CFS Resolution Island (BAF-5
/ref>) is a short-range radar site. It is located north-northwest of

CFB Goose Bay Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay , commonly referred to as CFB Goose Bay, is a Canadian Forces Base located in the municipality of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by ...

, Labrador on Resolution Island, Nunavut. It is part of the

North Warning System The North Warning System (NWS, ) is a joint United States and Canadian early-warning radar system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It provides surveillance of airspace from potential incursions or attacks from across North Amer ...

. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, it was operated as part of the

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North American Aerospace Defense Comm ...

network controlled by

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), 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 pr ...

History

As a result of the

and with the expansion of a North American continental air defense system, Resolution Island was selected as a site for a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

(USAF) radar station, one of the many that would make up the

of Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) radar sites. The

Northeast Air Command Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major command (military formation), Command of the United States Air Force, responsible for the operation and defense of air bases in Greenland, Labrador, ...

(NEAC) established a general surveillance radar station on Resolution Island in 1953, designating the site as "Resolution Island Air Station", with Site-ID of N-30. The

920th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron The 920th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Goose Air Defense Sector, Air Defense Command, stationed at Resolution Island Air Force Station, Resolution Island Air Station ...

was assigned to the site on 19 January 1952. It was equipped with the following radars: * Search Radars:

AN/FPS-3 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United State ...

C, AN/FPS-502 * Height Radars: AN/TPS-502 As a GCI base, the 920th's role was to guide

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...

toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. These interceptors were assigned to the

64th Air Division The 64th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, being stationed at Stewart Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on 1 July 1963. History World War II The orga ...

Goose AFB Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay , commonly referred to as CFB Goose Bay, is a Canadian Forces Base located in the municipality of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by ...

, Labrador. In 1957, with the inactivation of NEAC, the station came under the jurisdiction of

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), 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 De ...

. Routine operations from the station were performed until 1 November 1961, when the station was inactivated and turned over to the

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 ...

, which closed the facility. The Canadian Coast Guard operated a radio station from 1929(?) until 1975 under the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

VAW. The station (MF Marine) was then moved to Killinek (NWT/Nunavut), on the south shore of the Hudson Strait. * 1918 Cape Sable

Direction finding Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a naturall ...

(DF) station opens * 1929 Resolution Island Radio opens * US Navy Radio Navigational Aids 1943 lists this as a DF stn at Resolution Island, also broadcasting navigational warnings on

500 kHz From early in the 20th century, the radio frequency of 500 kilohertz (500 kHz) was an international calling and distress frequency for Morse code maritime communication. For much of its early history, this frequency was referred ...

. The site was re-activated by the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

as an unmanned

, short range radar site in 1991.

References

* Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., ''A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980''

Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980). * Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., ''Searching the Skies'', The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program

US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Resolution Island AS, NT

External links

* {{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Canadian Forces bases in Nunavut, Resolution Island Radar stations of the United States Air Force Aerospace Defense Command military installations Installations of the United States Air Force in Canada 1953 establishments in the Northwest Territories 1961 disestablishments in the Northwest Territories Military installations established in 1953 Military installations closed in 1961

History

See also

References

External links