176th Air Defense Squadron

176th Air Defense Squadron
Alaska Air National Guard Staff. Sgt. Mike Reyor keeps a close eye on aircraft flying in southwestern Alaska from his console in the underground Regional Air Operations Center (RAOC) at Elmendorf AFB on 9 May 2005
Active	1 February 1953–Present
Country	United States
Allegiance	Alaska
Branch	Air National Guard
Type	Squadron
Role	Aircraft Defense and Warning
Part of	Alaska Air National Guard
Garrison/HQ	Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska
Nickname(s)	Top Rock
Motto(s)	Eyes of the North
Insignia
176th Air Defense Squadron emblem

The 176th Air Defense Squadron (176 ADS) is a unit of the Alaska Air National Guard 176th Wing located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska.

The squadron provides mission-ready personnel to operate and maintain the Alaskan Region Air Operations Center (RAOC) of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). It integrates fixed and airborne radar into the NORAD Global Command and Control System (NGCCS), and conducts 24-hour Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR) and Eleventh Air Force (11th AF) air sovereignty and theater air control operations.

The 176th Air Defense Squadron is unique amongst the other American sectors in that it controls the only sector within its region, while the Eastern Air Defense Sector and Western Air Defense Sector both comprise the Continental NORAD Region (CONR). In addition to this distinction, it is the only sector that has regular reported intercepts of foreign military aircraft, with multiple intercepts of Russian Tu-95 "Bear" aircraft through its lifetime.

The 176th Air Defense Squadron traces its lineage, honors and history to Murphy Dome Air Force Station (AFS), (originally situated in a mountainous region known as the Yukon-Tanana Upland, 20 miles northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska). It was one of the ten original aircraft control and warning sites constructed during the early 1950s to establish a permanent air defense system in Alaska.

Murphy Dome was initially operated by a detachment of the 532d Aircraft Control and Warning Group, Ladd Air Force Base (now Fort Wainwright). When the 532d was inactivated in 1951, the site was then operated by a detachment of the 13rd

Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, Alaska Air National Guard. As part of HQ Alaskan Air Command’s (HQ AAC) plan to upgrade all remote sites to full squadrons, the 744th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (744th ACWS) was activated at Murphy Dome on 1 February 1953 with an authorized strength of 249 personnel.