Grupo VYCEA is the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

acronym for Grupo Vigilancia y Control del Espacio Aéreo ( en, Air Space's Surveillance and Control Group). Grupo VYCEA is a group of the

Argentine Air Force "Argentine Wings" , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 August (anniversary) 1 May (Baptism of fire during the Falklands War) , equipment = 139 aircraft , equipment_label = , battles = * Operation Independence * Operation Soberanía * Falklan ...

, headquartered at Parque San Martín, Merlo since 1952. Grupo VYCEA, or just VYCEA, operates a military radar base that occupies a total area of 240 Ha. The core of the base is a

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

RPA-240T from the Argentinian company

INVAP INVAP S.E. is an Argentine company that provides design, integration, construction and delivery of equipment, plants and devices. The company operates in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and delivers p ...

installed in 2015. The radar is mounted on the top of a 23 meters high tower and stands above an underground bunker that contains the main control room. In this room the information captured by military radars deployed along the Argentine border is collected and processed in real time by a recently acquired computerized system. The group is subordinate to the Air Operations Command (Spanish: Comando de Operaciones Aéreas) and a Commodore commands it (Spanish: ''Comodoro''), a rank equivalent to

Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and Colonel in the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

. In 2009, the government of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

donated two 3D radars to be mounted in

Resistencia, Chaco Resistencia () is the capital and largest city of the province of Chaco in north-eastern Argentina. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city proper was 291,720 inhabitants. It is the anchor of a larger metropolitan area, Greater R ...

and

Posadas, Misiones Posadas () is the capital city of the Argentine province of Misiones, in its south, at the far north-east of the country on the left bank of the Paraná River, opposite Encarnación, Paraguay. The city has an area of and a population of 324,756 ...

. Another seven 3D radars are being built by

.''ha encargado la fabricación de seis radares militares que se suman al prototipo que el INVAP''

References

External links

Inauguración del radar RPA-20T en Merlo
Military units and formations established in 1952 Argentine Air Force units Merlo Partido {{Argentina-mil-stub