DYE Stations DYE Stations were Distant Early Warning Line sites of the DEW Line eastern extension in Arctic North America in Greenland ( DEW Greenland Extension , " DEW East " ) and Iceland . DYE Stations were equipped with the 600 MHz AN / FPS - 30 long - range radar within geodesic domes of about 60 feet diameter . Crews were regularly supplied and rotated by C - 130 aircraft of the 109th Airlift Wing ( NYANG ) staging through Sondrestrom Air Base . Background . The DEW Line became operational on August 13 , 1957 , with " CINCNORAD . . . operational control of the Cape Lisburne - Cape Dyer " radar stations as with other air defense elements . On June 30 , 1958 , the Eastern DEW Extension had 4 stations and there were 4 DER & 4 AEW & C aircraft operating for the Atlantic Barrier and on July 19 , 1958 , DYE 1 ( DYE 4 on August 3 ) was begun by Western Electric using helicopter - assisted sealift at the coasts and airlift from Sondrestrom Air Base for the interior stations . By October 1 , 1958 , DYE communications were linked to the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Ent Air Force Base via the AT & T Denver Toll Test Center . From 1954 , the U . S . Air Force expected that the air defense radar network would have to extend across the North Atlantic to Europe or the Azores , and by early 1956 studies to this effect were approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff . After successful completion of the DEW Line , in 1957 U . S . - Canadian attention turned to the implementation of plans to close the North Atlantic radar gap with physical stations to replace the radar early warning aircraft EC - 121 s then patrolling the ocean . Arctic veteran , Colonel Bernt Balchen , preferred a line going north around Greenland ’ s polar coast , and others suggested a coastal line south to Cape Farewell , but eventually the service settled on a direct line across the ice cap to Iceland , the Faroes , and the United Kingdom . An initial plan to place a main station at Kangeq near Cape Farewell was abandoned before construction began . Negotiations with Denmark , concluding with an agreement on 20 March 1958 , settled on four stations in Greenland , one on a mountain near Holsteinsborg , two innovative sites in central Greenland , and one at Kulusuk Island near Angmagssalik , not too far from the former USAAF airfield Bluie East Two . The Danes raised objections to the Kulusuk site due to fear of undesirable fraternization with the inhabitants of a local Eskimo village . The result was that the DYE - 4 site there was placed off - limits to locals , although this policy failed resoundingly . Legally , the DYE - 1 through - 4 were annexes of the Sondrestrom joint Danish - American Defense Area under authority of the 1951 Greenland Bases Treaty . Unlike the case with the other U . S . bases in Greenland , Denmark took no interest in the DYE stations and , except for engineering operations , did not participate in their operation ; and unlike other U . S . bases , they did not become a cause for domestic controversy . Since the stations were built at high elevations , surveys indicated that during normal propagation conditions they should essentially close the gaps across Davis Strait and Denmark Strait , the latter with the aid of a later radar station at Isafjordur at the Northwestern corner of Iceland . Construction was influenced by mixed experience with two earlier ice cap radar stations near Thule ( Site 1 and Site 2 ) . The new design used pillars which would delay subsidence of the station into the ice . In this sense the stations were similar to the Texas Towers that had been built for air defense radars in coastal waters off the United States , except that the “ tripod ” was anchored in the ice , and the legs were eight massive steel beams . Periodic re - alignment of the station could be accomplished by adjustment of the beam attachments . At the inland stations , the nearly horizontally pointing troposcatter parabolic antennae had to be enclosed as part of the superstructure . Snow accumulation of about one meter per year caused subsidence which eventually necessitated a re - foundation . In 1977 and 1982 , Danish Arctic Contractors carried out a delicate re - pillaring of the two ice cap stations through a “ jacking - up ” procedure that also laterally moved the station . Description . RCAP ' otficers would be assigned to the line to the extent that they would be pre40miDate 8 . JIIOD . g the military personnel at each Can84iau Main station ( l . e . , PIlI , CAM , rox , and DYE ) . ' lbe senior ReAP ' otficer would be designated " Officer - in - Charge . " ~ latter would be reaponaible for all non - contractual tuDeti0D8 to be performed in accordance with the guidelines established by HORAn . USAF would . continue to administer the contract vith F ' I . ' X ! O and . would . assign of ( , ficers to accOlllplish these duties . Additional cost to the RCAP ' voul . d be limited to that necessary for s ~ port1ng the ReAF persODnel . On 19 January 1959 , representatives of RCAF , USAJI ' , RCAII ' ADO , USAP ADO , and II ) RAD I118t to work out the details tor the new IBDD1D8 concept . It vas agreed that there would be seven omcers at . each CaDM . 18 . 1l Main station — five from the RCAP ' and two fraI mAl " . ' ! be ' RCAP contingent vas to be headed by a Squadron Leader who ' fI ! OUl4 be designated DEW Sector COIIIIIBl ' lder . The DEW data center ( callsign DYE , ) at Cape Dyer on the eastern tip of Baffin Island was 1 of 4 " Canadian Main stations " ( cf . PIN , CAM , FOX ) and in January 1959 , the station ' s manning switched to an RCAF Squadron Leader being the " Officer - in - Charge " as " DEW Sector Commander " , 1 of 5 RCAF officers at DYE ( 2 additional officers were USAF ) . The stations were linked by tropospheric scatter and by HF radio , and all maintained radio watch on VHF 126 . 2 , UHF 236 . 6 , and HF 3023 . 5 ( Receive only ) ; also on guard ( 121 . 5 and 243 . 0 ) . They also had radio beacons colocated ; at one time TACAN stations . The minimally manned stations radioed air traffic to fuse with other DEW Line tracks at NORAD in Colorado Springs and thus anchored the Greenland DEWIZ ( Distant Early Warning Identification Zone ) requiring positive ID of southbound tracks . The stations did not serve in civilian air traffic control , but their communications relay capabilities were of occasional utility to civilian air traffic . Operation . The DEW Line was a drastic response to an urgently felt requirement for continental air defense , but when it was completed , the problem essentially evaporated – first , because ballistic missiles overtook the airbreathing threat by about 1960 , and second , because overhead reconnaissance revealed that the size and capability of the Soviet bomber force had been vastly overestimated . The three to six hours of warning that the Line might have provided thus became of little relevance . In addition , had the DYE stations warned of a raid , there would have been no means of interception or further tracking until landfall hours later ; and they did not fully close the GIUK gap ( Greenland - Iceland - United Kingdom ) . Legacy . During the resurgent tension of the 1980s , Canada and the United States ( which jointly operate NORAD ) decided to replace the obsolescent DEW Line with an update known as the North Warning System ( NWS ) . However , by the late 1980s the Soviet Union was collapsing and replacement of the again subsiding DYE stations was deemed not worth the expense . In connection with the turn - over of Sondrestrom to the Danish government in 1992 , the DYE stations were abandoned and left to sink into the ice , an ongoing process . DYE 1 - 3 were evacuated in 1988 , and DYE 4 in September 1991 . In addition to air defense radar tracks , Dye Stations provided thirty years of meteorological observations — the 2 ice cap sites ( e . g . , Dye 3 ) were used for ice core drilling .