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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

acronym for Grupo Vigilancia y Control del Espacio Aéreo (). Grupo VYCEA is a group of the

Argentine Air Force The Argentine Air Force (, or simply ''FAA'') is the air force of Argentina and one of three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. In 2018, it had 13,837 military and 6,900 civilian personnel. FAA commander in chief is Brigadie ...

, headquartered at

Parque San Martín Parque is the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish word for "park", and may refer to: * Parque (TransMilenio), a metro station in Bogotá, Colombia * Parque (Lisbon Metro), in Portugal * Parque (Santurce), a subbarrio in San Juan, Puerto Rico * Battle ...

, 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 system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

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 ...

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 (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

in the RAF and Colonel in the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. In 2009, the government of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

donated two 3D radars to be mounted in

Resistencia, Chaco Resistencia () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Argentina, province of Chaco Province, Chaco in north-eastern Argentina. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city proper was 291,720 inhabitants. It is the anchor o ...

and

Posadas, Misiones Posadas () is the capital city of the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Misiones Province, Misiones, in its south, at the far north-west of the country on the left bank of the Paraná River, opposite Encarnación, Paraguay. The city ...

. 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