Boreas Program

The main over-the-horizon radar array, located in the Gardenville Municipality.

The Boreas Program is the name given to the system of long-range, early warning radars within Aerla. The network was created in late 1716 AN in order to protect the nation from outside attack via both short and long range missiles. The program is administered by the Grand Army of Aerla.

History

Conception

Since the earliest days of the Republic, paranoia of outside attacks to the nation's sovereignty has always existed. The government made use of small, mostly temporary, radar arrays in frontier villages to lull these fears out of the wider population's consciousness. Despite this, paranoia still ran high within the Army High Command. This eventually led to the Minister for Defense, Field Marshall Devin Edison, to petition the National Assembly for funding to build an inter-connected radar defense network.

A test array, known as Alsalam-1 was build in the Yasidi desert as a proof-of-concept of the system's capabilities. After given the greenlight by High Command, the Army's Engineering Department dismantled this array and began shipping materials to designated construction sights to begin assembling the radars.

The "Cast Iron Shield"

Station RO-DS01, built into the ruins of a Hatayyian-era hill fortress, is one of several radars lining the northern frontiers of the Republic.

The radar stations were ordered built no more than 50 km from the border to insure maximum detection range. Due to the material the radars were built of, the radar system was given the nickname of the "Cast Iron Shield". Most stations are equipped with built-in missile silos to retaliate against any foreign missile that will enter Aerlan airspace.

Many of the long range radars transmit a powerful 10 Hz ticking-like noise that can be hard through most amateur radios throughout Aerla.

In 1727 AN, Boreas stations were placed on high alert due to the nearby Normark-Cerulea war. Reports of Curlean SRBMs being sent towards Normark was a cause for heavy concern from the Army High Command. This paranoia was further reinforced when the Boreas array in Port Aerla detected SRBMs heading towards the settlement, although it was later ruled that these missiles were the same that hit Jelsinga on II.I.1727.