Talk:White Sands Launch Complex 38

ZAR location
The article claims that a ZAR was built at LC18 and points to a large circular shape in the desert. There are some concerns about this...

The ZAR used separate transmitters and receivers and shared oscillators so they had to be positioned together. Looking around, I see a second circular object just west of the marker, which might be the foundation for the receiver. However, the receiver also has to have a large metal wire ground plane around it, and there is no hint of that here. Also, the pointer is located over a semi-buried building surrounded by a berm, which could be a ZAR transmitter, but might also be weapons or fuel storage.

Meanwhile when one looks at 32.407917,-106.256944, you see what is appears to be a ZAR receiver ground plane. Again, the transmitter would have to be close by, and there is convenient location just to the east that looks right. However, it would seem to make more sense to build the receiver at 38, where the pin is currently.

So... did they install, or plan to install two ZAR systems at WSMR? If not, what is that object to the west?

Maury Markowitz (talk) 13:17, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Ask a question
The question was asked that a citation was needed for the assertion that the Nike II transitioned into the Nike Zeus. Such challenges may be answered but doing so may require venturing into the dreaded area of Original Research. Thus we arrive at an obsucre publication "Chronology of the Development of Ballistic Missile Defense" Department of the Army Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command, Huntsville< Alabama. It is an interesting read as it lists by date critical events between March 1955 and May 1959. Mark Lincoln (talk) 16:50, 18 September 2020 (UTC)