Las Vegas Air Force Station
Las Vegas Air Force Station (1956-1969) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1956 near Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada. Named Las Vegas Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-163, later a Sage ID of Z-163. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1969 now an FAA radar site.
History of Las Vegas Air Force Station
Established in 1956 and became operational on 1 April 1956 as Las Vegas Air Force Station manned by the 865th AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning misssion. The early warnng 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-3 search radar and an MPS-14 height finder radar.
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 on 1 Nov 1959 initially feeding the Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17 in San Bernardino, California. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-20 in 1958 and an FPS-26A height finder radar was installed in 1963. In 1961 Las Vegas AFS was an ADC/FAA joint-use facility and provided data for the FAA and the SAGE system. The FAA and USAF controllers both worked at the site operations building. The FPS-20 search radar was replaced with an FPS-27 search radar in the mid 1960s. Control was transferred on 1 May 1961 to the Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 in Phoenix, Arizona
Las Vegas AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two 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 Las Vegas AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The two gap fillers that were built were at Boulder City, Nevada and Lathrop Wells, Nevada. Two others were planned but not built.
The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a cantonment area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers, and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool and other support buildings. Family housing was at Nellis Air Force Base. A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.
|
|
|
| ADC | NORAD | Location | State | Type | From | To | GPS | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SM-163A | Z-163A | Boulder City | Nevada | FPS-18, FST-1 | Oct 59 | Dec 60 | 35.99556, -114.86333 |
Site of Boulder City VORTAC |
| SM-163B | Z-163B | Lathrop Wells | Nevada | FPS-18, FST-1 | Aug 59 | Dec 60 | 36.64528, -116.33861 |
Bldg foundation and tower pads |
Current Status
FAA radar site on Angel Peak near Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada.
|
{"selectable":false,"width":"500"} |
Location: On Angel Peak near Las Vegas in Clark County, Nevada. Maps & Images Lat: 36.318611 Long: -115.57528 |
See Also:
- SAGE System
- JSS System
- Permanent System Radar Sites
- US Radar Sets
- Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17
Sources:
- Cornett, Lloyd H. & Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization (1946-1980), Office of History ADC, Peterson AFB, Colorado, 31 Dec 1980, 179 pages, Pdf, page 172.
- Winkler, David F., Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, USAF Hq Air Combat Command, 1997, 192 pages, Pdf, page 134.
- USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2087777
Links:
Visited: 11 Feb 2015