page_title: Thule Air Base
section_title: Air Force Space Command from 1982
hierarchical_section_title: Thule Air Base / History / Air Force Space Command from 1982
caption_attribution_description: English: Gen. &quot;Jay&quot; Raymond, Air Force Space Command commander, visited Thule Air Base, Greenland Dec. 10-12, 2017 with AFSPC command chief, Chief Master Sgt. Brendan Criswell, Col. Jennifer Grant, 50th Space Wing commander, and Col. Devin Pepper, 21st Operations Group. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Dennis Hoffman)
context_page_description: Thule Air Base, or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport, is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located 1,207 km north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km from the North Pole on the northwest coast of the island of Greenland.
  Thule Air Base is the US Armed Forces' northernmost installation. Thule's arctic environment includes icebergs in North Star Bay, two islands, a polar ice sheet, and Wolstenholme Fjord – the only place on Earth where four active glaciers join together.
  Thule Air Base is home to the 21st Space Wing's global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to North American Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command.
  Thule Air Base is also home to the 821st Air Base Group and is responsible for air base support within the Thule Defense Area for the multinational population of "Team Thule". The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron which operates a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System designed to detect and track ICBMs launched against North America. Thule is also host to Detachment 1 of the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, part of the 50th Space Wing's global satellite control network.
context_section_description: Thule became an Air Force Space Command base in 1982. Today Thule is home to the 821st Air Base Group, which exercises Air Base support responsibilities within the Thule Defense Area. The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron (21st Operations Group, 21st Space Wing), a Ballistic Missile Early Warning Site designed to detect and track ICBMs launched against North America. Missile warning and space surveillance information flows to NORAD command centers located at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Thule is also host to Detachment 1 of the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, part of the 50th Space Wing's global satellite control network, as well as operating many new weapons systems. In addition, the airfield boasts a 3,047 by 42 m (9,997 by 138 ft) asphalt runway, with 3,000 US and international flights per year.
  A delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly visited Thule in early September 2010 and were told by the base commander that, at that time (summer), approximately 600 personnel were serving at Thule, a mix of mostly US and Danish active duty personnel and contractors.
  There is only a brief period each year in the summer when sea ice thins sufficiently to send supply ships to the base. The US sends one heavy supply ship each summer in what is called Operation Pacer Goose.
caption: Aurora over Thule Air Base in 2017
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