Fort Greely Fort Greely is a United States Army launch site for anti - ballistic missile s located approximately 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks , Alaska . It is also the home of the Cold Regions Test Center ( CRTC ) , as Fort Greely is one of the coldest areas in Alaska , and can accommodate cold , extreme cold , or temperate weather tests depending on the season . It is named in honor of Major General Adolphus Greely . There was an earlier Fort Greely on Kodiak Island . History . The early years . The camp was established in 1942 as Big Delta Army Air Field . During World War II , The Alaska Highway was built to connect an existing road in Dawson Creek , British Columbia , Canada with the Richardson Highway in Alaska , a distance of 1 , 423 miles ( 2290 km ) . The Alaska Highway met the Richardson Highway at Delta Junction , five miles ( 8 km ) north on the Richardson Highway from what is now Fort Greely . The United States used the base to aid Russia against Germany and Japan by sending airplanes and supplies authorized by the Lend - lease act through Alaska and into the Russian Far East . The name was later changed to Allen Army Airfield . After World War II , Fort Greely was built south of the air field . After World War II , the War Department decided that an American soldier must be able to live and operate in any degree of cold . This decision was based on experience gained in combat and predictions of future possibilities for international obligations . A group of task forces was therefore organized to test U . S . Army equipment in the cold . Task Force Frigid and Task Force Williwaw were dispatched to Alaska during the winters of 1946 and 1947 . A related trial unit , Task Force Frost , incorporated elements of the 66th Armor Regiment and underwent tests in Camp McCoy , Wisconsin at roughly the same time . Settling in . The information and data collected by task force personnel was a beginning , but it took time for men to be transported , to set up quarters for a short period of actual testing , and then pack up and leave until the next year . The expense of moving in and out was taken into consideration when the final reports were filed . When questions arose concerning the reports , there was no one available to answer them , for the task forces had been disbanded , and the personnel returned to their home units . The major shortcomings of these task forces included having insufficient time to establish units on test sites , the lack of acclimatization period for both personnel and equipment and a lack of continuity . Based on these results , it was recommended that a permanent test organization be established , with test groups representing each of the " Army Field Force Boards " located in the " Zone of the Interior . " In 1949 , the Department of the Army ordered the organization of the Arctic Test Branch at Big Delta Air Force Base , Alaska ( now known as Fort Greely ) . A cadre for the organization was activated at Fort Knox , Kentucky , in March 1949 , by the transfer of personnel from each of the " Army Field Force Boards . " The organization moved to Alaska in July 1949 and test operations were initiated . Shortly thereafter , the organization name was changed to the Arctic Training Center . In 1957 , it was renamed the U . S . Army Arctic Test Board , with the mission of conducting Arctic service tests of all Army field equipment . From 1955 , Fort Greely and a huge tract of land around it ( withdrawn from the Department of the Interior ) were used for training soldiers for cold weather combat during the Cold War with the former Soviet Union . In the early 1960s , the Army constructed a nuclear electrical power plant , SM - 1A , at Fort Greely as part of the Army Nuclear Power Program which included similar operational plants in Antarctica , Greenland , the Panama Canal Zone , Virginia and Wyoming . The initial operators at Fort Greely were military NCOs , but civilians were later hired . The plant operated for several years , until the interior radiation caused deterioration of many metal parts . In August 1962 , as a result of the reorganization of the Army , the Arctic Test Board was established as a Class II activity and placed under the command of the U . S . Army Test and Evaluation Command ( TECOM ) . The Board was later renamed the Arctic Test Center and expanded to absorb the Research and Development Office , Alaska , the Technical Services Test Activity , and the General Equipment Test Branch , all located at Fort Wainwright , Alaska , and the Chemical Corps Test Activity at Fort Greely . In 1976 , the U . S . Army Arctic Test Center was re - designated the U . S . Army Cold Regions Test Center . The modern era . In the 1980s , when the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union , Fort Greely was gradually realigned through a gradual draw - down in the numbers of soldiers . In 1995 , Fort Greely was selected for realignment ( but not closure ) as a cost - saving measure . Only the Cold Regions Test Center ( CRTC ) and Public Works functions were to remain on the installation . Large portions of the post were to be closed and , at one point , the main post was to be turned over to the city of Delta Junction for use as a private prison . Ultimately , plans for the prison fell through . In 2001 , headquarters for the Northern Warfare Training Center and Cold Regions Test Center were moved to nearby Fort Wainwright . Training ranges were also transferred to Fort Wainwright control and renamed Donnelly Training Area . Although its command moved , CRTC continued operating from Fort Greely . The Northern Warfare Training Center also continued operations at Black Rapids Training Facility . After the United states announced that it would withdraw from the Anti - Ballistic Missile Treaty , Fort Greely was selected as a site for the Ground - Based Midcourse Defense system . Starting in the summer of 2002 , the United States government began work on the missile defense installation at Fort Greely , planning to deploy a total of 25 to 30 anti - ballistic missiles by 2010 . Concurrently , the Missile Defense Command took command of Fort Greely , relinquishing direct Army control , while the Army retained control of the nearby Donnelly Training Area . In 2005 , the CRTC headquarters was moved from Fort Wainwright back to Fort Greely . Though testing efforts remain centered at the Bolio Lake Range Complex - now part of Fort Wainwright - numerous support functions remain on Fort Greely ' s Main Post . With the continued development of an intercontinental ballistic missile program by North Korea , Fort Greely may be slated for an expansion . Fort Greely is currently one of the two U . S . sites housing anti - ballistic missile interceptor missiles , and it is located near the Great circle line from North Korea to the continental United States . Expansion of its capabilities may be required to protect Alaska and the West Coast of the United States from possible North Korean attacks . See also . Fort Greely , Alaska