PAVE PAWS later acquired a second mission of tracking satellites and other objects in Earth orbit as part of the United States Space Surveillance Network.

The beam of the phased array radar is steered electronically without moving the fixed antenna, so it can be pointed in a different direction in milliseconds, allowing it to track many incoming missiles at the same time.

The AN/FPS-115 radar consists of two phased arrays of antenna elements mounted on two sloping sides of the 105 ft high transmitter building, which are oriented 120° apart in azimuth.

By changing the relative timing (phase) of the current pulses supplied to each antenna element the computer can instantly steer the beam to a different direction.

In the tracking mode, which normally consumes the other 7% of the 18% duty cycle, the radar beam follows already-detected objects to determine their trajectory, calculating their launch and target points.

[3] A Falling Leaves mechanical radar in New Jersey built for BMEWS successfully tracked a missile during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and "an AN/FPS-85 long-range phased array (Passive electronically scanned array) radar was constructed at Eglin AFB"[3] Site C-6, Florida[8] beginning on 29 October 1962[9] (the Bendix Radio Division[10] FPS-85 contract had been signed 2 April 1962).

[19] By December 1965 NORAD decided to use the Project Space Track "phased-array radar at Eglin AFB…for SLBM surveillance on an "on-call" basis"[20] "at the appropriate DEFCON".

The SLBM Phased Array Radar System (SPARS)[a] was the USAF program initiated in November 1972 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)[27] while the Army's PAR was under construction.

[1] Rome Air Development Center (RADC) "was responsible for the design, fabrication installation, integration test, and evaluation of" PAVE PAWS through 1980.

[1] The differing USAF AN/FPS-109 Cobra Dane phased array radar in Alaska achieved IOC on 13 July 1977[15] for "providing intelligence on Soviet test missiles fired at the Kamchatka peninsula from locations in southwestern Russia".

The government asserted the position that PAVE PAWS would protect the American coastline, while hiding the fact that it had no defensive armaments in the event an incoming missile was detected.

[27] Two NRC reports were prepared (1979,[24] tbd), SRI's Environmental Impact Statement was reviewed during a 22 January 1979 public hearing at the Sandwich MA high school auditorium (~300 people).

")[39] A followup to a 1978 Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine report[40] concluded in 2005 that power densities beyond 15 metres (49.2 ft) were within permissible exposure limits.

[30] To mitigate interference at the FPS-115 site on Flatrock Hill[45] from the Cape & Islands Emergency Medical Service (CIEMSS), on 8 February 1979 ESD installed six high pass filters—then Raytheon was contracted 24 May to move the EMS Repeater Station to Bourne, Massachusetts (completed 13 July).

[30] After a 5–7 March "final review of the East Coast PAVE PAWS EIS was held at Hq AFSC", the site was accepted by ESD on 12 April.

[51] By October 1999, Cape Cod and Beale radars were providing data via Jam Resistant Secure Communication (JRSC) circuits to the Command Center Processing and Display System in the NMCC.

New Raytheon AN/FPS-123 Early Warning Radars became operational in 19xx (Beale) and 19xx (Cape Cod) in each base's existing PAVE PAWS "Scanner Building".

[63] In 2007, 100 owners/trustees of amateur radio repeaters in the 420 to 450 MHz band near AN/FPS-123 radars were notified to lower their power output to mitigate interference,[65] and AN/FPS-123s were part of the Air Force Space Surveillance System by 2009.

[66] The Beale AN/FPS-123 was upgraded to a Raytheon AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR), circa 2012, with capabilities to operate in the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) ABM system—the Beale UEWR included Avionics, Transmit-Receive modules,[31] Receiver Exciter / Test Target Generator, Beam Steering Generator, Signal Processor, and other changes.

[67] After additional UEWR installations for GMD at Thule Site J and the UK (contracted 2003[44]), a 2012 ESD/XRX Request for Information for replacement, and remote operation, of the remaining "PAVE PAWS/BMEWS/PARCS systems" at Cape Cod, Alaska, and North Dakota was issued.