American Forces have had a presence in Iceland almost continuously since July 1941, even before the United States was officially involved in World War II. To accommodate the large quantity of planes ferried to Europe at the outset of the war, the military built two large airfields in the Keflavik area; Meeks Field, and Patterson Field. After the war, Americans stayed on to manage the airfields, but finally departed in 1947.

Increasing world tensions and the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) saw Iceland join as a non-participating member and the creation of the Iceland Defense Force. During the 1950s, the Iceland Defense Force arranged the construction of four aircraft control and warning stations, three of them remotely located. These stations were strategically place in the southwest, northeast, southeast, and northwest portions of Iceland. The full complement of four Iceland Air Defense System (IADS) radar sites was operational by 1958.

In May 1952, elements of the Ninth Air Force’s 103d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, stationed at Camp Edwards, Falmouth, MA, combined to form the 932d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (ACWS). The 932d ACWS deployed to Iceland on 1 October, and set up temporary air surveillance operations near Meeks Field, renamed the Keflavik Airfield Complex. This temporary site served until October 1953, when operations were transferred to the freshly completed Master Direction Center (MDC) at the newly constructed Sandgerdi Station, about six miles away.

The site, designated "H-1" (short for Remote Radar Head One, or RRH-1), officially became operational 28 October 1953, 1320Z. Height Range Indicator equipment was added, and became operational by 15 December of the same year. Sandgerdi Station was self-sufficient, boasting its own power plant, more than a dozen barracks, dining facility, post office, gymnasium, all-ranks club, shoppette, movie theater, and chapel. Although the unit had lived and worked at the site since 1953, the 932d ACWS was not officially transferred there until 1 August 1957. The site, now designated Rockville Air Control & Warning Station, would remain the home of the 932d until 1997.

The Master Direction Center was manually operated, with crews tracking air traffic by marking their positions on Plexiglas displays. Technicians were required at each remote radar site to observe and communicate data. The 667^th ACWS operated H-2, on Langanes Peninsula in northeast Iceland, from 1957 until 1961. The 933^rd ACWS operated H-3, located at Stokksnes Peninsula near Hofn, in southeast Iceland, from 1955 until 1960. The 934^th ACWS operated H-4, on the isolated Straumnesfjall, a 1400-foot mountain in northwest Iceland, from 1958 through 1960. The 933^rd and 934^th were inactivated in 1960 when sites H-3 and H-4 closed. The following January, however, high winds damaged H-2, and the 667^th moved to Hofn (H-3) to continue surveillance. The 667^th operated H-3 until 1988, when maintenance for the radar sites was turned over to Icelandic contractors and the unit inactivated. Rockville Air Control & Warning Station was redesignated Rockville Naval Yard Installation (30 June 1961) when the Navy assumed control of Keflavik Airport.

The 932d continued manual MDC operations with little change through the 60s and 70s. Surveillance of airspace to the North of Iceland was limited after the closure of the Northeast and Northwest sites, and surveillance aircraft augmented ground radar coverage. 932d technicians struggled to maintain radio communication between the aircraft and MDC, and were plagued by the effects of weather and atmospheric conditions.

In January 1981, NATO and the United States established the North Atlantic Air Defense System (NADS) program, funded by NATO, to provide land based surveillance radars in the Greenland-Iceland-Norway GAP in support of the NATO defense mission in the North Atlantic. This brought about a NADS upgrade program, which included significant radar hardware improvements. The program’s initial phase digitized the AN/FPS-93 radars using the AN/FYQ-47 Common Digitizer equipment, and incorporated the AN/FYQ-93 computer system to provide a digital interface with other surveillance systems. The new control center for this system, located at Rockville just two buildings away from the MDC, was to become the Iceland Regional Operations Control Center, or ICEROCC.

The 932d’s air surveillance capability took a huge technological leap when technicians brought the ICEROCC into operation by mid 1988. The ICEROCC was capable of receiving and integrating radar information from the Iceland ground-based radars, E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, Distant Early Warning (DEW Line) radars, as well as NATO ground and airborne units. People of the 932d were suddenly faced by a tremendous challenge to keep pace with advancing technology as new equipment was added over the next few years.

In addition to the initial NADS radar upgrade, a February 1987 Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and the Government of Iceland (GOI) formalized an agreement to employ Icelandic nationals to replace U.S. forces operating and maintaining Iceland’s air defense radar systems. The GOI established the GOI Radar Agency, who in-turn contracted the Raytheon Service Company to perform equipment maintenance, management, and training for Radar Agency personnel at sites H-1 and H-3. By the end of fiscal year 1989, Icelandic nationals conducted full operations and maintenance of the FPS-93A radar units at sites H-1 and H-3.

Iceland Civilian Radar Operations.  4 sites.

The second phase of the NADS radar upgrade involved complete replacement of the four original radar sites using new FPS-117 radar systems, and movement of the 932d’s command and control function to NAS Keflavik to reduce operations and maintenance costs. The new system, hereafter referred to as IADS, introduced state-of-the-art technology to further increase user capabilities and interfaces, while reducing "blue suit" maintenance by almost 80%. Construction began on the four radar sites in 1987, was completed in 1990, and the radars installed in 1992. The new radars were integrated into the ICEROCC’s surveillance system during 1992, and the old AN/FPS-93As turned off. During the ICEROCC’s last few years of operation, its technicians were able to effectively keep watch over the same Military Air Defense Identification Zone (MADIZ) as controlled by current IADS surveillance technicians today.

Construction of the 932d’s new command and control facilities, the Control and Reporting Center (CRC) and Iceland Software Support Facility (ISSF), lasted from 1991 to 1994. On 15 June 1995, Hughes Aircraft Company, contracted in 1990 to build the completely unique electronics for IADS, moved the entire system from their Fullerton, California plant to Iceland. Radar Agency and 932d maintenance personnel worked closely with Hughes to learn the intricacies of the system as its equipment was installed and tested over the next 18 months. Connectivity between IADS sites was accomplished by installing a fiber-optic ring cable around the island, an Iceland Post & Telecommunications Administration (IPTA) project also funded by NATO. Earlier schemes to use tropospheric-scatter, then line-of-site microwave, were abandoned for the sake of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) hardening. The system proved its worth when its lower link was wiped out by volcano-induced flooding in 1996, and communications automatically resumed through the ring’s upper link. 932d Operations personnel began training on the new system by early 1997, and had actually switched primary operations from the ICEROCC to the CRC by the first of May. Formal system acceptance occurred on 2 October, 1997.

Rockville NYI began a slow decline during early 1997 as operations and maintenance personnel moved to occupy their new facilities on Keflavik Naval Air Station. Dormitory residents had begun to move from Rockville during 1996, and the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department was forced to use augmentees from Keflavik to remain operational until the department’s closure in April. Facilities closed steadily, leaving the 932d’s Computer Maintenance workcenter to lead a lonely 24-hour vigil each day through the summer and fall, standing by to restore ICEROCC operations should CRC operations go down. 932d material controllers worked on equipment and furniture disposition through the year, clearing materials accumulated over a 44-year span. By the time contractors removed the last communications gear in January of 1998, all 932d people were gone from Rockville Naval Yard Installation. The last U.S. radar site of its kind, the bustling center of 932d activity for 44 years, had become a ghost town.

Today, the 932d ACS works in buildings 130 and 131 on Keflavik Naval Air Station. They’ve successfully adapted to a multitude of changes over the years, most recently managing an "excellent" rating during their March ‘98 Operational Readiness Inspection and an "outstanding" during a June ‘98 Standardization Evaluation. Because IADS is primarily maintained by Radar Agency personnel, remaining maintenance technicians were moved from the 932d to the 85^th Group Mission Support Squadron in June of 1998. Operations personnel, system controllers, and computer programmers remain with the 932d, working day and night to maintain surveillance as NATO’s "Eyes of the North."

Compiled by:
MSgt Mitch King, 932d ACS
TSgt Lori St. Amant, 85^th Group Historian