CFS Beaverlodge Canadian Forces Station Beaverlodge ( ADC ID : C - 21 ) is a closed General Surveillance Radar station . It is located east - northeast of Beaverlodge , Alberta . It was closed in 1988 . It was operated as part of the Pinetree Line network controlled by NORAD . History . As a result of the Cold War and with the expansion of a North American continental air defence system , The site at Saskatoon Mountain was selected as a site for a United States Air Force ( USAF ) radar station , one of the many that would make up the Pinetree Line of Ground - Control Intercept ( GCI ) radar sites . Construction on the base began in 1952 and was completed by 1953 . The base was manned by members of the USAF ' s Air Defense Command ( ADC ) 919th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron , being known as Saskatoon Mountain Air Station . In February 1953 , operations began at the unit ' s permanent home . The station was equipped with AN / FPS - 3 C , AN / FPS - 502 , AN / FPS - 20 A ; AN / TPS - 502 , and AN / FPS - 6 B radars . As a GCI base , the 915th ' s role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit ' s radar scopes . These interceptors were based at Larson Air Force Base in Washington . The Ground Air Transmitting Receiving ( GATR ) Site for communications was located at , approximately 1 , 1 mile southwest 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 . In the early 1960s , the USAF relinquished control of the base to the Royal Canadian Air Force ( RCAF ) . This was part of an arrangement with the United States that came as a result of the cancellation of the Avro Arrow . Canada would lease 66 F - 101 Voodoo fighters and take over operation of 12 Pinetree radar bases . Upon hand - over on 1 April 1963 , the operating unit was re - designated 57 Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron and the base , RCAF Station Saskatoon Mountain . Radars at the station were also upgraded to the following equipment : On 1 May 1964 radar operations at 57 Squadron were automated by the Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) system , and the station became a long - range radar site . It would no longer guide interceptors but only look for enemy aircraft , feeding data to the Spokane Air Defense Sector SAGE DC - 15 Direction Center of the 25th NORAD Region at Larson AFB , Washington . In November 1963 , 57 AC & W Squadron , RCAF Station Saskatoon Mountain became 57 Radar Squadron , RCAF Station Beaverlodge . The station had a rather majestic postal address of Trumpeter , Alberta . As a result of the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968 , the new Canadian Forces organization absorbed the RCAF , RCN and the Canadian Army . 57 Radar Squadron , RCAF Station Beaverlodge , became simply Canadian Forces Station ( CFS ) Beaverlodge in 1966 . Also in 1966 , the facilities at Larson AFB were closed , and CFS Beaverlodge was switched to the SAGE Direction Center at McChord AFB , Washington ( DC - 12 ) . The station was administratively accountable to Canadian Forces Air Defence Command , and its successor Fighter Group . In August 1984 , Beaverlodge became part of the Canada West ROCC . The station carried on its assigned duties until operations ceased on 1 April 1988 . Today , the facilities of the radar station have been removed , and the land is now a cleared grassy site with little or no evidence of its military past .