Watford City FAA Radar Site
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Watford City FAA Radar Site (1979-Active) - A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Long-Range Radar (LLR) site first established in 1979 near Watford City, McKenzie County, North Dakota. The site is used to identify and track military and civilian aircraft movements within a 200-mile radius and to provide air-ground radio communication with those aircraft. Assigned a SAGE System ID of Z-300, a JSS ID of J-76 and an FAA ID of QWA. Active FAA Radar Site. HistoryThis site was established as a Joint-use FAA-operated radar site in 1979, furnishing radar track data to the FAA ARTCC's and to USAF Direction Centers. The initial FAA FPS-67B search radar was configured as an ARSR-60. A USAF FPS-116 height-finder radar was installed here in 1979, operated and maintained by Air Force personnel. In 1983 as the SAGE System was deactivated and the Watford City FAA Radar Site joined the JSS System with a JSS ID of J-76 as one of the original members. The Site is located next to the former Alexander, ND, gap-filler radar site, Z-177B/Z-28E that was active until December 1967. The Watford City FAA Radar Site replaced part of the radar coverage of three USAF radar sites that were closed down in 1979. Fortuna AFS, ND (Z-27) closed 1 Jul 1979, Minot AFS, ND (Z-28) closed 1 Jul 1979, and Opheim AFS, MT (Z-26) closed 1 Jun 1979. The site is located next to the former Alexander, ND, gap-filler radar site, Z-177B/Z-28E. The radar site data is now available to the USAF/NORAD Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F) operations centers (EADS & WADS) as well as the FAA Minneapolis ARTCC (ZMP) and adjacent ARTCCs. Other federal agencies have access to the data under the Homeland Security umbrella.
Current StatusActive FAA facility near Watford City in McKenzie County, North Dakota.
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