Campion Air Force Station Campion Air Force Station ( AAC ID : F - 08 ) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station . It is located east - southeast of Galena , Alaska . The Aircraft Control and Warning station was closed on 1 November 1983 , and the site was re - designated as a Long Range Radar ( LRR ) Station . It remains active as part of the Alaska NORAD Region . History . Campion Air Force Station ( AFS ) was a continental defense radar station constructed to provide the United States Air Force early warning of an attack by the Soviet Union on Alaska . It was one of the ten original aircraft control and warning sites constructed during the early 1950s to establish a permanent air defense system in Alaska . The station was named in honor of Lieutenant Alan J . Campion , 449th Fighter Interceptor Squadron , Ladd AFB , who was killed on 26 November 1950 when the Lockheed F - 94 Starfire interceptor he was flying crashed while attempting to land at nearby Galena AFB , Alaska . Construction of the station , began in September 1950 and was completed in April 1952 . The Army Transportation Corps undertook the project . The station site was located on the Yukon River , and equipment and construction material was floated by barge to a dock built on the river . Initially , there were no roads , which had to be built as part of the construction effort . Each item had to be hauled up from dock / storage area along the river , then along the newly constructed road to the permanent station site . The station site and radars were located behind some small hills on the west side of the river . The station consisted of a power / heating plant , water and fuel storage tanks , gymnasium and other support office buildings . Two other buildings contained living quarters , work areas , and recreational facilities plus opportunities for such sports as skiing , skating , horseshoes , and basketball . The station buildings were , except for the civil engineering building connected by heated hallways . As a result , personnel stationed there , with only very few exceptions , were able to wear " summer " uniforms year round , unless they had a need to go outside during the winter season . The coverings of the station ' s three radar towers were heated from within to keep the covering from becoming brittle from extreme cold , and thus subject to being damaged or destroyed by high winds . Tours at the station were limited to one year because of the psychological strain and physical hardships . A seven mile - long dirt road connected the station to the town of Galena . Just west of the station itself , a 4 , 500 ' gravel / dirt airstrip saw air traffic only on very rare occasions . The runway at Galena AFB supported most transport flights . The 743d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron , activated in April 1952 operated AN / TPS - 1 D , AN / FPS - 3 S , AN / FPS - 6 , AN / FPS - 20 , and AN / FPS - 6 B radars . Champion AFS operated as a Ground - Control Intercept ( GCI ) and warning station . As a GCI station , the squadron ' s role was to guide interceptor aircraft deployed to the forward operating base at Galena AFB toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit ' s radar scopes . In March 1953 , the Manual Air Defense Direction Center ( MCC ) at Murphy Dome AFS near Fairbanks exercised control over Champion ' s radars where the data was analyzed to determine range , direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile . 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 . In 1983 , Campion AFS was closed when Galena Airport received a new AN / FPS - 117 minimally attended radar . under Alaskan Air Command ' s Seek Igloo program . It was designed to transmit aircraft tracking data via satellite to the Alaskan NORAD Regional Operations Control Center ( ROCC ) at Elmendorf AFB . No longer needed , the 743d ACWS was inactivated on l November 1983 and the new radar at Galena designated as Galena Long Range Radar Site ( A - 05 ) . In 1990 , jurisdiction of the Galena LRR Site was transferred to Eleventh Air Force with the redesignation of AAC . The Galena LRR Site was subsequently inactivated in March 1994 . In 1998 Pacific Air Forces initiated " Operation Clean Sweep " , in which abandoned Cold War stations in Alaska were remediated and the land restored to its previous state . After years of neglect the facilities at former Campion Air Force Station had lost any value they had when the site was closed . The site remediation of the radar and support station was carried out by the 611th Civil Engineering Squadron at Elmendorf AFB , and remediation work was completed by 2005 . Today it is apparently being used as a landfill for the town of Galena . Air Force units and assignments . Units : Assignments :