The Cheyenne Mountain Division is the J36 branch within the

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

(NORAD) and

United States Northern Command The 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 Civil authority, non-military authorities in t ...

's (USNORTHCOM) Operations Directorates, located in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. 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, 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 United States 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 host ...

'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. 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.

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References

Staff (military) Military units and formations in Colorado Military units and formations established in 2006 Division North American Aerospace Defense Command {{Canada-mil-stub