It is no exaggeration to say that WRSystems forms the foundation of a significant national resource in ROTHR-related expertise. Several WRSystems personnel have been involved with the ROTHR program since its inception in the early 1980s, and many internationally recognized ROTHR experts have joined the WRSystems ROTHR team to provide a wide range of services, including design engineering; system installation; integration and testing; and system upgrade, enhancement, and modernization related to mission change.

ROTHR is based on an extremely complex technology that uses the Earth's ionosphere to relay radar signals over extraordinary distances-a ROTHR array on the east coast of the U.S., for example, can cover the Caribbean, most of the Gulf of Mexico, and probe deep into South America.

Unlike conventional radar, which is often hampered by range and altitude restrictions, ROTHR can identify and track suspicious air and sea traffic from far away, helping authorities follow and intercept the "Go-Fast Boats" and small aircraft favored by international drug smugglers.

Currently administered by the U.S. Naval Network & Space Operations Command, ROTHR Program Office, the ROTHR system supports operations by the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force (JIATF-S) which includes the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (U.S. Coast Guard) and the Department of the Treasury (U.S. Customs Service). Other assigned agencies to JIATF-S include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and the National Security Agency (NSA). Almost a dozen nations provide ships, aircraft, and liaison officers to the JIATF-S.

Given ROTHR's capability to provide such valuable, timely, and accurate intelligence, it is only logical that the Government is taking another look at this long range radar system to contribute to other major initiatives of national interest, such as America's Homeland Defense as part of the Global War on Terror.