9. AIR / Christmas Valley Air Station

43°16'26"N 120°22'50"W Former Christmas Valley Air Force Station, Oregon (1985-2002)
The location of the West Coast USAF Over the horizon backscatter (OTH-B) radar system. It consisted of an AN/FPS-118 radar with the transmitter site at Christmas Valley AFS and the receiver site at Tule Lake AFS, California. Both sites were operated by 777th Radar Squadron. Data processing however took place at Mountain Home Airbase Idaho.

An identical site existed for the East Coast.

The demise of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War made the system obsolete for detecting foreign military aircraft, but it remained ops for the US Border Patrol for tracking drug smuggling related flights.

The facility was deactivated in 1997 and its equipment stored and mothballed by the Air Force Materiel Cmd / Electronic Systems Division in 2002.

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