Unique

Backscatter Radar Site

A Cold War missile radar decommissioned before it saw real use

Backscatter Radar Site

Built in the late 1980s to catch low-flying cruise missiles that could slip under conventional radar, this Cold War system bounced signals off the ionosphere to see over the horizon — then was decommissioned in 1997 without ever tracking a real threat. Its three transmitter arrays, each a full square mile, are ringed by wooden slat fences, wood chosen because it doesn’t conduct electricity. The fences still stand.

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