Dauphin Island Air Force Station Dauphin Island Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station . It is located east of Dauphin Island , Alabama . It was closed in 1980 . Beginning in September 1982 , the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) acquired part of the facility . Today the site is part of the Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) , designated by NORAD as Eastern Air Defense Sector ( EADS ) Ground Equipment Facility J - 12 with an ARSR - 2 radar . History . Dauphin Island Air Force Station came into existence as part of Phase III of the Air Defense Command Mobile Radar program . On October 20 , 1953 ADC requested a third phase of twenty - five radar sites be constructed . The 693d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was assigned to the station on 1 September 1958 . The site had an AN / FPS - 20 search radar and two AN / FPS - 6 A height - finder radars , and initially the station functioned as an aircraft control and warning station . The Ground Air Transmitting Receiving ( GATR ) Site for communications was located at , approximately 0 . 4 mile southeast from the main site . Normally the GATR site was connected by a pair of buried telephone cables , with a backup connection of dual telephone cables overhead . The Coordinate Data Transmitting Set ( CDTS ) ( AN / FST - 2 ) at the main site converted each radar return into a digital word which was transmitted by the GATR via microwave to the Control center . Dauphin Island AFS began operating an AN / FPS - 7 radar in 1960 , and joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) system , feeding data to DC - 09 at Gunter AFB , Alabama . After joining , the squadron was re - designated as the 693d Radar Squadron ( SAGE ) on 1 March 1961 . The radar squadron provided information 24 / 7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range , direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile . On 31 July 1963 , the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z - 196 . In 1961 Dauphin Island AFS became a joint - use facility with the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) . However , it was removed from joint - use status in 1962 and then put back in joint - use status in 1963 . A second radar squadron , the 635th Radar Squadron , arrived from Fort Lawton , Washington on 1 January 1963 . This unit operated an AN / FPS - 93 and an AN / FPS - 6 radar . In 1965 , the site was again removed from joint - use status . Over the years , the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars . The Air Force inactivated the 693d on 30 September 1970 . In 1972 , Dauphin Island became part of the Southern Air Defense Systems ( SADS ) . It was given a new NORAD designation , Z - 249 . The 635th was inactivated on 1 July 1974 . The radar site became Operating Location G , 630th Radar Squadron , which inactivated on 31 December 1977 . It then became Operating Location E , 678th Air Defense Group . The site closed for good on 30 September 1980 . Today the station is the Dauphin Island Sea Lab , Alabama ' s primary marine education and research center . Part of the station also is used by the United States Coast Guard as a recreational facility . Most of the USAF buildings have found new uses , and several radar towers have been re - purposed .