page_title: Malmstrom Air Force Base
section_title: Air Defense Command
hierarchical_section_title: Malmstrom Air Force Base / History / Air Defense Command
caption_attribution_description: English: 29th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron McDonnell F-101B-110-MC Voodoo Great Falls AFB, Montana March 1964. 0310 last seen on a scrap pile at Fairway Surplus, Tawas City, Michigan in 1972/73.
context_page_description: Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place in Cascade County, Montana, United States, adjacent to the city of Great Falls. It was named in honor of World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom. It is the home of the 341st Missile Wing of the Air Force Global Strike Command. As a census-designated place, it had a population of 3,472 at the 2010 census.
context_section_description: Great Falls (later Malmstrom AFB) played a major aerial defense role in North American air defense mission. Although the base was not assigned to Air Defense Command, the attached 29th Air Division was activated at Great Falls AFB in early 1950, bringing with them command and control authority of fighter interceptor squadrons, an aircraft control and warning squadron, and ground observer detachments in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and parts of Nevada, Utah, and Colorado as part of the Air Defense Command Western Air Defense Force. The 29th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was activated in 1953 and remained at Malmstrom until 1968, initially flying F-94C Starfire and later F-101 Voodoo interceptors.
  Great Falls was reassigned to the Central Air Defense Force at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in 1953. The 29th Air Division's area of responsibility changed to include Montana, North and South Dakota and Nebraska. The 29th supervised the training of its units, and participated in numerous training exercises.  On 1 July 1961, the 29th AD was relocated to Richards Gebaur AFB, Missouri.
  By 1954, several aircraft control and warning (radar) squadrons had been formed at the base. The 903d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was one of them, and operated an AN/TPS-1D (termed a "gap-filler").  This radar was used probably for training purposes. The 903rd AC&W Squadron subsequently relocated to Gettysburg AFS, South Dakota.
  In 1957, under the control of the 801st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, the Malmstrom AFB radar station became operational with AN/FPS-20 search and AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars. A second AN/FPS-6 series height-finder radar was added in 1960, and subsequently was upgraded to an AN/FPS-90 set. In 1959 Malmstrom was performing air-traffic-control duties for the FAA, and joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system on 1 March 1961, the squadron being redesignated as the 801st Radar Squadron (SAGE).  In 1964 Malmstrom received an AN/FPS-24 search radar, replacing the AN/FPS-20.
  The 801st Radar Squadron was inactivated on 31 December 1969 due to budget reductions. However, the radar site itself rejoined the SAGE network on 30 June 1971. The FAA operated an AN/FPS-65 search radar (which had replaced the AN/FPS-24), and the Air Force added an AN/FPS-90 height-finder radar. This height-finder radar later became an AN/FPS-116 for the Joint Surveillance System (JSS) Program, then was removed c. 1988. The Malmstrom AFB radar site was closed altogether in 1996, and after the air force shut down the ADCOM Z-147 site, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took over operation as part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS).
  Z-147 was completely replaced by a new ARSR-4 JSS site on Bootlegger Ridge, about 14 miles northeast of Great Falls AFB.  Designated by NORAD as  Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) Ground Equipment Facility J-77A.
  
  In 1959 a SAGE data center (DC-20) was established at Malmstrom.  The SAGE system was a network linking air force (and later FAA) General surveillance radar stations into a centralized center for air defense, intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack.
  DC-20 was initially under the Great Falls Air Defense Sector (GFADS), established on 1 March 1959.  GFADS was
  inactivated on 1 April 1966, and re designated as the 28th Air Division.  DC-20 with its AN/FSQ-7 computer
  remained under the 28th AD until it was inactivated on 19 November 1969 and being taken over by the 24th Air Division.  DC-20 remained on duty until March 1983 when technology advances allowed the air force to shut down many SAGE data centers.
  The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was created in 1957. Beginning in 1959, Malmstrom was the headquarters of the Great Falls Air Defense Sector, until inactivated in 1966.  In 1978, Malmstrom AFB became responsible for the 24th NORAD region, which covered the western half of the North America. This comprised four fighter/interceptor squadrons and radar sites stretching from the Rocky Mountains, halfway across North Dakota and north
caption: 29th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron McDonnell F-101B-110-MC Voodoo Great Falls AFB, Montana March 1964
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