16th SPCS breaks ground for new global capability

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) — In a combined effort, the 16th Space Control Squadron and its Reserve associate unit, the 380th Space Control Squadron, broke ground July 28 for a Rapid Attack, Identification, Detection and Reporting System site in Hawaii.

Lt. Col. Roger Sherman, the 16th SPCS commander, Lt. Col. Bob Claude, the 380th SPCS commander, members of the Air Force Space Command capability team, and members from the Space and Missile Center attended the ground breaking.

According to Sherman, the Hawaii system is one of several planned remote RAIDRS sites around the globe. Information from all of the systems will be monitored by the 16th and 380th SPCS in a central operation location at Peterson AFB.

“Basically the DOD uses satellites to communicate over vast distances, and these satellite communication links are vulnerable,” Sherman said.

The 16th and 380th SPCS monitor certain signals of interest from RAIDRS. If the operators pick up any interference, they start taking action.

Operators first characterize the problem, then geolocate, or pinpoint the location on the Earth, where the interference is coming from, according to Sherman.

“That will allow us to tell the user of that signal to go to a different frequency or satellite transponder,” he said. “In the case of something hostile, we can provide decision makers with information as to where the hostile action is coming from.”

The system is scheduled to be initially operational in September 2012 and reach full capability in 2013.

A ground breaking will take place next month in Florida for another remote site.

“This will be the first time that Air Force Space Command will be able to present this global capability to the geographic combatant commander,” Sherman said. “This is a pretty monumental event.”