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, the BAR-C or Tununuk Camp site was a short-range "gap filler" radar site built to cover low-altitude gaps in the radar coverage of the Long Range Radar Sites of BAR-2 at Shingle Point to the West and BAR-3 at Tuktoyaktuk to the East. Staffed year-round by a crew of only five personnel, the site was equipped with an AN/FPS-23 radar system mounted atop a 200ft tower located alongside the short gravel airstrip built to resupply the site.

Advances in radar coverage technology at the Long Range sites led to the service provided by BAR-C's radar system to become redundant, and as a result BAR-C joined the rest of the Intermediate "gap filler" filler system sites in shutting down its operations at the end of the 1963 Summer season. Left largely abandoned for the next thirty years, the site was eventually reused for oil exploration before being completely razed in the late 1990's. The site is presently awaiting full environmental remediation, while its gravel airstrip sees occasional use by oil exploration aircraft.

lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/barc.htm
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Coordinates:   69°0'21"N   134°40'19"W
This article was last modified 8 years ago