Kotzebue Air Force Station (Site)

 military, demolished, former air force base

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Established in April of 1958 following a year of construction efforts by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Kotzebue Air Force Station was a Ground Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning radar site operated by the US Air Force and manned by the 748th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. Equipped with AN/FPS-8, AN/FPS-4, AN/FPS-6, AN/FPS-20, and AN/FPS-87A radar systems, the site's primary role was to direct USAF fighter-interceptors flying out of Galena Air Force Station towards inbound hostile aircraft approaching from the Soviet Union. The station was linked to the rest of the USAF and NORAD early warning network by means of a co-located White Alice Communications System (WACS) tropospheric scatter communications site from 1958 through 1979.

Operating for 25 years in the GCI role, the station was idled in November 1983 following the installation of a minimally attended AN/FPS-117 radar system operated by the Eleventh Air Force at Elmendorf Air Force Base. With the stations buildings and support structures largely abandoned thereafter, the site remained idle for a further 15 years before being targeted for environmental remediation under Operation Clean Sweep. Beginning in the summer of 1998, the sites buildings and structures were razed and removed and all non-hazardous materials landfilled onsite, leaving no trace of the former station. The landfill site now serves as the municipal landfill for the City of Kotzebue.

www.alsap.org/Kotzebue/Kotzebue.htm

Site information and photos:
radomes.org/museum/showsite.php?site=Kotzebue+AFS%2C+AK...