Cape Cod Space Force Station is a

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space force branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the Unite ...

station located in the northwest corner of

Joint Base Cape Cod The Joint Base Cape Cod is a state-designated joint base created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States War Department in 1935. Governor James Michael Curley, James Curley signed the state bill to allocate and purchase land fo ...

, United States, on Flatrock Hill in

Bourne, Massachusetts Bourne ( ) is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Bourne, please see the articles ...

. Cape Cod Space Force Station began construction in 1976 as Cape Cod Missile Early Warning Station and was renamed Cape Cod Air Force Station in 1982, before assuming its current name in 2021. Missile warning and space surveillance operations are conducted by

Space Delta 4 Mission Delta 4 (MD4) is a United States Space Force unit responsible for providing strategic and theater missile warning and tracking to the United States and its international partners. It operates three constellations of Overhead Persistent I ...

6th Space Warning Squadron The 6th Space Warning Squadron is located at Cape Cod Space Force Station, in Sagamore, Massachusetts, United States. It operates the PAVE PAWS radar to watch for missiles launched toward North America. The squadron is assigned to Space Delta 4. ...

while base administration is the responsibility of Buckley Garrison.

History

On 27 August 1973, the United States Air Force directed the construction of two phased array missile warning radar systems, specifically to defend against the launch of

submarine-launched ballistic missile A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from Ballistic missile submarine, submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which ...

s. On 23 May 1975 it was announced that the east coast site would be located at

Otis Air Force Base Otis may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Otis'' (film), a direct-to-DVD 2008 American comedy horror film * "Otis" (''The Jeffersons''), a television episode * "Otis" (''Prison Break''), a television episode Music * ...

at Cape Cod and the west coast site would be located at

Beale Air Force Base Beale Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base in Yuba County, California, Yuba County, California. It is outside Linda, California, Linda, about east of the towns of Marysville, California, Marysville and Yuba City, and abo ...

. Construction on the Cape Cod Missile Warning Station began on 26 October 1976. On 1 October 1979, the

6th Missile Warning Squadron The 6th Space Warning Squadron is located at Cape Cod Space Force Station, in Sagamore, Massachusetts, United States. It operates the PAVE PAWS radar to watch for missiles launched toward North America. The squadron is assigned to Space Delta 4. ...

and 2165th Communications Squadron were established and the facility became operational on 4 April 1980 under

Aerospace Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was establishe ...

21st Air Division The 21st Air Division (21st AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command, being stationed at Griffiss Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on 23 September 1983. History World ...

. On 1 December 1979, Aerospace Defense Command's missile warning and space surveillance radars were transferred to

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

, with Cape Cod Missile Warning Station becoming part of the

45th Air Division The 45th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Eighth Air Force at Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire. It was inactivated on 14 June 1989. History As the 45th Bombardment Wing, the unit was one ...

. On 5 January 1982, Cape Cod Missile Warning Station's name was changed to Cape Cod Air Force Station and became part of

Air Force Space Command An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

1st Space Wing The 1st Space Wing was a wing of the United States Air Force active from 1983 to 1992 at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado as part of Air Force Space Command. The Wing was constituted on 18 Oct 1982 and activated on 1 January 1983 with assignm ...

on 1 May 1983. In 1986, the 2165th Communications Squadron was merged into the 6th Missile Warning Squadron. On 15 May 1992, the 6th Missile Warning Squadron was redesignated as the 6th Space Warning Squadron and reassigned to the

21st Space Wing The 21st Wing (21 WG) is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force. It was established in 1953 as the 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing, deploying to Europe to join NATO's Allied Command Europe, before being inactivated in 1958. It reactivated i ...

21st Operations Group Mission Delta 2 (MD2) is the United States Space Force's space domain awareness Space Delta, delta, headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Mission Delta 2 tracks and monitors all human made objects from low Earth orbit to geosync ...

. On 20 December 2019, the 6th Space Warning Squadron became part of the United States Space Force and on 24 July 2020, the 6th Space Warning Squadron became part of

and Buckley Garrison became responsible for installation support. On 11 June 2021, Cape Cod Air Force Station was renamed Cape Cod Space Force Station.

Units

6th Space Warning Squadron

The

is responsible for operating the

AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar The Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS), colloquially Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radar network (BMEWS radar network), is a United States Space Force radar, computer, and communications system for missile warning and space ...

and is part of

. The 6th Space Warning Squadron has been the host unit at Cape Cod Space Force Station since 1979. In addition to Space Force guardians, there are a number of

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

airmen and airwomen assigned to the squadron. The primary mission of the squadron is to guard the United States and Canadian east coast against sea-launched and intercontinental ballistic missile attacks, which is then routed to the

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...

and

United States Space Command United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and greater ...

Missile Warning Center The Missile Warning Center (MWC) is a center that provides missile warning and defense for United States Space Command's Combined Force Space Component Command, incorporating both space-based and terrestrial sensors. The MWC is located at Cheyenn ...

for missile defense operations. The squadron's secondary mission is tracking low-earth-orbiting objects, such as the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

, which is reported to the

18th Space Control Squadron The 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS) is a United States Space Force Space Domain Awareness unit located at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The 18th SDS is tasked with executing command and control of the space surveillance networ ...

Base assignment and major units

Gallery

File:Cape Cod Space Force Station.jpg, Lt. Gen.

Nina Armagno Nina Marion Armagno (born March 20, 1966) is a retired United States Space Force Lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general who served as the first director of staff of the United States Space Force from 2020 to 2023. She is the ser ...

, Rep.

Bill Keating William Richard Keating (born September 6, 1952) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in ...

, Lt. Col. Timothy “Vax” Sheehan, and other dignitaries attend the installation's redesignation as a Space Force Station. File:Cape Cod AFS Security Forces.jpg, Member of Air Force

Security Forces Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several countries, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of irregular military and paramilitar ...

standing watch in front of the PAVE PAWS installation at Cape Cod SFS, 2021 File:Cape Cod Air Force Station entrance.jpg, The entrance to the station while designated an Air Force Station File:Pave Paws Radar Screen.jpg, Radar screen for the PAVE PAWS at Cape Cod AFS, 1986 File:PAVE Paws Computer Room.jpg, Computer room for PAVE PAWS at Cape Cod AFS, 1986. Note the four large hard disk units in the foreground.

References

External links

* * {{Aerospace Defense Command 1980 establishments in Massachusetts Bourne, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts Installations of the United States Air Force in Massachusetts Installations of the United States Space Force Military installations established in 1980