Military Dismantles Cold War Radar Systems in Maine, Oregon, Offers Land t

Mar 5, 2:22 AM EST

Military Dismantles Cold War Radar Systems in Maine, Oregon, Offers Land to Private Industry


MOSCOW, Maine (AP) -- It's a dinosaur of the Cold War: a three-mile-long radar system spread across hundreds of rural acres and designed to detect Soviet bombers screaming across the Atlantic.

When operational, it could monitor a massive swath of ocean and warn of a threat 1,700 miles away - leaving plenty of time to scramble U.S. military jets in response.

But like warhead silos and other relics of the post-World War II arms race, the military is scrapping the wire-and-steel monolith and offering the expanse of land to private industry.

"The world changed," said Steve Hinds, manager of the OTH-B radar program at Air Combat Command, which oversees U.S. fighter and bomber wings. "This will not be used for what it was intended. Ever."

The backscatter radar in Maine, and a similar system reaching out into the Pacific from Oregon, could bounce a beam off the ionosphere, which sent a scattered detection signal back to the Earth's surface. The systems were so sensitive, they could note changes in ocean currents.

The radar in Maine, nestled in the woods in a place that bears little resemblance to the Russian capital for which the nearby town was named, cost $1.5 billion to develop. It was operational for a mere year in the early 1990s, before being mothballed in favor of more advanced Navy technology.

The Air Force maintained the ability to restart the radars until late last year, when dismantling of both got under way.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COLD_WAR_RADAR?SITE=NVREN&SECTION=HOME

...just one year! Now the location will be given away at bargain prices to some insider fat cat to develop luxury condos.

now that's funny. :D