A curated archive of Cold War-era defense technology

Cold War Tech

Looking back over the technological progress and failures of the Cold War era, before the knowledge is lost to time.

4 Systems 2 Technologies 10 Places 0 Events 22 Sources 21 Documents

Featured Systems

A DEW Line station under a blue Arctic sky streaked with high cirrus: a large white geodesic radome raised on an open white steel-frame tower above a long low building, a flat billboard search antenna angled at left, and red-and-white safety pylons on the bare gravel pad in the foreground.

SYSTEM The DEW Line A vast radar network across the Arctic. 1957-1993 • DECOMMISSIONED

The abandoned Duga over-the-horizon radar near Chernobyl in 2014: a kilometers-long wall of rusting lattice towers strung with rows of cage antennas, rising above dense pine forest under a blue sky.

SYSTEM Duga radar Sharp, repetitive taps appeared across the shortwave bands, establishing a heartbeat of the cold war. 1976-1989 • DECOMMISSIONED

A man and sled dogs, with microwave reflectors in the background

SYSTEM The Mid-Canada Line Between the DEW Line and the Pinetree Line, the Mid-Canada Line operated as a short-lived second line of defense. 1958-1965 • DECOMMISSIONED

Aerial view of the PAVE PAWS radar at Cape Cod Air Force Station in 1986: a pale wedge-shaped building with two circular phased-array faces, ringed by a security fence in a clearing of autumn pine forest.

SYSTEM PAVE PAWS (AN/FPS-115) An early warning radar to detect and characterize a sea-launched ballistic missile attack against the United States. 1980 - present (Robins and Eldorado sites 1986-1995; derivative active in Taiwan since 2013) • ACTIVE

Research Journal

Mid-Canada Line Updates