Bucks Harbor Air Force Station Bucks Harbor Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station . It is located south - southeast of Machias , Maine . It was closed in 1979 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 - 54 . History . Bucks Harbor was part of a planned deployment of forty - four Mobile radar stations in 1952 , designated as a " Phase I Mobile Radar station " . The station was designed to provide protection to Loring AFB . It was originally planned to be located at Corea , Maine , but in 1953 the Navy feared that the proposed site would interfere with a nearby radio interception and direction - finding facility . Funding , constant site changes , construction , and equipment delivery delayed the completion of Bucks Harbor AFS until 1955 when the 907th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron ( AC & W Sq ) was moved from the Manual Air Defense Control Center ( ADCC ) at Syracuse AFS , NY on 1 March 1956 . At Bucks Harbor , the 907th AC & W Sq began operating an AN / MPS - 11 radar , 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 . In 1959 an AN / FPS - 8 came to Bucks Harbor and this set subsequently was converted into an AN / GPS - 3 . In 1960 two AN / FPS - 6 A height - finder radars were activated and the site . During 1959 Bucks Harbor AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) system , feeding data to DC - 05 at Topsham AFS , Maine . After joining , the squadron was redesignated as the 907th Radar Squadron ( SAGE ) on 1 October 1959 . 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 - 110 . 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 . By 1963 Bucks Harbor operated with an AN / FPS - 24 search radar and AN / FPS - 90 and AN / FPS - 6 B radars . Around 1965 Bucks Harbor became a joint - use facility with the FAA . The 907th was inactivated on 30 June 1979 . Over the next two years preparations were made to turn over the facilities to the State of Maine and the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) . It was designated as Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) site J - 54 . Although the FAA assumed control of the operations area with the inactivation of the 907th , the Air Force continued operating the AN / FPS - 90 height - finder radar until 1988 . In 1995 the search radar consisted of an AN / FPS - 66 A radar until 1988 when it was removed . In the late 1990s the AN / FPS - 66A search radar was replaced by the modern ARSR - 4 radar . The containment area now is used by the State of Maine as a correctional facility , the housing area being in private ownership .