Straumnes Air Station

Straumnes Air Station
Part of Air Forces Iceland
Straumnes AS Location of Straumnes Air Station, Iceland
Coordinates
Type	Air Force Station
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1951
In use	1951-1992

Straumnes Air Station (ADC/NATO ID: H-4) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 169 miles (272 km) north of Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland. It was closed on 30 June 1992.

History

Straumnes Air Station was established in late 1956 as a general surveillance radar station, located atop Mount Straumnes in Iceland. The site was operated by the 934th Aircraft Control and Warning (later Air Defense, Later Air Control) Squadron]], and was equipped with AN/FPS-3, AN/FPS-8 and AN/FPS-4 radars.

The Greenland, Iceland and United Kingdom air defense sector, better known as the GIUK gap, was routinely utilized by the Soviet Union's long-range heavy bombers and maritime reconnaissance platforms as a transit point towards the Atlantic Ocean. From bases located at Archangel and Murmansk, Soviet aircraft would stream down to the North Cape in Norway towards the Gap which was use as a doorway to the vast Atlantic. Most of the Soviet missions were destined to probe United States’ air defense along the North Atlantic and after 1960 in the Caribbean where Cuba, the USSR’s most important satellite state outside continental Europe, was located. Such was the perceived treat from the Soviet incursions that it became a priority for NATO to demonstrate to that the strategic Giuk passage would be monitored at all times.

The mission of the station was to intercept and shadow all Soviet aircraft in transit in and from the Gap which passed through the detection range of its radars and pass the information to interceptor aircraft deployed at Keflavik Airfield. Routine operations continued until 1992 until the site was closed, and a new facility was opened at Latrar AS (H-4A).

After the site was closed(Sept., 1961), the facility was abandoned. The buildings remain in a deteriorating condition, most without windows abandoned to the elements.

See also

• List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
• Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
• Information for Straumnes AS, IS