Development of the AN/TPS-32 began with the
United States Navy's
Bureau of Ships in the 1950s. It was meant to be a next generation, mobile radar capable of supporting Marine Corps forces during amphibious operations. The TPS-32 was a major improvement in radar technology for the Marine Corps. It was the service's second three dimensional radar providing range, azimuth and altitude from one array thus precluding the need for a separate
Height-finder radar. Unlike the old mechanically scanned arrays that utilized
analog technology, the TPS-32 was 90% digital,
solid-state electronics possessing a
phased Antenna array. Also new for the design of this radar was the use of three
crossed-field amplifiers as the
microwave amplifiers in the very-high-power
transmitter. They replaced the
cavity magnetrons utilized on earlier radar sets. The AN/TPS-32 was delivered to
Marine Air Control Squadron 3 (MACS-3) in 1969 for final operational testing. MACS-3 was re-designated as the
Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA) in 1970 and continued testing.{{cite news In the 1980s, the Marine Corps began to seek a replacement for both the AN/TPS-32 and MTDS. Development continued throughout the 1980s at
Marine Air Control Squadron 1 (MACS-1). Following the
Gulf War, the TPS-32 was retired without replacement. ==Units that utilized the TPS-32==