04.21.15

Hoeven Working to Advance Cavalier Air Force Station

Senator Worked to Include Funding for New Dormitory Facility

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today met with Colonel John Shaw, commander of the 21st Space Wing, to receive an update on Cavalier Air Force Station. The 21st is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado and is responsible for a variety of Air Force radar sites, including one at Cavalier Air Force Station. Cavalier Air Force Station is home to the 10th Space Warning Squadron, which uses Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization (PARCS), a sophisticated radar system to detect missile threats to North America and to track satellites and other space objects orbiting the earth.

“The men and women at Cavalier are keeping Americans safe day and night by tracking missile threats and threats from space, as well as monitoring the Arctic, where Russia is becoming increasingly active,” Hoeven said. “We need to do everything we can to support these Air Force professionals who sustain critical Air Force capabilities that are crucial to maintaining our security.”

Hoeven, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Military Construction, worked to include funding in Fiscal Year 2015 for construction of a new dormitory to house single airmen stationed at Cavalier. Construction on the $2 million project will begin later this year, and airmen will occupy the residence in 2016.

Hoeven and Shaw also reviewed a multi-million dollar upgrade to the PARCS radar, which is underway at the Cavalier Station right now. The upgrade will protect sensitive electronic equipment from threats posed by electromagnetic pulses, natural or man-made bursts of electromagnetic energy. The upgrade is expected to be completed in late 2015.

Cavalier Air Force Station is home to approximately 40 Air Force personnel, as well as several Air Force civilians and defense contractors. The installation was established during the Cold War to provide missile warning. Over the years, the radar has been modified to provide space tracking capabilities in addition to continuing the missile warning mission. Cavalier receives support from Grand Forks Air Force Base, including its security personnel, who rotate from Grand Forks.

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