초수평선 레이다 미국, 초수평선 레이다 설치예정지로 오리건주(어쩌면 아이다호와 네바다주) 설정

[위종민]

공군/우주군 매거진의 기사에 따르면 미국이 감시범위 4천 해리 가량의 초수평선레이다 2기를 오리건주 크리스마스 밸리, 화이트호스 랜치에 각각 설치할 계획을 발표했네요. 

breakingdefense.com의 기사에 따르면 오리건주 외에 아이다호와 네바다주도 건설예정 후보지라고 합니다. 

미 공군, 오리건주에 초장거리 레이더 건설 계획…2028년 착공 예정

미 공군은 최대 4,000해리 떨어진 표적을 탐지할 수 있는 초장거리 레이더(Over-the-Horizon Radar, OTHR) 2기를 오리건주에 건설할 계획을 발표했습니다. 이를 위해 크리스마스밸리 지역에 송신기 2기, 화이트호스랜치 지역에 수신기 2기를 각각 설치할 예정이며, 두 지역은 약 200마일 떨어져 있어 전파 간섭을 최소화할 수 있습니다.

해당 레이더는 고주파 전파를 이온층에 반사시켜 지구 곡률 너머의 표적을 탐지할 수 있으며, 폭격기, 순항미사일, 수상함 등 다양한 위협을 조기 탐지해 다른 무인·유인 전력이나 지상 레이더에 데이터를 전달하게 됩니다. 환경영향평가는 2027년 9월 완료될 예정이며, 이상이 없을 경우 2028년 말부터 공사가 시작될 계획입니다.

해당 계획은 NORAD(북미항공우주방위사령부) 현대화의 핵심으로, 중국 정찰풍선 사건 이후 도메인 인식 격차를 보완해야 한다는 지적에 따라 더욱 강조되고 있습니다. 기욧 공군대장은 “우리가 보지 못하는 것은 방어할 수 없다”며 OTHR, E-7, 해저감시시스템 등 전 영역 감시체계 구축의 필요성을 강조했습니다.

미 공군, 차세대 초장거리 레이더 부지로 3개 주 검토…북미 방공 현대화 추진

미 공군은 초장거리 레이더(Over-the-Horizon Radar, OTHR) 시스템 구축을 위해 아이다호, 네바다, 오리건 3개 주의 5개 후보지를 검토하고 있다고 밝혔습니다. 이는 NORAD(북미항공우주방위사령부) 방공체계 현대화의 일환으로 추진되며, 각 주에 최소 1개 이상의 부지를 선정해 2기의 OTHR을 설치할 예정입니다.

이 레이더는 지구 곡률 너머까지 감시할 수 있어, 저고도 순항미사일 등 기존 레이더로 탐지하기 어려운 북극권 위협에 대응하는 데 활용될 계획입니다. 해당 계획은 본래 미국과 캐나다의 공동 사업으로 구상되었으나, 최근 트럼프 행정부 출범 이후 양국 간 정치적 긴장으로 인해 협력 방향에 불확실성이 커진 상태입니다.

캐나다는 이미 호주로부터 진달리(Jindalee) 레이더 시스템 도입을 결정하며 독자 노선을 걷고 있으며, 미국 측은 어떤 시스템을 최종 선정할지는 아직 확정하지 않았습니다. 미 공군은 현재 이 사업의 예산 일부를 2026 회계연도로 이월해 검토 중이며, 환경영향평가 절차가 시작되었습니다.

Air Force Plans to Build New Over-the-Horizon Radars in Oregon

An RTX graphic illustrates a next-generation over-the-horizon radar signal bouncing off the ionosphere, giving it awareness beyond the horizon. (Courtesy RTX)

Expand Photo

Share Article

Air Force Plans to Start Building New Over-the-Horizon Radars in Oregon in 2028

April 21, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Air Force has tapped sites in Oregon to build its first two new Over-the-Horizon Radars, capable of detecting inbound missile threats from up to 4,000 nautical miles away.

In a notice published in the Federal Register last week, the service announced it was initiating an environmental review expected to last two years across two regions in the state.

Compared to other conventional radars, the OTHR enables long-range detection by bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere—starting roughly 50 miles above Earth—and beyond the planet’s curvature, allowing it to detect a wide range of threats like bombers, cruise missiles, and surface ships. Once a threat is detected, the radar system passes target location onto other manned or unmanned aircraft, or land-based radars that can reconfirm‎ the type and number of threats.

The radar consists of two main components: the transmitter, which sends out the high-frequency radio waves, and the receiver that captures the reflected signals.

Homeland Defense Over-the-Horizon Radar Systems 1 and 2, source: Department of Air Force, https://othrnweis.com/project-overview/

“The proposal is for two transmitters to be in Christmas Valley, Ore., and two receivers in Whitehorse Ranch, Ore.,” a spokesperson for the 366th Fighter Wing, host wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Ida., told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The two sites are approximately 200 miles apart to minimize signal interference between the transmitter and receiver, and Mountain Home would “manage” the systems.

Both locations are unincorporated areas of the state without active government structures. The Christmas Valley area is currently owned and managed by the Oregon Military Department, where the Air Force plans to acquire approximately 2,622 acres to construct the transmitters side by side. The Whitehorse Ranch area, a federally managed region under the Bureau of Land Management, will provide nearly 5,000 acres for the two receivers to be built. Additional infrastructure, including communication cabling and maintenance buildings, will also be built.

The Air Force expects the final environmental statement to wrap up by September 2027, and if the review is favorable, construction on the two radars will begin “at the end of 2028,” the spokesperson added.

If, however, the initiative were not to move forward, the project’s official website states that “threats could approach North America without early detection, resulting in reduced decision time for military and national leaders to deter, de-escalate, or defeat threats, placing North American homeland security at risk.”

The Air Force has been eyeing OTHR radars for years; Gen. Glen VanHerck, the former head of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, has said they will give the U.S. military “better eyes around the world.” After a Chinese spy balloon transited the continental U.S. in early 2023, VanHerck reiterated his call to lawmakers, saying he had a gap in domain awareness technologies and needed OTHR fielded in a few years, not the better part of a decade.

In the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress directed the service to procure up to six OTHRs. However, in June 2024 the Air Force told Congress that it would no longer fund the program in FY24 as planned, postponing the decision to 2026.

VanHerck’s successor, Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, has reiterated the calls for OTHR and a better domain awareness network to detect threats. Earlier this month, Guillot told lawmakers that these radars are “critical to continental defense,” forming, alongside other systems, the “foundation for the Golden Dome construct”—President Trump’s initiative for the nation’s comprehensive missile defense.

“We can’t defeat what we can’t see,” Guillot, told lawmakers April 1. “To that end, I appreciate the department and congressional support for fielding all domain capabilities, such as Airborne Moving Target Indicator satellites, Over the Horizon Radars, the E-7 Wedgetail, and Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS)… Looking forward, NORAD and NORTHCOM modernization is crucial to outpacing our competitors.”

Missile Warning & Defense

Air Force scouts three states as potential sites for new homeland defense radar - Breaking Defense

Air Force scouts three states as potential sites for new homeland defense radar - Breaking Defense

Air Force scouts three states as potential sites for new homeland defense radarThe radars would help modernize NORAD’s air defenses, though it’s unclear how the program may change due to strained ties between the US and Canada introduced by the Trump administration.

By   Michael Marrowon April 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM

Panoramic view of Lewiston, Idaho from Idaho Highway 95. (Getty Images/ Dave Brenner)

WASHINGTON — Despite tensions with its northern neighbor on the joint project, the US appears to be proceeding with plans for a new constellation of radars to defend the homeland, and is scouting possible sites in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon to host the long-range sensors, according to a recent public notice.

On April 18, the Air Force revealed officials were beginning to prepare an environmental impact statement concerning the construction of over-the-horizon (OTHR) radars, listing one site each in Idaho and Nevada and three in Oregon as potential hosts. Barring any potential issues, the Air Force would acquire land from the five locations listed to build two OTHR systems, the notice published in the Federal Register says [PDF]. 

The new OTHR architecture was envisioned as a partnership with Canada to modernize NORAD’s defenses, where original plans would reportedly see Washington procure four radar systems and Ottawa two. The OTHRs are needed, officials have said, to improve domain awareness. The radars can see beyond the curvature of the earth — reaching further than the range of other radar systems that rely on line-of-sight detection — and in this case would be oriented toward the north to help detect threats like low-flying cruise missiles launched by adversaries such as Russia. 

The modern air defense architecture would also likely play a key part in President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome homeland defense project, which calls for a multilayer defensive architecture spanning the ground to space to defend against threats ranging from drones to missiles.  

But it’s unclear how the project may proceed under new political uncertainties introduced by the Trump administration, which have strained ties between Washington and Ottawa. The newly tense relations appear to have had an impact on the OTHR program, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced in March that the Canadian government would procure the new radar technology from Australia, apparently leapfrogging the US in the process. 

Canada’s acquisition of Australia’s Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) is now poised to be Canberra’s largest defense sale ever. RTX has also previously pitched its own Next Generation Over-the-Horizon radar for the project as the only US supplier able to meet the program’s needs, and it’s not clear what system the Air Force may end up procuring. The Air Force previously deferred some $400 million in spending on the OTHR program to the fiscal 2026 budget, which is currently under review by Pentagon leadership.

The US Air Force and Canadian Department of National Defence did not immediately respond to questions about the OTHR acquisition strategy.

오리건주 크리스마스 밸리 기준 4,000nm = 7,400km 반경의 원.

[백선호]

Oregon과 Maine에 두면 이렇다네요.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-horizon_radar

[위종민]

저 모델보다 탐색거리가 두 배 이상 늘어나니 오리건에만 배치해도 태평양 - 대서양을 한번에 감시 가능하네요 ㄷㄷ