American military forces have installed a high-tech radar unit in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, a surveillance system that can monitor drug boats, as island officials say – but could also be used in a conflict between the U.S. and Venezuela.
U.S. Marines set up the radar system in Tobago, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said on Nov. 28. The unit is located on the eastern end of the Crown Point runway at the ANR Robinson International Airport.
Trinidad and Tobago is a two-island country in the southern Caribbean. Tobago is about 70 miles from Venezuela’s Paria Peninsula.
The radar unit is reported to be a AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR system, a long-range, high-performance pulse doppler system, according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman. It can be set up in about 45 minutes.
Where has the radar system been deployed?
Can’t see our graphics? Click here to reload the page.
While the unit can be used to track boats, its primary function is aerial surveillance.
The system is “able to detect, track and target the world’s most sophisticated airborne threats in highly contested environments,” Northrop says. It has a 360-degree maximum range of about 170 miles for air surveillance and tracking.
What is the US radar system in Tobago?
The U.S. has built up a military force near Venezuela and has launched aerial strikes on at least 21 alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
President Donald Trump told U.S. troops on Thanksgiving that the military operation will soon include strikes on land.
“In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers,” Trump said during a call with military service members that alluded to the boat strikes. “We’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon.”
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar initially denied reports that Marines were on Tobago on Nov. 26. She backtracked on Nov. 27 and said Marines were there to install the radar system and to work on a runway and a road.
“They will help us to improve our surveillance and the intelligence of the radar for the narco-traffickers in our waters and outside our waters,” she said, reported military.com.
The radar unit was installed following a two-hour meeting of Persad-Bissessar and the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine in Trinidad on Nov. 25, according to Trinidad & Tobago Newsday.
Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic are among supporters of the U.S. against Venezuela.
CONTRIBUTING Zac Anderson, USA TODAY
SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; Northrop Grumman; Global Defense News; Trinidad & Tobago Guardian; Trinidad & Tobago Newsday; military.com
link
About the Author
