| Country of origin | United States |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1958 |
| Type | General Surveillance Radar |
| Frequency | D-band |
| Range | 290 miles |
The Air Route Surveillance Radar is used by the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration to control airspace within and around the borders of the United States.
The ARSR-4 is the FAA's most recent (late 80s, early 90s) addition to the "Long Range" series of radars, which are search radars with a range of at least 200 nautical miles (370 km). The Westinghouse system is solid state and has a 250-nautical-mile (460 km) range. In addition, the ARSR-4 features a "look down" capability that enables the radar to detect aircraft attempting to elude detection by flying at low altitudes, advanced clutter reduction via hardware and software post-processing, and enhanced poor-weather detection of aircraft. A Beacon system, the ATCBI-6M (a monopulse system), is installed along with each ARSR-4. However, since the ARSR-4 is a 3D radar, it is capable of determining aircraft altitude independently of its associated Beacon (albeit less accurately).
ARSR-4 systems are installed along the borders and coastal areas of the CONUS, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, the municipality of Yigo on Guam, and a training site at the FAA's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. They are generally unmanned, being equipped with remote monitoring of both the radar data and the status of the radar's health and environment.
The Raytheon-built ARSR-1 was introduced in 1958 had maximum range of 200 miles. The ARSR-2 was developed in the 60s as a replacement for the ARSR-1, this radar also operated in the L-band and had a similar maximum range to the ARSR-1.
The Westinghouse-built ARSR-3 and 3D search radar was used by the FAA in the Joint Surveillance System (JSS). The radar operated in the L-band at 1250 to 1350 MHz and detected targets at a distance beyond 240 miles. The D model had height-finder capability.
The Westinghouse-(now Northrop-Grumman)-ARSR-4 built 3-D air surveillance radar in the 1990s for the JSS system. By the late 1990s, this radar had replaced most of the 1960s-vintage AN/FPS-20 variant search radars and a number of ARSR-3 search radars under a project termed the "FAA/Air Force Radar Replacement" (FARR) program.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.