Miles City Air Force Station
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Miles City Air Force Station (1954-1968) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1954 near Miles City, Custer County, Montana. Named Miles City Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of M-98 and later a Sage ID of Z-98. Abandoned in 1968. History of Miles City Air Force StationEstablished on 1 Oct 1954 and became operational in 1955 as Miles City Air Force Station manned by the 902nd 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 mobile MPS-7 search radar and an MPS-14 height finder radar. The MPS-7 search radar was replaced by an FPS-20 in 1958 and that radar was upgraded to an FPS-66 in 1961 and later to an FPS-27. The MPS-14 height finder was replaced by an FPS-6 in 1961. SAGE System TransitionThe 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. SAGE System OperationThe site began operation as a SAGE site on 1 Jan 1961 initially feeding the Minot SAGE Direction Center DC-19 at Minot AFB. With the closure of DC-19 in 1963 Miles City was connected to the Malmstrom SAGE Direction Center DC-20 at Malmstrom AFB. Gap FillersMiles City AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were place 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 Miles City AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. Miles City AFS was responsible for the gap filler sites at Glendive and Brockway Montana.
ClosureMiles City AFS and the 902nd were deactivated on 18 Jun 1968. Physical PlantThe physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, the four enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool and the backup generators. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.
Current StatusPart of the Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Lab (USDA), Montana State University. Some buildings remain. Highway marker located on I 94 at the eastbound Hathaway rest stop (zoom out on the map to see the marker location).
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