Yuma Aerostat Radar Site

 (1989-Active) - A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Radar Station located near Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona. Assigned a TARS ID of B-40. Active CBP radar site.

U.S. Customs Service (1988-1992)
The Yuma site became operational in 1989 as 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 Westinghouse TPS-63 search radar.

U.S. Air Force (USAF) (1992-2013)
A 30 Dec 1995 NORAD configuration document shows the Yuma 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 second was the Fort Huachuca site and the third was the Yuma site.

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
An active U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Radar Station.

See Also:
 * TARS System
 * SAGE System
 * CBP Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC)
 * Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS)
 * Western Air Defense Sector (WADS)
 * US Radar Sets

Sources:
 * NORAD Region Ground Environment System Configuration, NORAD, 30 Dec 1995, Chapter 2, Table 2.2.
 * 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
 * CBP Fact Sheet - Air and Marine Operations Tethered Aerostat Radar System

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