U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project

This project was completed in August 1998 and resulted in the book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 edited by Stephen I. Schwartz. These project pages are only occassionally updated and should be considered historical.

PAVE PAWS Early Warning Radar



A PAVE PAWS early warning radar, El Dorado, Texas


PAVE is an Air Force code word. PAWS is an acronym for Phased Array Warning System. Unlike older mechanical radars, PAVE PAWS is steered electronically, allowing for greatly increased speed an accuracy. The primary mission of this system was to detect the launch of Soviet missiles from submarines. PAVE PAWS radars are currently located at Beale Air Force Base, California and Cape Cod Air Station, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The radar pictured above and another at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia (both built in the mid-1980s) were shut down in 1995.

Credit: Raytheon