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Jed Boal reportingRadar controllers at Hill Air Force Base now can better train for critical operations. The 729th Air Control Squadron (ACS) opened three new facilities: a vehicle maintenance bay, an operations facility, and a radar tower that lets them better use the equipment they take into combat.
Combat radar controllers at Hill Air Force Base like the view from their new 77-foot tower. Ground radar specialists say it will let them train more efficiently for the wars they fight.
Staff Sgt. David Frazier, 729th ACS ground radar maintenance supervisor, said, "It saves time, it saves money. It makes everything so much easier for us."
The 729th Air Control Squadron relays communications between pilots and ground units with this portable equipment. Lt. Col. Andrew Stoss, 729th ACS director of operations, said, "It'll be the first time since we've been at Hill in the mid-'80s to allow us to train on our radar. That's a big step for us."
Budget constraints held up the $700,000 tower several years. They take the combat radar into the field; but to train, that's expensive and requires a lot of support equipment.
Staff Sgt. Frazier said, "We are able to do things we could never do before. We can actually control and talk to live aircraft from the air now."
The tower improves their ability to cover training operations in Utah Test and Training Range. "Before we could see a small area approximately just north of Salt Lake City. Now we can see most of the western side of Utah," Staff Sgt. Frazier said.
It's a 3-dimensional system with more capabilities than FAA radar. It's currently being used in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
The 729th also opened a new operations building and a vehicle maintenance facility that doubles its capability to maintain its 200 vehicles.
The 729th is one of only three active duty air control squadrons in the United States.
