Unalakleet Air Force Station Unalakleet Air Force Station ( AAC ID : F - 20 ) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station . It was located west of Fairbanks , Alaska . History . Unalakleet AFS was a continental defence radar station constructed to provide the United States Air Force early warning of an attack by the Soviet Union on Alaska . In 1957 , 622 acres were acquired approximately 3 miles northeast of Unalakleet , Alaska for construction of the station . Using the existing port facilities at the settlement , Naval LST ' s and towed barges were able to land of construction equipment and material , which was transported along a gravel road to the construction site . The completed station consisted of about 25 buildings and miscellaneous support structures . on a hilly site to the west of the radar station , which was located on top of a hill at 900 ' elevation . 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 . The 718th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron , activated in April 1958 and operated AN / FPS - 8 ; AN / TPS - 10 D , AN / FPS - 4 ; AN / FPS - 20 A , and AN / FPS - 6 radars . As a surveillance station , its mission was to monitor the airspace for aircraft activity and provide information 24 / 7 to the air defense Direction Center at Murphy Dome AFS near Fairbanks , where it was analyzed to determine range , direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile . Communications were initially provided by a high frequency radio system which proved unreliable because of atmospheric disturbances . The Alaskan Air Command , after investigating various options , decided to build the White Alice Communications System , a system of Air Force - owned tropospheric scatter and microwave radio relay sites operated by the Air Force Communications Service ( AFCS ) . The Unalakleet site was activated in 1957 . Unalakleet Air Force Station was very expensive to maintain , and was inactivated due to budget reductions on 30 September 1969 , its mission being taken over by other AAC surveillance radar sites with upgraded and more capable equipment . After the station ' s closure , the buildings , radars and communications antennas sat derelict and abandoned for decades . 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 the station had lost any value they had when the site was closed . The site remediation of the radar , support and White Alice communication station was carried out by the 611th Civil Engineering Squadron at Elmendorf AFB , and remediation work was completed by 2005 . Air Force units and assignments . Units : Assignments :