General Electric AN/FPS-7 Radar

AN/FPS-7

General Electric AN/FPS-7 Radar
Country of origin	United States
Type	Long Range Search Radar
Other Names	AN/ECP-91 AN/FPS-107 (V1, V2)

The AN/FPS-7 Radar was a Long Range Search Radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command.

In the mid-1950s General Electric developed a radar with a search altitude of 100,000 feet and a range of 270 miles. This radar was significant in that it was the first stacked-beam radar to enter into production in the United States. The antenna was fed signals from several feed horns arranged in a vertical stack, producing a series of horizontal beams separated vertically in space. By comparing the returns from the different feeds, altitude information could be determined without the need for a separate height-finder radar.

Designed to operate in the L-band at 1250 to 1350 MHz, the radar deployed in late 1959 and the early 1960s.The AN/FPS-7 was used for both air defense and air traffic control in New York, Kansas City, Houston, Spokane, San Antonio, and elsewhere.

In the early 1960s a modification called AN/ECP-91 was installed to improve its electronic countermeasure (ECM) capability. About thirty units were produced. Another modification was the AN/FPS-107 which also operated in the L-Band which was manufactured by Westinghouse.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• AN/FPS-7, 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D @ radomes.org
• AN/FPS-7 @ fas.org
• Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.