Soviet BARLOCK Radar

Based upon first-hand testimony from a USAF veteran once stationed at this facility, the radome near the Tonopah GATR site housed a Soviet BARLOCK radar for use in USAF "Red Flag" fighter training exercises. We believe that the radar system is that described and pictured below.

This Soviet BARLOCK radar and its radome have since been removed from the Tonopah radar site, as seen in recent photos.

A veteran writes: "Back in 1970 the GATR site was chosen as a good location to place a Soviet search radar that would be part of our Soviet Air Defense System. It was a very valuable tool for us to use for many things. We developed all the interfacing equipment ourselves. This was necessary in order to use the data in remote locations. We took care to not do anything to change the characteristics of the radar itself. A lot of equipment was duplicated and placed in different locations to complete the ground environment, which turned out to be a great training facility. It gave pilots the feeling of `been there, done that`.

To say the least, it was a challenging program."

BAR LOCK

P-35/37

Function

EW

Range

200 km

Frequency

E/F-bands

Associated weapon system

SA-5

Comments

  • 1 mw/b power
  • PRF 375pps
  • 7 rpm Scan
  • BW .7deg
  • PW 1.5, 4.5 us
  • Accuracy range 350m AZ .14 deg

    • Recognition