Creating an Effective Multi-Domain Wide-Area Surveillance Platform to Enhance Border Security
Abstract
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) lack persistent, multi-domain, wide-area surveillance (WAS) to conduct their assigned homeland defense and homeland security missions. Wide-area surveillance allows military operators to see vast expanses of the homeland. For example, it is the difference between a view of Texas and a view of the broad U.S. southern border - from Texas to California. With WAS, the Department of Defense (DoD) would be able to see the big picture. Without WAS, gaps in radar coverage could allow potential terrorists - or people transporting drugs into the United States - to cross the border undetected. DoD or Customs would never see them. This thesis examines how NORAD-USNORTHCOM could and must achieve consistent, wide-area surveillance for the U.S. borders, both southern and northern. This can be achieved by combining the existing manned and unmanned radars with Over-the-Horizon Radars capabilities. By combining all three systems to form a family of radar surveillance systems, working as one consistent radar surveillance system, NORAD-USNORTHCOM will be more effective in homeland defense and homeland security missions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA479947
Entities
People
- Randall S. Parsley
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School