Fallon Air Force Station

 (1956-1975) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1956 on Fallon Naval Air Station, Churchill County, Nevada. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-156 and later a Sage ID of Z-156. Abandoned as an Air Force Station in 1975 and now operated by the FAA as Fallon NAS FAA Radar Site.

History
Established in 1956 and became operational in May 1956 as Fallon Air Force Station manned by the 858th AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning mission. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifying all aircraft entering their airspace while the GCI mission involved guiding Air Force interceptors to any identified enemy aircraft. Controllers at the station vectored fighter aircraft at the correct course and speed to intercept enemy aircraft using voice commands via ground-to-air radio.

Initial equipment included the MPS-7 search radar and an MPS-14 height-finder radar.

SAGE System Operation


The site began operation as a SAGE site 1n 1962 initially feeding the Stead SAGE Direction Center DC-16 at Stead AFB, Nevada. The search radar was briefly upgraded to an FPS-3 and then to an FPS-35 in 1963 when the site was moved to the southwest corner of Fallon Naval Air Station. FPS-6 height-finders were installed by 1964. The FPS-35 search radar was replaced with an FPS-66A search radar in the early 1970s. The FPS-66A antenna has a much smaller footprint on the old FPS-35 tower and it is covered with a radome. Around 1965 the site became a joint-use (FAA/ADC) site.

Gap Filler Radars
Fallon AFS was responsible for the maintenance of one remote unattended gap-filler radar site. The Fallon FPS-18 gap-filler site was located at Gabbs, Nevada.

BUIC System
Fallon AFS was selected as a BUIC III site and in 1970 the 858th Radar Squadron (SAGE) became the 858th Air Defense Group (BUIC). The BUIC III system provided a backup for a SAGE direction center and provided the ability to display sector-wide radar data on consoles for local weapons controllers. The system duplicated the functionality of the vacuum tube direction center computers with more up-to-date computers and replaced the FST-2 with a more up-to-date coordinate data transmitter, the FYQ-47. As the threat from a Soviet bomber fleet lessened the decision came to mothball the BUIC system in 1974.

Closure
Fallon AFS and the 858th were deactivated 30 Jun 1975.

Fallon NAS FAA Radar Site
Around 1965 the Fallon site became a joint-use (FAA/ADC) site and as a part of that conversion, the FPS-35 search radar was replaced with an FPS-66A search radar in the early 1970s in preparation for the FAA to assume maintenance of the search radar.

By 1990 the site was equipped with a CD-2A Common Digitizer and an FPS-66A search radar. The Fallon CD-2A was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing on Jun 1992.

Physical Plant
The operational site of 858th was first located on the south-central part of NAS Fallon as a mobile radar facility. As fixed equipment became necessary for SAGE integration new radar facilities and an operations building was located about 1.25 miles west of the old site in the southwest corner of the base.

The physical plant included a separate Air Force Housing area, a squadron cantonment area, the main operations area and a separated GATR radio site.

Current Status
Now operated by the FAA as Fallon NAS FAA Radar Site a JSS data tied site on Fallon NAS, Churchill County, Nevada.

See Also:
 * SAGE System
 * BUIC System
 * JSS System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * Hamilton Manual Direction Center P-48
 * Stead SAGE Direction Center DC-16
 * Beale SAGE Direction Center DC-18
 * Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13
 * Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21

Sources:
 * , page 134
 * , page 86, 171.

Links:
 * Radomes - Fallon Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Fallon Air Force Station