Hawes Radio Relay Site Hawes Radio Relay Facility ( also known as the Hawes Radio Tower ) was a United States Air Force installation built on the site of the former Hawes Airfield at Hinkley , California , USA at . The site contained a 373 . 7 meters ( 1226 ft ) tall guyed mast antenna and hardened underground facility used for the Strategic Air Command ' s AN / FRC - 117 Survivable Low Frequency Communications System . Detachment 2 , 33rd Communications Group at March AFB , ran the site until its inactivation in 1986 . Mission . The mission of Detachment 2 ( Hawes Radio Relay Site ) was to provide the Joint Chiefs of Staff , the Commander - in - Chief of Strategic Air Command ( CINCSAC ) , SAC Headquarters , the Airborne Command Post ( ABNCP ) , and the SAC Force with a Survivable Low Frequency Communications System for passing record communications between the above agencies . Hawes provides SAC Emergency War Order communications before , during and after a nuclear attack , acts as the alternate ground station for the SAC ABNCP , and relays secure record communications from and into the Automatic Digital Network ( AUTODIN ) . History . Activation . The SAC SLFCS site at Hawes was activated on 3 Apr 1967 as a project assigned to the 33d Communications Squadron , Air Force . The site was accepted by Headquarters USAF on 31 May 1968 , and was activated for continuous operations a day later . On 19 Jul 1968 , 15th Air Force assumed maintenance responsibility . Hawes was located in the Mojave Desert , approximately 100 miles northeast of March AFB , and 40 miles east of Edwards AFB . Site personnel lived on Edwards AFB , and took a shuttle bus to the site . Deactivation . During the Fiscal Year 1987 - 1991 Program Objective Memorandum development , Headquarters SAC , determined Hawes was no longer needed to perform the SLFCS mission . HQ SAC Program Directive 01 - 85 , titled " Hawes SLFCS Transmitter Site Deactivation " , outlined the steps needed to shut the site down . On 30 September 1986 , at 1601 local time ( 1 Oct 1986 , 0001Z ) , the main power breaker for the transmitter was permanently turned off . Minutes before , Hawes transmitted one final SLFCS message , commemorating its 18 years of operation . Facility . Hawes Radio Tower was a mast radiator insulated against ground , which provided VLF communication to ground and mobile nuclear missile facilities during the Cold War . It transmitted at a maximum power of 100 kW . The facility was partially built into the ground and was designed to withstand a moderate nuclear blast from a distance of 10 miles . The facility was self - sustaining and employed a sophisticated ventilation system as well as backup diesel generators . Post USAF Operations . In the mid - 1980s , the site was given up , and in 1986 , the mast was demolished by explosives . The two - story bunker , left abandoned , became a popular hang - out site for local teenagers . Unfortunately , it also became a center for wild and sometimes violent parties . The interior was blackened from numerous bonfires and riddled with graffiti . In addition , holes and debris created by the radio tower demolition , as well as standing water in the basement after rains , made navigating the dark interior of the bunker extremely dangerous . The bunker was demolished by the Bureau of Land Management and Air Force in April – May 2008 after two local teenagers , Christopher Cody Thompson of Apple Valley and Bodhisattva “ Bodhi ” Sherzer - Potter of Helendale , were found murdered in the bunker on January 5 after a botched robbery attempt . The prime suspects , David Brian Smith , Collin Lee McGlaughlin and Cameron James Thomson of the Covina area , are being tried for the murders .