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Rockville Air Station  | |
|---|---|
| Part ofAir Forces Iceland | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Air Force Station |
| Controlled by |  United States Air Force |
| Location | |
  Rockville AS Location of Rockville Air Station, Iceland | |
| Coordinates | 64°02′07″N022°39′16″W / 64.03528°N 22.65444°W /64.03528; -22.65444 (Rockville AS H-1) |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1951 |
| In use | 1951-1998 |
Rockville Air Station (ADC/NATO ID: H-1) was aUnited States Air Force General SurveillanceRadar station. It was located 2.9 miles (4.7 km) west-northwest of the closedNaval Air Station Keflavik Base, Iceland. It was deactivated in 1998.
Its radar coverage constituted part of the eastern extension of theDistant Early Warning Line, connected toDYE-5 atNAVFAC Keflavik.[1]
It was effectively replaced by a newNATO radar facility now known asH-1 Miðnesheiði, which is around 1.4 km (1 mi) south of Rockville, which opened in 1992 as part of theIceland Air Defence System, which as of 2025 is still active.[2]
Rockville Air Station was established in early 1952, although its origins date to a temporary site at Keflavik Airport set up in 1951 to provide radar coverage over the airport. The permanent site was operated by the932d Aircraft Control and Warning (later Air Defense, Later Air Control) Squadron, and was equipped withAN/TPS-1B;AN/FPS-3;AN/FPS-20 and twoAN/FPS-6 height finder radars.
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 atArkhangelsk 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 Soviet Union'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. Routine operations continued until 1998 until the site was closed.
After the site was closed, the facility was turned over to the Iceland government which used it for some years as the Byrgid drug rehabilitation facility. Today the site is closed, the radar towers are gone and all buildings have been removed.[2][3]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
