Miles City Air Force Station

Miles City Air Force Station
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC)
Miles City AFS Location of Miles City AFS, Montana
Coordinates	46°17′49″N 105°58′42″W / 46.29694°N 105.97833°W / 46.29694; -105.97833 (Miles City AFS M-98)
Type	Air Force Station
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1954
In use	1954-1968
Garrison information
Garrison	902d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Emblem of the 902d Radar Squadron

Miles City Air Force Station (ADC ID: M-98, NORAD ID: Z-98) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 10.1 miles (16.3 km) southwest of Miles City, Montana. It was closed in 1968.

History

Miles City Air Force Station was established as part of the planned deployment by Air Defense Command of forty-four Mobile radar stations across the United States to support the permanent Radar network established during the Cold War for air defense of the United States. This deployment had been projected to be operational by mid-1952.

Funding, constant site changes, construction, and equipment delivery delayed deployment. The station consisted of 60 buildings, including operation and administrative facilities, dormitories, family housing units, radar domes, and the normal support facilities/utilities. Helicopter pad and skeet range were also included.

The 902d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at the station on 1 October 1954. By August 1955 the 902nd AC&W Squadron was operating an AN/MPS-7 search radar and an AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. In 1958 an AN/FPS-20 radar replaced the AN/MPS-7. In 1961 this set was upgraded and redesignated as an AN/FPS-66. Also in 1961 an AN/FPS-6B height-finder radar was installed.

During 1961 Miles City AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, initially feeding data to DC-20 at Malmstrom AFB, Montana. After joining, the squadron was re-designated as the 902d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 July 1961.

The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-98.

In 1965, the site received an AN/FPS-27 search radar, replacing the AN/FPS-66. The AN/MPS-14 was removed in 1967.

In addition to the main facility, Miles City operated an AN/FPS-14 Gap Filler sites:

Glendive, MT (M-98A) 47°02′39″N 104°40′54″W / 47.04417°N 104.68167°W / 47.04417; -104.68167 (M-98A)
Brockway, MT (M-98B) 47°17′01″N 105°59′02″W / 47.28361°N 105.98389°W / 47.28361; -105.98389 (M-98B)

The 902nd Radar Squadron was inactivated in June 1968. Its AN/FPS-27 radar set was then shipped to Mount Hebo AFS, Oregon (M-100/Z-100) and installed there, replacing the troublesome AN/FPS-24 which had recently lost its third radome.

Today, the former Miles City Air Force Station is now the Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Lab (USDA), part of Montana State University. Many of the Air Force buildings have been torn down, replaced by modern facilities. A few foundations and deteriorating buildings remain of the sites military past.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

Established as the 902d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Activated at Great Falls AFB, Montana on 20 May 1953 (not manned or equipped)

Moved to Miles City AFS on 1 October 1954

Redesignated 902d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 July 1961

Discontinued and inactivated on 18 June 1968

Assignments

29th Air Division, 1 October 1954
Minot Air Defense Sector (Manual), 1 January 1961
Great Falls Air Defense Sector, 25 June 1963
28th Air Division, 1 April 1966 – 18 June 1968

References

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980).
Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., Searching the Skies, The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Miles City AFS, MT

External links

Aerospace Defense Command (ADC)

Bases

CONUS	Amarillo Beale Charleston Davis-Monthan Dobbins Dover Dow Duluth Eglin Edwards Ellington Ellsworth England Ent Ethan Allen Fairfax Fallon Fort Heath Fort Lee Geiger George Glasgow Grand Forks Grenier Griffiss Gunter Hamilton Hancock Homestead Hurlburt Hunter Imeson Key West Kincheloe Kingsley Kirtland Lackland Laredo Larson Luke MacDill March Malmstrom McCoy McChord McClellan McGhee Tyson McGuire Minneapolis-St. Paul Minot Mitchel New Castle Niagara Falls Norton O'Hare Otis Oxnard Paine Perrin Peterson Pittsburgh Portland Presque Isle R.I. Bong Richards-Gebaur Robins K.I. Sawyer Selfridge Seymour Johnson Sioux City Stead Stewart Suffolk County Tinker Travis Truax Tyndall Vandenburg Vincent Walker Webb Westover Wright-Patterson Wurtsmith Youngstown

Overseas	Ernest Harmon Frobisher Bay Goose Bay Keflavik McAndrew Pepperrell Thule

Stations

CONUS	Adair Aiken Almaden Alpena Antigo Arlington Heights Baker Bedford Bellefontaine Belleville Benton Blaine Brookfield Brunswick Bucks Harbor Burns Calumet Cambria Cape Charles Cape Cod Carmi Caswell Chandler Charleston Cheyenne Mountain Claysburg Clear Colville Condon Continental Divide Cottonwood Cross City Crystal Springs Curlew Custer Cut Bank Dallas Center Dauphin Island Dickinson Duncanville Eldorado Empire Finland Finley Flintstone Fordland Fort Fisher Fort Lee Fortuna Gettysburg Grand Marais Grand Rapids Guthrie Hanna City Havre Highlands Houma Hutchinson Joelton Keno Killeen Kingman Kirksville Klamath Lake Charles Lake City Las Cruces Las Vegas Lewistown Lockport Lufkin Lyndonville Madera Makah Mica Peak Miles City Mill Valley Minot Montauk Moriarty Mount Hebo Mount Laguna Mount Lemmon Naselle North Bend North Charleston North Truro Oklahoma City Olathe Omaha Opheim Osceola Othello Owingsville Ozona Palermo Point Arena Port Austin Port Isabel Pyote Red Bluff Rochester Rockport Rockville (Indiana) Roslyn Rye Saint Albans San Clemente Island Santa Rosa Island Saratoga Springs Sault Ste Marie Shemya Snelling Snow Mountain Sweetwater Texarkana Tierra Amarilla Thomasville Tonopah Topsham Two Creeks Wadena Walnut Ridge Watertown Waverly West Mesa Willow Run Winnemucca Winslow Winston-Salem Woomera Yaak Zapata

Overseas	Armstrong Baldy Hughes Beausejour Cape Makkovik Cartwright Cut Throat Island Elliston Ridge Fox Harbour Hofn Hopedale Kamloops La Scie Langanes Latrar Melville Puntzi Mountain Ramore Red Cliff Rockville Saglek St. Anthony Saskatoon Mountain Sioux Lookout Spotted Island Stephenville

Air
Defense
units

Forces	Central Air Defense Eastern Air Defense Iceland Western Air Defense First Fourth Tenth Fourteenth

Air Divisions	8th 9th 20th 21st 23d 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32d 33d 34th 35th 36th 37th 58th 64th 73d 85th

Sectors	Albuquerque Bangor Boston Chicago Detroit Duluth Goose Grand Forks Great Falls Kansas City Los Angeles Minot Montgomery New York Oklahoma City Phoenix Portland Reno Sault Sainte Marie San Francisco Seattle Sioux City Spokane Stewart Syracuse Washington

Wings	Fighter 1st 4th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 56th 78th 81st 325th 328th 507th Detection and Control 71st 73d 551st 552d Air Defense 46th 4620th 4621st 4622d 4624th 4625th 4627th 4628th 4683d 4700th 4702d 4703d 4704th 4705th 4706th 4707th 4708th 4709th 4710th 4711th 4750th 4751st 4752d 4756th 4780th

Groups	Fighter 1st 4th 14th 15th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 53d 54th 56th 57th 78th 79th 81st 82d 84th 325th 326th 327th 328th 329th 337th 343d 355th 408th 412th 414th 473d 475th 476th 478th 507th Air Defense 10th 500th 501st 502d 503d 514th 515th 516th 517th 518th 519th 520th 521st 525th 527th 528th 529th 530th 533d 534th 564th 566th 567th 568th 575th 637th 665th 678th 692d 701st 751st 762d 765th 778th 780th 827th 858th 4606th 4620th 4676th 4700th 4721st 4722d 4727th 4728th 4729th 4730th 4731st 4732d 4733d 4734th 4735th 4750th 4756th Aircraft Control & Warning 503d 505th 540th 541st 542d 543d 544th 545th 546th 563d 564th 565th 566th

Squadrons	Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons

Major
weapon
systems

Electronic	TB-29 EB-57 EC-121

Fighters	Propellor: F-47 F-51 P-61 F-82 Subsonic Jet: P-80 F-84 F-86 F-89 F-94 Supersonic Jet: F-101 F-102 F-104 F-106

Missiles	AIM-4 AIM-26 AIR-2 CIM-10

Ships	Guardian Interceptor Interdictor Interpreter Investigator Locator Lookout Outpost Pickett Protector Scanner Searcher Skywatcher Tracer Watchman Vigil

Texas Towers	Texas Tower 2 Texas Tower 3 Texas Tower 4

Miscellaneous

Air Defense Command Emblem Gallery (on Wikimedia Commons)
General Surveillance Radar Stations

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