Northeast Cape Air Force Station
Encyclopedia
Northeast Cape Air Force Station (AAC ID: F-09) is a closed United States Air Force
General Surveillance Radar station. It was a forward outpost, located on St. Lawrence Island
in the Bering Sea
, between Alaska and Siberia
, 137 miles (220.5 km) southwest of Nome, Alaska
.
on Alaska. The area surrounding the Northeast Cape base site had been a traditional camp site for several Yupik families for centuries. During World War II, many joined the Alaska Territorial Guard
(ATG) for defense of the island. Following disbandment of the ATG in 1947 and commencing with construction of the site in 1952, many islanders joined the Alaska National Guard
to continue to provide land-based defense. The station was the closest forward radar surveillance station to mainland Soviet Union, its location being about 140 miles east-southeast of the Siberian coastline.
The station, as with others of its type, was divided into two areas. The Cantonment, or base station area was located at the base of tall hills along the northeast coast of the Island. A port facility was constructed to facilitate the landing of construction equipment and bulk materiel, along with a gravel airstrip for shipment of personnel and essential supplies. The station consisted of 25 buildings and miscellaneous support structures 63°20′08"N 168°59′25"W. The station buildings were, except for the civil engineering building connected by heated hallways. As a result, personnel stationed there, with only very few exceptions, were able to wear "summer" uniforms year round, unless they had a need to go outside during the winter season. The coverings of the station's three radar towers were heated from within to keep the covering from becoming brittle from extreme cold, and thus subject to being damaged or destroyed by high winds. Tours at the station were limited to one year because of the psychological strain and physical hardships.
The 712th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, operated AN/FPS-3, and AN/FPS-20A radars. As a surveillance station, its mission was to monitor the airspace for aircraft activity and provide information 24/7 to the air defense Direction Center at Murphy Dome AFS near Fairbanks, where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile.
Communications were initially provided by a high frequency radio system which proved unreliable because of atmospheric disturbances. The Alaskan Air Command, after investigating various options, decided to build the White Alice Communications System
, a system of Air Force-owned tropospheric scatter and microwave radio relay sites operated by the Air Force Communications Service (AFCS). The Northeast Cape site 63°19′49"N 168°58′45"W was activated in 1957. After the station's inactivation by the Air Force in 1969, the White Alice communications site remained active supporting United States Navy operations in the Bearing Sea. It was turned over to the Navy in 1972, eventually being inactivated in 1975.
A United States Air Force Security Service detachment
of the 6981st Radio Group Mobile
(RGM), Elmendorf Air Force Base
, was co-located on the site. The detachment's Morse code
intercept operators and Russian language
linguists were tasked with the surveillance
and collection of voice and electronic signals, to be forwarded to the National Security Agency
for intelligence analysis
. A direction finding
receiver was also manned, both for surveillance and search and rescue
.
exposure around the site. According to the State of Alaska, those elevated cancer
rates have been shown to be comparable to the rates of other Alaskan and non-Alaskan arctic natives who were not exposed to a similar Air Force facility. In any event, the majority of the facility was removed in a $10.5 million dollar cleanup program in 2003. Monitoring of the site will continue into the future. In 1998 Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) initiated "Operation Clean Sweep", in which abandoned Cold War stations in Alaska were remediated and the land restored to its previous state. After years of neglect the facilities at the station had lost any value they had when the site was closed. The site remediation of the radar, support and White Alice communication station was carried out by the 611th Civil Engineering
Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, and remediation work was completed by 2005.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
General Surveillance Radar station. It was a forward outpost, located on St. Lawrence Island
St. Lawrence Island
St. Lawrence Island is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait, at about 63°30' North 173°20' West. The village of Gambell is located on the northwest cape, from the Chukchi Peninsula in the Russian Far East. The island is part of Alaska, but closer to...
in the Bering Sea
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
, between Alaska and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, 137 miles (220.5 km) southwest of Nome, Alaska
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
.
History
Northeast Cape AFS was a continental defence radar station constructed to provide the United States Air Force early warning of an attack by the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
on Alaska. The area surrounding the Northeast Cape base site had been a traditional camp site for several Yupik families for centuries. During World War II, many joined the Alaska Territorial Guard
Alaska Territorial Guard
The Alaska Territorial Guard or Eskimo Scouts was a military reserve force component of the US Army, organized in 1942 in response to attacks on United States soil in Hawaii and occupation of parts of Alaska by Japan during World War II. The ATG operated until 1947...
(ATG) for defense of the island. Following disbandment of the ATG in 1947 and commencing with construction of the site in 1952, many islanders joined the Alaska National Guard
Alaska National Guard
The Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs manages military and veterans affairs for the U.S. state of Alaska. It comprises a number of subdepartments, including the Alaska National Guard, Veterans Affairs, the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Alaska Naval...
to continue to provide land-based defense. The station was the closest forward radar surveillance station to mainland Soviet Union, its location being about 140 miles east-southeast of the Siberian coastline.
The station, as with others of its type, was divided into two areas. The Cantonment, or base station area was located at the base of tall hills along the northeast coast of the Island. A port facility was constructed to facilitate the landing of construction equipment and bulk materiel, along with a gravel airstrip for shipment of personnel and essential supplies. The station consisted of 25 buildings and miscellaneous support structures 63°20′08"N 168°59′25"W. The station buildings were, except for the civil engineering building connected by heated hallways. As a result, personnel stationed there, with only very few exceptions, were able to wear "summer" uniforms year round, unless they had a need to go outside during the winter season. The coverings of the station's three radar towers were heated from within to keep the covering from becoming brittle from extreme cold, and thus subject to being damaged or destroyed by high winds. Tours at the station were limited to one year because of the psychological strain and physical hardships.
The 712th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, operated AN/FPS-3, and AN/FPS-20A radars. As a surveillance station, its mission was to monitor the airspace for aircraft activity and provide information 24/7 to the air defense Direction Center at Murphy Dome AFS near Fairbanks, where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile.
Communications were initially provided by a high frequency radio system which proved unreliable because of atmospheric disturbances. The Alaskan Air Command, after investigating various options, decided to build the White Alice Communications System
White Alice Communications System
The White Alice Communications System was a United States Air Force telecommunication link system constructed in Alaska during the cold war. It featured tropospheric scatter links and line-of-sight microwave radio links...
, a system of Air Force-owned tropospheric scatter and microwave radio relay sites operated by the Air Force Communications Service (AFCS). The Northeast Cape site 63°19′49"N 168°58′45"W was activated in 1957. After the station's inactivation by the Air Force in 1969, the White Alice communications site remained active supporting United States Navy operations in the Bearing Sea. It was turned over to the Navy in 1972, eventually being inactivated in 1975.
A United States Air Force Security Service detachment
Detachment (military)
A detachment is a military unit. It can either be detached from a larger unit for a specific function or be a permanent unit smaller than a battalion. The term is often used to refer to a unit that is assigned to a different base from the parent unit...
of the 6981st Radio Group Mobile
381st Intelligence Squadron
The United States Air Force's 381st Intelligence Squadron is an intelligence unit located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The unit operates an AN/FLR-9 Circularly Disposed Antenna Array , also known as an "Elephant Cage".-Logo Significance:...
(RGM), Elmendorf Air Force Base
Elmendorf Air Force Base
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is a United States military facility adjacent to Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. It is an amalgamation of the former United States Air Force Elmendorf Air Force Base and the United States Army Fort Richardson, which were merged in 2010.-Overview:The...
, was co-located on the site. The detachment's Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
intercept operators and Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
linguists were tasked with the surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
and collection of voice and electronic signals, to be forwarded to the National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
for intelligence analysis
Intelligence analysis
Intelligence analysis is the process of taking known information about situations and entities of strategic, operational, or tactical importance, characterizing the known, and, with appropriate statements of probability, the future actions in those situations and by those entities...
. A direction finding
Direction finding
Direction finding refers to the establishment of the direction from which a received signal was transmitted. This can refer to radio or other forms of wireless communication...
receiver was also manned, both for surveillance and search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
.
Closure
Northeast Cape Air Force Station was very expensive to maintain, and was inactivated due to budget reductions on 30 September 1969, its mission being taken over by other AAC surveillance radar sites with upgraded and more capable equipment. After the station's closure, the buildings, radars and communications antennas sat derelict and abandoned for decades. The area surrounding the Northeast Cape base site had been a traditional camp site for several Yupik families for centuries. After the base closed down in the 1970s, many of these people started to experience health problems. Even today, people who grew up at Northeast Cape have high rates of cancer and other diseases, possibly due to PCBPolychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
exposure around the site. According to the State of Alaska, those elevated cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
rates have been shown to be comparable to the rates of other Alaskan and non-Alaskan arctic natives who were not exposed to a similar Air Force facility. In any event, the majority of the facility was removed in a $10.5 million dollar cleanup program in 2003. Monitoring of the site will continue into the future. In 1998 Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) initiated "Operation Clean Sweep", in which abandoned Cold War stations in Alaska were remediated and the land restored to its previous state. After years of neglect the facilities at the station had lost any value they had when the site was closed. The site remediation of the radar, support and White Alice communication station was carried out by the 611th Civil Engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, and remediation work was completed by 2005.
Air Force units and assignments
Units
- 712th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
- Activated on 8 December 1952
- Inactivated on 15 September 1969
- Detachment 1, 6981st Radio Squadron, Mobile http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/peek.aspx?id=5979
- Organized in 1953
- Reorganized as Detachment 1, 6981st Radio Group, Mobile on 1 January 1956
- Reorganized as Detachment 1, 6981st Security Group on 1 July 1963
- Discontinued in 1969
Assignments
- 712th AC&WS
- 160th Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 8 December 1952
- 548th Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 5 February 1953
- 11th Air Division, 18 April 1953
- 5001st Air Defense Group 20 September 1954
- 10th Air Division, 1 October 1955
- 5060th Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 1 November 1957
- 11th Air Division, ca. 1 July 1959
- 5070th Air Defense Wing5070th Air Defense WingThe 5070th Air Defense Wing is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Alaskan Air Command, being stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. It was inactivated on 1 October 1961-Lineage:...
, 1 August 1960 - Alaskan Air Command, 1 November 1961 - 15 September 1969
- 6981 RSM
- U.S. Air Force Security ServiceU.S. Air Force Security ServiceThe United States Air Force Security Service was essentially the United States Air Force's cryptographic intelligence branch; its motto was Freedom through Vigilance. It was created in October 1948 and operated until 1979, when the branch was re-designated the Electronic Security Command...
1953 - 1969