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Radar squadrons protect America

ACC News

Release Date: 6/18/2003

By Master Sgt. Sonja Whittington 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

6/18/2003 - HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (ACCNS) -- After Sept. 11, 2001, the silent radars constantly scanning the borders of the United States for potential aerial attack took on a heightened role. The data coming in from those radars to one of the four U.S. Air Defense Sectors is vital to homeland defense. If one of those radars isn't working at its highest capacity, there's an open door for a terrorist to come in.

Troops from the 84th Radar Evaluation Squadron headquartered at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, make sure data from those radars are as reliable as possible and that the radars are working at optimal levels.

"After the Cold War ended, (homeland defense) was not really on the front burner," said Staff Sgt. Jennifer Brady, one of three radar technicians from the 84th RADES assigned to the Western Air Defense Sector in McChord AFB, Wash. "After Sept. 11, it was brought back to life."

From hundreds of individual radars dotting the United States, data is fed to one of the four air defense sectors - the Western Air Defense Sector; the Northeast Air Defense Sector at Rome, N.Y., the Southeast Air Defense Sector at Tyndall AFB, Fla., and the Alaskan Air Defense Sector in Anchorage, Alaska.

"The Western Air Defense Sector covers essentially everything west of the Mississippi," explained 1st Lt. Steve Cruz, the officer in charge of the squadron's three operating locations. Under a plan to be implemented within the next few years, the Northeast and Southeast Air Defense Sectors will merge to become the Eastern Air Defense Sector and be responsible for monitoring the nation east of the Mississippi.

Previously, the air defense sectors were responsible for ensuring radars, which Federal Aviation Administration used to track larger aircraft as they traveled across the United States, were functioning properly. Since Sept. 11, the air defense sectors took responsibility for hundreds of interior radars as well. With the adjustments made by the 84th RADES, those same radars became dual-capable and now also are part of the homeland defense system.

Information carried from the radars to the air defense sectors is used to determine if a combat air patrol mission needs to be launch and helps to determine whether a commercial or private aircraft in the air is a potential threat or is violating a restricted area.

"There is a strong working relationship between the RADES and Air Defense Sectors," said Lieutenant Cruz. The air defense sector radar controllers rely on the RADES to provide them the best air picture possible from the data that streams in over thousands of cables.

"We're optimizing the FAA radars to meet the Air Force mission - detect low-level, small footprint data - as well as the FAA's mission of tracking large aircraft as they transit the United States," said Lt. Col. Richard Rehs, the 84th RADES squadron commander.

Minor adjustments to the large radar dishes can make a huge difference in what can be detected, said Mr. John Yarman, the technical manger for the long range radar systems.

"We lowered the search tilt (on one radar) by only .10 degrees; that increased our search capability by about 15 miles," he said.

The translated radar data indicates by color how an aircraft is being identified. Red indicates that the aircraft is sending an appropriate beacon signal but the radar is not picking up the aircraft.

"Our goal is to get the red out," Mr. Yarman said.

"Everyday, we look at 25 graphs per radar - and there are at least 65 radars we monitor (just at the Western Air Defense Sector)," Sergeant Brady said. "We have massive amounts of information available."

And all that information is recorded for up to one year allowing the RADES personnel to also look for trends identifying radar degradation and aid in search and rescue missions.

The team of three radar evaluators at McChord monitors the data from the radars through a piece of equipment the squadron developed itself.

Using commercially available equipment and internally developed software, the experts determined what they needed and modified the system to fit their needs, creating the Radar Data Interface System. Data is fed straight from the hundreds of radars to the Air Defense Sector headquarters, sent through the Radar Data Interface System, analyzed for quality and recorded, and then sent to the radar controllers.

"We 'see' the data before the radar watchers do and can tell if there's something wrong with the signal being sent," said Sergeant Brady. "We can see a problem before it degrades the radar capabilities."

Sergeant Brady, along with Master Sgt. John Henderson and Tech. Sgt. Argon Helm are the only three active-duty Air Force personnel working with members of the Air National Guard at the Western Air Defense Sector.