Mica Peak Air Force Station: Difference between revisions
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'''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1958-1979) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1958 near Spokane, Spokane County, Washington. Named Mica Peak Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-151 and later a Sage ID of Z-151 and then a JSS ID of J-79. Transferred by the Air Force in 1979 to the FAA. Operated by the FAA to the present. | '''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1958-1979) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1958 near Spokane, Spokane County, Washington. Named Mica Peak Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-151 and later a Sage ID of Z-151 and then a JSS ID of J-79. Transferred by the Air Force in 1979 to the FAA. Operated by the FAA to the present. | ||
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Revision as of 19:35, 22 February 2015
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Mica Peak Air Force Station (1958-1979) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1958 near Spokane, Spokane County, Washington. Named Mica Peak Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-151 and later a Sage ID of Z-151 and then a JSS ID of J-79. Transferred by the Air Force in 1979 to the FAA. Operated by the FAA to the present. History of Mica Peak Air Force StationEstablished in 1958 and became operational in 1958 as Mica Peak Air Force Station manned by the 823rd AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning misssion. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifing all aircraft entering their airspace while the GCI mission involved guiding Air Force interceptors to any identified enemy aircraft. Controllers at the station vectored fighter aircraft at the correct course and speed to intercept enemy aircraft using voice commands via ground-to-air radio. Initial equipment included the FPS-20 search radar and an MPS-14 height finder radar. An FPS-6A Height finder was added in 1959 and the site became a joint use site with the FAA. The transition of the manual GCI system to the automated SAGE system began with the installation of the FST-2 coordinate data transmitter and search radar upgrades. The FST-2 equipment digitized the radar returns and transmitted the digital returns to the SAGE direction center. Under the SAGE System, interceptor aircraft were directed to their targets by the direction center computers and controllers, greatly reducing the need for local controllers and equipment at every radar station. The FST-2 was a very large digital system using vacuum tube technology. Over 6900 vacuum tubes were used in each FST-2 requiring 21 air-conditioned cabinets, 40 tons of air conditioning, 43.5 kva of prime power, and usually a large new addition to the operations building. The FST-2B modification added two more cabinets but with newer solid-state (transistor) technology to process coded responses from aircraft transponders. The site began operation as a SAGE site 1960 initially feeding the Larson SAGE Direction Center DC-15. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-67 in 1962 and an FPS-6 was upgraded to an FPS-90 in 1963. In 1963 the Larson Direction Center DC-15 was closed and Mica Peak AFS began feeding the McChord Sage Direction Center DC-12. Mica Peak AFS was responsible for the maintenance of four remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites sent digitized radar target data directly to a direction center. Maintenance teams were dispatched from Mica Peak AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site and a radio site on Mica Peak, a cantonment and a housing area below at Geiger Field. The main site on Mica Peak housed an operations building, the radar towers and the backup generators. The operations building was originally located on the lower site while the Army NIKE AADCP was operational. In May 1972 operations moved to the Mica Peak site. A separate radio site on the peak housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The lower cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall and the motor pool. Apart from the cantonment area was a small housing area for married personnel. The housing area was closed and support was provided from nearby Fairchild Air Force Base sometime after Geiger Field became Spokane International Airport. The 823rd Radar Squadron (SAGE) was deactivated on 1 Jul 1975. The site on Mica Peak continued to operate as a Joint USAF/FAA JSS site by detachment (Det 2, TAC) and as operating location (OLA, 25th AD). After the FAA assumed maintenance responsibility in 1979 the Air Force continued height finder operations until the height finder radars were removed. The FAA site now operates with a 3D ARSR-4 radar on Mica Peak.
Current StatusOperating as a joint use FAA site with a 3D ARSR-4 on Mica Peak. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2089510
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