Las Vegas Air Force Station

 (1956-1969) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1956 near Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada. Named Las Vegas Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-163, later a Sage ID of Z-163. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1969 now Angel Peak FAA Radar Site with an FAA ID of QAS.

History
Established in 1956 and became operational on 1 April 1956 as Las Vegas Air Force Station manned by the 865th 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 FPS-3 search radar and an MPS-14 height-finder radar.

SAGE System Operation


The site began operation as a SAGE site on 1 Nov 1959 initially feeding the Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17 in San Bernardino, California. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-20 in 1958 and an FPS-26A height-finder radar was installed in 1963. In 1961 Las Vegas AFS was an ADC/FAA joint-use facility and provided data for the FAA and the SAGE system. The FAA and USAF controllers both worked at the site operations building. The FPS-20 search radar was replaced with an FPS-27 search radar in the mid-1960s. The FAA retained the FPS-20A for their use. Control was transferred on 1 May 1961 to the Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 in Phoenix, Arizona

Gap Fillers
Las Vegas AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The gap-filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites sent digitized radar target data directly to a direction center. Maintenance teams were dispatched from Las Vegas AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The two gap-fillers that were built were at Boulder City, Nevada, and Lathrop Wells, Nevada. Two others were planned but not built.

Air Force Station Closure
Abandoned by the Air Force in 1969 now Angel Peak FAA Radar Site.

Angel Peak FAA Radar Site
With the closure of the Air Force Station, the FAA assumed operation of the upper site with the FPS-20A search radar and provided data for the FAA ARTCCs and the SAGE system.

By 1990 the site was equipped with an FPS-20A search radar and a CD-2A Common Digitizer. The Angel Peak CD-2A was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in June 1992.

CARSR Radar
At the time of the CARSR changeout, the legacy radar in place was still the FPS-20A and the CARSR conversion included a 1561 Antenna. The secondary radar for the site is the Mode S Beacon set.

Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a cantonment area, and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers, and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool, and other support buildings. Family housing was at Nellis Air Force Base. A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

Current Status
Angel Peak FAA Radar Site on Angel Peak near Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada. Lower Site now the Spring Mountain Youth Camp. The upper site housed an FAA FPS-20A radar until the radar was upgraded to a Common Air Route Surveillance Radar (CARSR) in November 2014.

See Also: Sources:
 * SAGE System
 * JSS System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Nellis Air Force Base
 * Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17
 * Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21
 * Los Angeles ARTCC
 * , page 172.
 * , page 134.

Links:
 * Radomes - Las Vegas Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Las Vegas Air Force Station