Deming Aerostat Radar Site

 (1988-Active) - Established in 1988 as a U.S. Customs Service radar station located near Deming, Luna County, New Mexico. The site provides radar detection and monitoring of low-altitude aircraft and surface vehicles along the US-Mexico border from a tethered aerostat balloon. Now an active part of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) with a TARS ID of B-42.

U.S. Customs Service (1988-1992)
The Deming site preparation began in June 1988 and the operational site was dedicated on 3 Dec 1988 in a public ceremony. The Deming Aerostat Radar Site was one of three operated and maintained by Westinghouse Co. (TCOM) contractors to the U.S. Customs Service. Three other sites were operated and maintained by contractor General Electric Company. The project was code-named SOWRBALL for Southwest Radar Balloon and it fed radar data to the U.S. Customs West Coast command center at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California. Initial equipment included the TPS-63 search radar.

U.S. Air Force (USAF) (1992-2013)
A 30 Dec 1995 NORAD configuration document shows the Deming TARS site as one of the six border TARS sites furnishing radar data to the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) direction center at McChord AFB in Washington State. It was shown with a TARS ID of B-42.

In 1999 Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to modernize six TARS site installations and by March 2002 they had transitioned three of the six sites to a standard 420K Aerostat balloon and the L-88 radar system.

The first site to be transitioned was the Deming Site. The Deming Aerostat had been damaged by bad weather (a dust Devil by some accounts) in Oct 1999. It was decided to upgrade Deming instead of repairing the old balloon the update was scheduled to be completed on 25 Aug 2000. The Deming site was said to employ some 29 people in 1999. The other two sites were the Yuma and the Fort Huachuca.

In March 2002 Lockheed Martin announced they had been awarded a $70 million contract to supply USAF Aerostat sites with their updated L-88(V)3 radar. Lockheed Martin was to build, install, test, and support the L-88(V)3 radar system which included the airborne payload, the telemetry system, and radar control/monitoring console.

Current Status
See Also:
 * TARS System
 * SAGE System
 * US Radar Sets
 * CBP Air and Marine Operations Center

Sources:
 * NORAD Region Ground Environment System Configuration, NORAD, 30 Dec 1995, Chapter 2, Table 2.2.
 * Lockheed Martin Wins USAF Aerostat Radar Contract, Defense-Aerospace.com, Lockheed Martin press release issued Mar. 5, 2002, Article
 * USAF ACC Fact Sheet - Tethered Aerostat Radar System January 2003
 * USAF Fact Sheet - Tethered Aerostat Radar System 29 Mar 2010
 * CBP Fact Sheet - Air and Marine Operations Tethered Aerostat Radar System
 * USAF ACC Fact Sheet - Tethered Aerostat Radar System January 2003
 * USAF Fact Sheet - Tethered Aerostat Radar System 29 Mar 2010
 * CBP Fact Sheet - Air and Marine Operations Tethered Aerostat Radar System

Links:
 * Radomes - Deming Aerostat Radar Site
 * Wikipedia - Deming Aerostat Radar Site
 * Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles - Tethered Aerostats