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Hofn Air Station (H-3) | |
|---|---|
| Part ofIcelandic Coast Guard | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Military base |
| Controlled by | Icelandic Coast Guard |
| Location | |
  Hofn AS Location of Hofn Air Station, Iceland | |
| Coordinates | 64°14′28″N014°57′47″W / 64.24111°N 14.96306°W /64.24111; -14.96306 (Hofn AS H-3) |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1951 |
| Built by | U.S. Air Force |
| In use | 1951–1992, 1992-present |
Hofn Air Station (ADC/NATO ID: H-3) was aUnited States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station atStokksnes nearHöfn in Hornafjörður. It is located 231.4 miles (372.4 km) east of the closedNaval Air Station Keflavik,Iceland. U.S. presence left on 30 June 1992.
In 1992 a new radar station was constructed on the same site asH-3 Stokksnes as part of theIceland Air Defence System operated by theIcelandic Coast Guard, still in use as of 2025.[1]
Hofn Air Station was established as aNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) radar station underMilitary Air Transport Service. The933d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at the facility on 1 July 1951. Initial radars at the station were anAN/FPS-3;AN/FPS-20A, and anAN/FPS-6 height finder. The nearest airport wasHöfn Airport.
The Greenland, Iceland and United Kingdom air defense sector, better known as theGIUK gap, was routinely utilized by theSoviet Union's long-range heavy bombers and maritime reconnaissance platforms as a transit point towards theAtlantic Ocean. From bases located atArchangel andMurmansk, Soviet aircraft would stream down to the North Cape in Norway towards the Gap which was use as a doorway to the vast Atlantic. Most of the Soviet missions were destined to probe United States’ air defense along the North Atlantic and after 1960 in the Caribbean whereCuba, the USSR's most important satellite state outside continental Europe, was located. Such was the perceived threat from the Soviet incursions that it became a priority for NATO to demonstrate to that the strategic Giuk passage would be monitored at all times.
The mission of the station was to intercept and shadow all Soviet aircraft in transit in and from the Gap which passed through the detection range of its radars and pass the information to interceptor aircraft deployed at Keflavik Airfield.
The 933d AC&W Squadron was inactivated on 30 June 1960, being replaced by the667th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. Beginning in 1984, information on aircraft detected by the station was relayed to the Keflavik NAS Radar Operations Control Center (ROCC), operated by the932d Air Control Squadron. In the 1980s, the radar as the station was upgraded to an AN/FPS-117v5.
Hofn Air Station was a link in theNorth Atlantic Radio System, asSite 42. The tropospheric antennas at Hofn connected toNAVFAC Keflavik andSornafelli (Site 43),Faroe islands.[2]
Hofn Air Station was a known monitoring site of theSOSUS submarine detection network. Submarine cables emanated from Hofn to theFaroe Islands to monitor theGIUK gap, monitored byNAVFAC Keflavik.[3] The system was inaugurated in 1966 and decommissioned in 1996.[4]
Hofn Air Station was inactivated on 30 June 1992 when all U.S. military personnel left.
Under the IcelandicRadar Agency (Ratsjárstofnun), in 1992 a new radar station was constructed at Stokksnes as part of theIceland Air Defence System now operated by theIcelandic Coast Guard.[1][5]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
