The location now supports U.S. Space Command's Missile Warning Center, other strategic warning and survivable capabilities, and provides a ready alternative operating location for NORAD's command center.
Background
Until 2006, Cheyenne Mountain was the center for the United States Space Command and NORAD which monitored the air space of Canada and the United States through a worldwide system for early warnings of missiles, space systems, and foreign aircraft. The operations center was moved from an above-ground facility, vulnerable to missile or bomber attack, to the "granite shielded security" within Cheyenne Mountain during the Cold War as the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. The complex was built in the mid-1960s, began operations in 1966,[2][3] and NORAD's Combat Operation Center was fully operational on 6 February 1967.[4]
Today the Space Force Station is used as a crew training center and is skeleton crewed and maintained as an alternate command center.[5] It has its own power plant, heating and cooling system, and water supply. The underground complex was built under 2,000ft (610m) of granite within five acres of excavated tunnels.[6] Structures outside of the military complex include the parking lots and roads, an old heliport,[7][lower-alpha 1] and the fire station.[8][lower-alpha 2] Outdoor facilities include Mountain Man Park, picnic areas, a racquetball facility, softball field, sand volleyball, basketball, a putting green, and horseshoes.[9] There is a fitness center inside and outside the mountain.[9] The portals for the blast tunnel are entered off the parking lot. The Air Force is responsible for all of NORAD Road, to Hwy 115, but has permitted local residents to access the road with motorized vehicles only per an easement agreement between the Space Force and City of Colorado Springs.[citation needed] A military gate limits NORAD Road usage past the residential turn-off just west of the State Highway 115 interchange.
The military complex has, in the past, included many units of NORAD, U.S. Space Command, Aerospace Defense Command, Air Force Systems Command, Air Weather Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The complex's communication center is also used by the nearby U.S. Civil Defense Warning Center.[2] The station has an exercise, weights, and cardio gym that is open 24 hours a day.[9]
The entire installation at Cheyenne Mountain was designated the Cheyenne Mountain Air Station by February 1995.[11] In 2000, the installation was renamed Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. By that year all Air Force Space Command Air Stations in the United States had been redesignated as Air Force Stations.[12] At one time, the Air Force Station was the site of NORAD's Air Defense Operations Center.[13] That function, along with other day-to-day NORAD operational missions, moved to the NORAD and USNORTHCOM headquarters building on Peterson Air Force Base.
Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station is supported and operated by the 21st Space Wing, which is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base and under the command of Space Operations Command (SpOC) and U.S. Space Command. In addition to supporting Peterson Space Force Base, the wing conducts operation space missions such as operating missile warning radar and cataloguing objects in space for the U.S. Space Command. Those operational missions are managed by the 21st Operations Group.[14] The 21st Space Wing operates radar systems in the United States and worldwide, monitoring for launches of ballistic missiles and new space systems up to 22,300mi (35,900km) above the Earth.[14] As of 2014, there are at least 20 countries able to launch long-range weapons, including chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.[14] Cheyenne Mountain AFS force support and logistics services are provided by the 21st Mission Support Group at Peterson SFB. All other support such as equipment and facilities, including the Integrated Tactical Warning and Attack Assessment (ITW/AA) weapon system, are operated and maintained by the 721st Mission Support Group of the 21st Space Wing.[14][15] The 721 Mission Support Group is located at Cheyenne Mountain.[15] The 721st Civil Engineering Squadron operated from 1966. Under Col Joseph Turk, 721st Mission Support Group Commander at the time, it was reactivated, reversing a 2004 action where its functions were outsourced. The last active duty commander was Lt Col Todd Wynn, who is now retired. It was re-activated on 17 July 2012, bringing some of the functions in-house under civilian employees. The civil engineering squadron is responsible for the engineering, maintenance, and operation of the complex.[6]
In 2006, the Space Control Center, the command and control hub for space surveillance in the United States, transferred its operations to the newly created Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) from Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. The JSpOC belongs to United States Strategic Command's Joint Functional Component for Space (JFCC SPACE); it is not part of NORAD or U.S. Northern Command. The Air Force Space Command support remained at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station under the 21st Space Wing's 721st Mission Support Group.[16]
Global warning functions within the complex include the North American Aerospace Defense Command/U.S. Northern Command's Alternate Command Center, U.S. Strategic Command's Missile Warning Center, the 721st Global Strategic Warning/Space Surveillance System Center of the Integrated Tactical Warning/Attack Assessment system.[17]
The Missile Warning Center, a directorate under USSTRATCOM's JFCC Space, was upgraded in June 2011, upon completion of a US$2.9 million project over 18 months. It was funded by USSTRATCOM and resulted in newer computers, more efficient workspace, a new knowledge visual display, new joint worldwide intelligence communication systems, and a new electronic procedural checklist.[18]
Cheyenne's updated base sign on October 16, 2021
Tons of debris built up at the entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station following heavy rainfall and a resulting rock slide in September 2013. The 4th Infantry Division, with support by the 615th Engineer Company, 52nd Engineer Battalion, of Fort Carson cleared away the debris from the rockslide and uprooted trees. The storm and resulting debris did not limit the Air Force Station's operations, according to the 721st Mission Support Group's commander Col Travis Harsha,[19] who became commander on 11 July 2013 for the now retired Col Joseph Turk.[20]
On 5 September 2013, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station hosted an event with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), local sheriffs and police chiefs, Army security forces, and Air Force security across several military installations about partnering for law enforcement and emergency management events, like terrorist threats, criminal activity, and forest fires. Partnering with law enforcement and the community helps to "foster information sharing and maximize joint training opportunities", according to Col Travis Harsha, the CMAFS installation commander and 721st Mission Support Group Commander.[21]
On 20 December 2019, Air Force Space Command was redesignated as the U.S. Space Force and elevated to become an independent military branch.[22]
On 26 July 2021, the installation was renamed Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station.[23]
North American Aerospace Defense Command, 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 for Canada and the continental United States.
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 hosts the activities of several tenant units. Also located in Colorado Springs is Peterson Space Force Base, where the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) headquarters are located.
Ent Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located in the Knob Hill neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A tent city, established in 1943 during construction of the base, was initially commanded by Major General Uzal Girard Ent (1900–1948), for whom the base is named. The base was opened in 1951.
Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a United States Space Force base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the Space Force's 21st Space Wing, elements of the Space Force's Space Systems Command, and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) headquarters. Developed as a World War II air support base for Camp Carson, the facility conducted Army Air Forces training and supported Cold War air defense centers at the nearby Ent Air Force Base, Chidlaw Building, and Cheyenne Mountain Complex. The base was the location of the Air Force Space Command headquarters from 1987 to 20 December 2019 and has had NORAD/NORTHCOM command center operations since the 2006 Cheyenne Mountain Realignment placed the nearby Cheyenne Mountain Complex on standby. On 26 July 2021, the installation was renamed Peterson Space Force Base to reflect its prominent role in the new space service.
The Defense Support Program (DSP) is a program of the United States Space Force that operated the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System used by the United States.
Schriever Space Force Base, previously Schriever Air Force Base, Falcon Air Force Base, and Falcon Air Force Station, is a base of the United States Space Force located approximately 10 mi (16 km) east of Peterson Space Force Base near Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States.
The 21st Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force.
The 13th Space Warning Squadron (13SWS) is a missile warning unit assigned to the United States Space Force and located at Clear Space Force Station 5 miles (8 km) south of Anderson, Alaska
The United States Air Force's 1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron is a provisional squadron attached to the 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.
The 12th Space Warning Squadron is a United States Space Force ground-based radar used for missile warning, missile defense, and space situation awareness, stationed at Pituffik Space Base, Greenland.
The Chidlaw Building is a former United States Air Force facility located in the Knob Hill neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The building was close to, but not within, the Ent Air Force Base complex, and was leased by the military for several decades, housing headquarters for several military commands, starting with the Air Defense Command (ADC) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). When Chidlaw was completed, personnel from multiple locations, including the Ent Air Force Base, were consolidated into the new building.
The Cheyenne Mountain Division is the J36 branch within the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command's (USNORTHCOM) Operations Directorates, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Federal Building, originally the Burroughs Building, was a Cold War military computer systems building on the Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. It was built in 1962 to be used by Burroughs Corporation for its project to build an automated facility to take input, like satellite and radar information, and instantaneously assess its degree of combat importance. The program was designed in conjunction with Air Force 425L System Project engineers and was an important component in North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)'s command and control system. It was an Ent Air Force Base building until 1975 when the base was inactivated. It then became an off-base installation to the Peterson Air Force Base. Over the next several decades there were varying uses for the building by the federal government. After 2007, the building was vacated and in 2009 it was sold.
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 Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station.
Construction of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex began with the excavation of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 18, 1961. It was made fully operational on February 6, 1967. It is a military installation and hardened nuclear bunker from which the North American Aerospace Defense Command was headquartered at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. The United States Air Force has had a presence at the complex since the beginning, the facility is now the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, which hosts other military units, including NORAD.
Space Operations Command (SpOC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, it consists of its mission deltas, and garrison commands.
Space Delta 2 is the United States Space Force's space domain awareness and space battle management delta and is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Space Delta 2 tracks and monitors all human made objects from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit and further out to deep space. It also partners with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide weather satellite observation for the U.S. Armed Forces. It consists of the 15th Space Surveillance, 18th Space Defense Squadron, 19th Space Defense Squadron, and 20th Space Surveillance Squadron.
Space Delta 3 is a United States Space Force unit responsible for presenting operational combat-ready space electromagnetic warfare forces in support of assigned missions. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base.
Space Base Delta 2 is a unit in the United States Space Force. It is assigned to Space Operations Command and headquartered at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, United States.
The 3rd Combat Training Squadron is a United States Space Force training unit. Assigned to Space Operations Command's Space Delta 3, it provides electromagnetic warfare qualification training to Delta 3 operators. Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, it was activated on 3 March 2022. The squadron was previously designated as the 721 Operations Support Squadron following the establishment of the 721st Operations Group in 2019 which was later redesignated to Space Delta 3.
↑ "Cheyenne Mountain AFS visit". Peterson Air Force Base. 23 July 2013. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
↑ Staff Sgt. J. Aaron Breeden, 21st Space Wing Public Affairs (18 September 2013). "Joint team clears flood debris from mountain entrance". Peterson Air Force Base. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
↑ Staff Sgt. J. Aaron Breeden, 21st Space Wing Public Affairs (16 July 2013). "Mountain gets new commander". Peterson Air Force Base. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
↑ Michael Golembesky, 21st Space Wing Public Affairs staff writer (10 September 2013). "Cheyenne Mountain builds upon partnership". Peterson Air Force Base. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
↑ "Fact Sheet". spaceforce.mil. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Staff Sgt. J. Aaron Breeden, 21st Space Wing Public Affairs (11 June 2013). "Mountain, man legacies intertwined". Peterson Air Force Base. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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