Cottonwood Air Force Station

Cottonwood Air Force Station
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC)
Cottonwood Butte, Idaho County, Idaho,  United States
Cottonwood AFS, c. 1964, with large FPS-24 radome dwarfing FPS-6 radome alongside.
Cottonwood AFS Location of Cottonwood AFS, Idaho
Coordinates	46°04′01″N 116°27′51″W / 46.06694°N 116.46417°W / 46.06694; -116.46417 (Cottonwood AFS P-46)Coordinates: 46°04′01″N 116°27′51″W / 46.06694°N 116.46417°W / 46.06694; -116.46417 (Cottonwood AFS P-46)
Type	Air Force Station
Code	ADC ID: SM-150
Site information
Owner	State of Idaho (1974-present)
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Condition	Closed; now a minimum-security state correctional facility
Site history
Built	1955-1958
In use	1958-1965
Events	Cold War
Garrison information
Garrison	822d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
Occupants	135

Cottonwood Air Force Station is a former United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. The radar site was located at the summit of Cottonwood Butte, 5.7 miles (9.2 km) west-northwest of Cottonwood in Idaho County, Idaho. It was closed in 1965 and transferred to the state of Idaho in 1974, when it was converted to its present use as a minimum-security correctional facility.

Cottonwood Peak Air Force Station was initially part of Phase II of the Air Defense Command Mobile Radar program. The Air Force approved this expansion of the Mobile Radar program on October 23, 1952. Radars in this network were designated "SM."

The station became operational on 1 July 1958 when the 822d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (AC&W Sq) was assigned to the new station. The station consisted of 66 buildings, including operation and administrative facilities, 3 dormitories, 27 family housing units, 3 radar domes, and the normal support facilities/utilities. The site was divided into three general areas: the operations area at the summit, cantonment area at mid-mountain, and a family housing area at the north end of the city of Cottonwood. The 822d AC&W Sq operated used AN/MPS-7, AN/MPS-14, and AN/FPS-6 radars, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes.

During 1960 Cottonwood AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-07 at Larson AFB, Washington. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 822d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 September 1960. The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. In 1962 the 822d began operating an AN/FPS-24 search radar and an additional AN/FPS-6B radar, as the AN/MPS-7 and AN/MPS-14 units were retired. In 1964 the AN/FPS-6B was upgraded to an AN/FPS-90 and Cottonwood AFS was shifted to feeding data to the SAGE Data center DC-12 at McChord AFB.