| Clear Space Force Station | |
|---|---|
| NearAnderson,Alaska in theUnited States | |
 An aerial image of Clear SFS in 1999. | |
 Emblem ofSpace Base Delta 2 | |
| Site information | |
| Type | US Space Force station |
| Owner | Department of Defense |
| Operator | United States Space Force |
| Controlled by | Space Base Delta 2 |
| Condition | Operational |
| Radar type | AN/FPS-123 |
| Location | |
  Clear SFS Location in the United States | |
| Coordinates | 64°17′26″N149°11′13″W / 64.29056°N 149.18694°W /64.29056; -149.18694 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1949 (1949) (as Clear Air Force Auxiliary Field) |
| In use | 1949 – present |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | 13th Space Warning Squadron 213th Space Warning Squadron |
Clear Space Force Station is aUnited States Space Force radar station for detecting incomingICBMs andsubmarine-launched ballistic missiles[1] toNORAD's command center and to provide Space Surveillance data to theUnited States Space Force. Clear'sAN/FPS-123 Upgraded Early Warning Radar is part of theSolid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS) which also includes those atBeale AFB,Cape Cod Space Force Station,RAF Fylingdales andThule Site J. The "historic property" was one of theAlaska World War II Army Airfields and later aCold WarBMEWS site providing NORAD data toColorado'sBMEWS Central Computer and Display Facility (CC&DF).
In addition to the "original camp area" with buildings still in use today,[2] areas of the station include the airfield (ICAO:PACL), the "SSPARS Site"[3] the technical site (Utilador,[4] BMEWS reflectors, support buildings, power plant), and the composite site (two permanent dormitories, a mess hall, recreation area, and administrative area).[citation needed] In addition to the Air National Guard unit, Clear has active duty USSF,Royal Canadian Air Force, civilian, and contractor personnel.
TheAlaska Railroad lay across some of the site.[5] The site was purchased by theDepartment of the Interior in 1949 for use as a gunnery range forLadd Field.[2] The site becameClear Air Force Auxiliary Field.
In May 1958 total costs for the planned Thule and Clear BMEWS stations were estimated at ~$800 million. In October 1958 they were both estimated to be completed in September 1960.[6] An additional 10-by-40-mile (16 km × 64 km) area[citation needed] was appropriated for BMEWS Site II (cf.BMEWS Site I at Thule).
Clear is served by a spur of theAlaska Railroad, being about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south ofNenana and theMears Memorial Bridge over theTanana River that flows past Clear. This has transported coal for thepower station and heavy equipment.
Clear Missile Early Warning Station construction began in August 1958 with 700 workers[7]—i.e., a "construction" camp was being erected in September 1958 by "Patti-McDonald and Morrison-Knudsen"[8] next to the railroad[citation needed] (for $1.7 million, 40,000 ft of railroad were moved by 1959.)[9] Groundbreaking for radar structures was May 1959[citation needed] ("Baker and Ford built a transmitter and computer building; a heat dissipation system; a radar transmitter building; wells and pumphouses; a fire station; and utilities")[9] and the AN/FPS-50 pedestals were complete by June 2, 1959.[10] In 1959[11] after the originalWhite Alice Communications System contract, "the next segment of WACS... was series of TD-2 microwave installations to support... two routes [that] linked the Ballistic Missile Early Warning Site (BMEWS) at Clear AFB... one going down the southeast coast (the A route) to theKetchikan-Seattle submarine cable*, and the other, going east to the Canada–US border (B Route) through Canada, down to the lower 48 which was Clear'sRearward Communications System toMurphy Dome (A Route) and theGold King Creek AFS (B Route) with data for theEnt AFB CC&DF.[12]
ThreeGE AN/FPS-50 Radar Sets were installed with antenna reflectors 165 by 400 feet (50 m × 122 m) that each weigh 1,000 short tons (910 t; 890 long tons). The "Building Two" middle transmitter building had theradar control room[verification needed] and room with theSylvania AN/FSQ-28 Missile Impact Predictor Set.[13]
The "Clear Msl Early Warning Stn,Nenana, AK" was assigned toHanscom Field, Massachusetts, on April 1, 1961,[14] and BMEWS Site II was completed July 1, 1961[7] (the date ofIOC--Full operational capability was declared three months later.)[citation needed]
Clear transferred toAir Defense Command in November 1961.[citation needed] By mid-1962, BMEWS "quick fixes" forECCM had been installed at Thule and Clear[15] and by June 30, 1962,Ent AFB integration of BMEWS andSPADATS data was completed.[16] On July 31, 1962, NORAD recommended a tracking radar at Clear to close the BMEWS gap with Thule for low-angle missiles vice those with the 15-65 degree angle for which BMEWS was designed[15] (North Dakota'sCavalier AFSradar built in 1975 currently monitors forHudson Bay launches.)
Detachment 2 of the71st Missile Warning Wing was responsible for operations by civilian contractor personnel until 1964, when Air Force personnel began permanently manning the Tactical Operations Room (TOR).[citation needed]
In 1964, theGood Friday earthquake struck, and Clear was unable to perform its mission for six minutes.[17]
In 1966, the last of the five BMEWS tracking radars was installed, anRCA AN/FPS-92 Radar Set with an 84-foot (26 m) diameter antenna[citation needed] housed in a 42.7-meter (140 ft) diameterradome.[18][19][20] The FPS-92 was an improvedAN/FPS-49 Radar Set variant with radome blocks having two high-density 1 millimeter thick skins that cover a 15 centimeter thick Kraft-paper core (total of 1,646 hexagonal and pentagonal blocks[21] (the hexagonal blocks were "66-inch panels".)[22] The completion of the FPS-92 raised the final construction price of the missile warning system at Clear to $300 million. $62 million of this figure had been spent by the Alaska District of the Corps of Engineers.)[9]
Clear provided emergency shelter for 216 flood refugees during August 1967, the same year many "temporary" buildings were replaced. Personnel at the installation subsequently provided measurements for aUniversity of Alaska experiment which injectedsulfur hexafluoride into theupper atmosphere to see if theAurora Borealis could be affected.[citation needed] Clear hadBomb Alarm System equipment installed by the time the BAS was accepted on 10 February 1961.[23] The BAS was deactivated in 1970.[6] In 1975, theSecretary of Defense told Congress that Clear Air Force Station would be closed when theShemya Island andBeale AFB radars became operational.[24] After a Thule radome fire, Clear's FPS-92 radome was replaced in 1981 by first disassembling the tracker, constructing the new radome, and reconstructing the FPS-92.[25] Clear's 1st all-female crew pulled its 1st shift on February 28, 1986 (the 1st female, Lt. Anderson was assigned in 1973.)
Beginning in 1987,ITT operated and maintained the Clear BMEWSunder a USAF Space Command contract[21] and in the 1990s, theSouthwest Research Institute upgraded Clear's pulse modulator for the transmitter final-stage power amplifier.[26]
| External images | |
|---|---|
 Dogsled near FPS-50 reflectors | |
| BMEWS radars after phased array was completed | |
| AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar |
On April 16, 1998, groundbreaking for installing 1987 AN/FPS-115PAVE PAWS componentsfrom Texas (e.g., the array elements) was held at Clear[27] for the more advanced RaytheonAN/FPS-120[27] with 2500 "solid state transmitter" modules.[28] On December 15, 2000, the FPS-50 and −92 transmissions ceased[citation needed] (all of theArecibo Observatory'sLitton L-5773klystrons were obtained as surplus from Clear's decommissioned BMEWS transmitters.)[29] Clear's FPS-120 began 24-hour operations[citation needed] when Clear'sSSPARS Site (separate from the BMEWS site) hadInitial Operational Capability on January 31, 2001; the date the entire SSPARS became operational[30] (SSPARS sites were modified in theEarly Warning Radar Service Life Extension Program.)[31]
On August 30, 2006, after a transition that began in 2001,the ANG's213th Space Warning Squadron took on the early warning/space surveillance mission.[clarification needed]BAE Systems began a 2007 contract for SSPARS maintenance,[32] and the Clear FPS-120 was subsequently upgraded to anAN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR)[33] byBoeing Integrated Defense Systems[34] "featuring processor and software improvements to enhance capability."[20]
On 15 June 2021 it was renamed from Clear Air Force Station to Clear Space Force Station.[35]
Long Range Discrimination Radar was being tested at the base in 2022.[36]
Units based at Clear Space Force Station.[37][38]
Those marked as GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Clear, are subordinate to a unit based at another location.
The USCode of Federal Regulations specifies thatamateur radio operators within 160 kilometers of Clear must not transmit with more than 50 watts of power on the70-centimeter band.[40]
TheRRS originally consisted of one radio relay building, one microwave tower enclosed by a chain link fence, and a 2,050-foot runway. These facilities total 30.32 acres. Two 14,000-gallon steel underground diesel fuel storage tanks are located west of the building. Figure 3 shows the original facilities at Gold King Creek RRS.
Gold King Creek AFS (rdsgd Gold King Creek RR Site) (detchd instl), 45 mi NE of Fairbanks, AK, 16 Jul 1959 (dsgd)... Wideawake Fld (rdsgd Ascension Isl Aux Fid)... Ascension Isl, South Atlantic Ocean, 25 Jun 1956 (actvd)
7 November [1984] Installation of [SSPARS] radar hardware at Site I, Thule, Greenland, for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was begun.
BMEWS was replaced by the Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS) in 2001. ... CINCAD (Command in Chief, Aerospace Defense Command)
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