The Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) will tentatively be deployed in the US state of Alaska to improve defense capabilities of the US west coast, the US Department of Defense said in a statement.

"Clear Air Force Station, an Air Force Space Command radar station located in central Alaska, has been tentatively identified as the preferred location for the LRDR," the statement, issued on Friday, said.

The Department of Defense added that the new radar will "increase the capacity of the ground-based midcourse defense inventory of interceptors in Alaska and California."

The LRDR will also serve as a midcourse sensor for the US Ballistic Missile Defense System and will help to better address potential countermeasures.

The radar, which is pending completion of required environmental and safety studies, is scheduled to start working in 2020, according to the statement.

The final decision on the radar's location will be made after the environmental impact analysis has been completed, the Defense Department added.

In June 2014, US Missile Defense Agency Vice Admiral James Syring said the radar project is "absolutely vital" to the United States amid military threats and rhetoric coming from North Korea.

Source: Sputnik News