Over-The-Horizon Radar: Better Justification Needed for DoD Systems' Expansion

OTH-B WAS developed to support the North American Aerospace Defense Commands NORAD continental air defense mission. This mission consists of 1 tactical warning and attack assessment, the primary element for detecting, tracking, and assessing threat targets 2 airspace control, the secondary element for controlling access to U.S. and Canadian airspace and 3 damage limitation, the tertiary element, should an attack on North America ever occur. OTH-B WAS specifically designed to provide early warning of an attack by detecting and tracking bomber-size Large and medium aircraft. In the 1980s, DOD established a goal for OTH-B to detect and track cruise missiles small targets, although a formal requirement was never established. This goal was recently suspended pending evaluation of a small target detection performance report and funding priorities.