The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was the first operational ballistic missile detection radar. Built in 1959, BMEWS could provide long-range warning of a missile attack over the polar region of the northern hemisphere. There were three installations: the United States Air Force facilities of Thule Air Base, Greenland; Clear Air Station , Alaska; and the Royal Air Force facility of Fylingdales, in the United Kingdom. They could only spot missiles when they appeared over the horizon, which led the Soviet Union to develop FOBS. Defense Support Program (DSP) early warning satellites were developed in part to counter this threat.

The radars operate in the 420-450 MHz (UHF) frequency range. Information received from the BMEWS radar system is forwarded to Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Colorado. A prototype of BMEWS 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. The Thule and Fylingdales sites were upgraded with phased array radars in the 1990s. BMEWS 3, located in Fylingdales, was upgraded by Raytheon/Cossar AeroSpace and Control Data Corporation at a cost of US $100M. The new antenna was a 3 faced phased array antenna providing 360 degrees of coverage. The embedded computer was a CDC-Cyber running JOVIAL. The Clear, Alaska site was upgraded with PAVE PAWS radars starting in the late 1990s.

External links

• A detailed personal account of BMEWS
• Program overview from 1997