Vardø Globus Radar Installation

Radar Installation in Vardø Municipality, Finnmark county — 50 km from the Russian border, opposite the Kola Peninsula / Murmansk-based Russian Northern Fleet.

Globus II: physically transferred AN/FPS-129 unit (originally HAVE STARE, built by Raytheon at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; operational 1995). In 1999 Raytheon moved the array to Vardø under a $23.5 million U.S. Department of Defense contract; operations resumed under Norwegian Intelligence Service control in 2001. X-band (9.5-10.5 GHz), 200 kW peak, 27m antenna in 35m radome.

Globus III: construction began 2016, ~$121 million, designed to work in concert with Globus II. Both function as dedicated sensors in the 29-sensor United States Space Surveillance Network; data feeds the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB. Operated exclusively by Norwegian personnel; data shared with US Strategic Command. Tracks 10,000+ man-made objects orbiting Earth.

Russia Views the installation as a component of the US National Missile Defense architecture (US/Norway officially deny). March 24, 2017: nine Russian aircraft simulated attack profile against Vardø, bombers from Kola Peninsula — Norwegian Intelligence Service DG Lt Gen Morten Haga Lunde disclosed in his annual Oslo Military Society address. 2024: Russian forces conducted short-range supersonic missile tests proximate to the radar.

The Architectural exemplar of de-facto Five-Eyes-equivalent Arctic intelligence integration: a literally physically-transferred US Strategic Command asset operated under Norwegian sovereign flag.