AN/FPQ-16 PARCS

This article is about the Space Force radar system in North Dakota. For the Atlantic Missile Range's radar with a similar designation, see RCA AN/FPS-16 Instrumentation Radar.

AN/FPQ-16 PARCS
EPARCS at Cavalier Space Force Station
Country of originUS
Introduced1975 (1975)
No. built1
Typephased array radar

The AN/FPQ-16 Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System (PARCS or EPARCS)[1][2] is a powerful United States Space Force passive electronically scanned array radar system located in North Dakota. It is the second most powerful phased array radar system in the US Space Force's fleet of missile warning and space surveillance systems, behind the more modern PAVE PAWS phased array radar.

PARCS was built by General Electric as the Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR), part of the US Army's Safeguard Program anti-ballistic missile system. PAR provided early warning of incoming ICBMs at ranges up to 2,000 miles (3,200 km), feeding data to the interceptor station, equipped with a shorter-range radar.[3] The PAR and other systems were collectively known as the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex. With the signing of the ABM Treaty in 1972, the U.S. was limited to a single ABM base protecting missile fields, and a second partially completed PAR in Montana was abandoned in-place. In 1975 the House Appropriations Committee voted to close Mickelsen and shut down Safeguard, which occurred in July 1976.

After Mickelsen was shut down, the Air Force's Aerospace Defense Command took over the PAR site and re-activated it in 1977 in the early warning role. It was later transferred to Strategic Air Command. The site was known as the Concrete Missile Early Warning System (CMEWS) after the nearby town of Concrete, but when that town's post office closed in 1983 it became Cavalier Air Force Station, renamed Cavalier Space Force Station in 2021. The satellite tracking role was later added, and in that mission PARCS monitors and tracks over half of all earth-orbiting objects. PARCS was initially slated for closure in 1992, but was instead upgraded with newer electronics to become EPARCs.

EPARCS is operated by the 10th Space Warning Squadron, Space Delta 4, and maintained by Summit Technical Solutions, LLC. In addition to contractors, NORAD has U.S. and Canadian military members assigned to the facility.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Harkavey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ChainHomeHigh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Wragg, David W. (1973). A Dictionary of Aviation (first ed.). Osprey. p. 211. ISBN 9780850451634.