Lake Charles Air Force Station Lake Charles Air Force Station ( ADC ID : TM - 194 , NORAD ID : Z - 248 ) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station . It is located southeast of Lake Charles , Louisiana . It was closed in 1995 by the Air Force , and turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) . Today the site is part of the Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) , designated by NORAD as Eastern Air Defense Sector ( EADS ) Ground Equipment Facility J - 14 . History . Lake Charles Air Force Station was , actually , two different facilities that shared the same location , active in two different eras . The first Lake Charles Air Force Station ( ADC ID : TM - 194 ) was as part of the 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 812th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was assigned to the new base on 30 April 1957 by the 33d Air Division . In 1958 the 812th AC & W Squadron activated AN / FPS - 3 A and AN / FPS - 6 radars , and initially the station functioned as a Ground - Control Intercept ( GCI ) and warning station . As a GCI station , the squadron ' s role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit ' s radar scopes . On 1 September 1961 , the 812th was inactivated , and the Lake Charles site was converted into a gap - filler radar site ( M - 125D ) for England AFB , LA , operating an AN / FPS - 18 . The FPS - 18 inactivated on 30 June 1963 along with the 653d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at England Air Force Base . The second Lake Charles Air Force Station was opened in 1972 when Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) constructed five new buildings at the former Lake Charles ( TM - 194 ) site . The new station was designated with NORAD ID Z - 248 . TAC set up an AN / TPS - 43 radar on the newly constructed search tower . Eventually , Aerospace Defense Command assumed control of the site , and placed AN / FPS - 93 and AN / FPS - 6 radars at the site . These radars were operated as Operating Location F of the Houston - based 630th Radar Squadron during 1972 and 1973 . Control of the site was reassigned to the 634th Radar Squadron on 1 January 1973 , and inactivated on 1 July 1974 . After the 634th RADS inactivated , activities were assumed by Operating Location D of the Tyndall AFB - based 678th Air Defense Group as part of the Southeast Air Defense Sector ( SEADS ) . The site continued operations over the next two decades with approximated twenty Air Force and civilian personnel with the 678th ADG tracking aircraft attempting to illegally enter the country . The final radars were an AN / FPS - 91 A search radar and an AN / FPS - 116 height - finder radar ( retired c . 1988 ) . Lake Charles AFS closed for good on 30 September 1995 , being replaced by a new FAA ARSR - 4 Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) site on the northwest side of the city of Lake Charles . Today , for the first radar Site TM - 194 , the original Operations Building and the Power Plant are still extant on the west end of the site , and the original HQ Building is still extant near the site entrance . A private residence occupies the site of the original GAG Radio facility , later gap - filler annex ( M - 125D ) , on the east end of the site . Nothing visible remains of the site ' s second incarnation , Z - 248 . The current owner of the site is McNeese State University .