The Cheyenne Mountain Division is the J36 branch within the

North American Aerospace Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

(NORAD) and

United States Northern Command United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is tasked with providing military support for non-military authorities in the U.S., and protect ...

's (USNORTHCOM) Operations Directorates, located in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

. It was re-designated as the Cheyenne Mountain Division on July 28, 2006, previously having been designated the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate. Before that, the unit was known as the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center. The organization, one of the tenants at the

Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station (CMSFS) is located in Cheyenne Mountain on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, next to Colorado Springs, The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, an underground facili ...

, has been responsible for monitoring North American air space for missiles and other space events that could pose a threat to North America. It operated within the

Cheyenne Mountain Complex The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a Space Force installation and defensive bunker located in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, next to the city of Colorado Springs, at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, which hosts the activities o ...

's Air Warning, Missile Correlation, Command Center, Space Control, and Operations Intelligence Watch Centers. The division assisted with establishing the integrated NORAD and USNORTHCOM Command Center at

Peterson Air Force Base Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the N ...

. Operational functions—such as monitoring for threats in the ocean, skies, and space—were moved to Peterson AFB from the

to reduce operating costs. On May 12, 2008, the fiftieth anniversary of the NORAD agreement, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex was designated as the NORAD and USNORTHCOM Alternate Command Center. The Cheyenne Mountain Division then became the J36 branch within the NORAD and USNORTHCOM's Operations Directorates.

Notes

References

Staff (military) Military units and formations in Colorado Military units and formations established in 2006

Division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

North American Aerospace Defense Command {{Canada-mil-stub