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{{Short description|US Space Force station near Cavalier, North Dakota}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name = Cavalier Space Force Station
| ensign =
| ensign_size =
| native_name =
| partof = <!-- for elements within a larger site -->
| ___location =
| nearest_town = [[Cavalier, North Dakota|Cavalier]], [[North Dakota]]
| country = [[United States]]
| image = File:Cavalierairforcestationparcs.jpg
| alt = The AN/FPQ-16 PARCS solid state phased array radar system at Cavalier AFS.
| caption = The [[AN/FPQ-16 PARCS]] [[Solid State Phased Array Radar System|solid state phased array radar system]] at Cavalier AFS.
| image2 = [[File:Emblem of Space Base Delta 2.svg|100px]]
| alt2 =
| caption2 = Emblem of [[Space Base Delta 2]]
| type = US Space Force station
| coordinates = {{Coord|48|43|55|N|97|54|16|W|display=inline,title}}
| gridref =
| image_map =
| image_mapsize =
| image_map_alt =
| image_map_caption =
| pushpin_map = USA North Dakota # USA
| pushpin_mapsize =
| pushpin_map_alt =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in the United States
| pushpin_relief =
| pushpin_image =
| pushpin_label = Cavalier SFS
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| pushpin_mark =
| pushpin_marksize =
| ownership = [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]
| operator = [[United States Space Force]]
| controlledby = [[Buckley Garrison]]
| open_to_public = <!-- for out of use sites/sites with museums etc -->
| site_other_label = Radar type
| site_other = [[AN/FPQ-16 PARCS]]
| site_area = <!-- area of site m2, km2 square mile etc -->
| code = <!--facility/installation code, applies to US -->
| built = {{Start date|1977}}
| used = 1977 – present <!--{{End date|1946}} -->
| builder =
| materials =
| height = <!-- height of tallest part, not above sea level -->
| length = <!-- for border fences or other DMZs -->
| fate = <!--changed from demolished parameter-->
| condition = Operational
| battles =
| events =
| current_commander = <!-- current commander -->
| past_commanders = <!-- past notable commander(s) -->
| garrison =
| occupants = [[10th Space Warning Squadron]]
| designations =
| website =
| footnotes = <!-- catchall in case it's needed to preserve something in infobox that doesn't work in new code -->
}}
==AN/FPQ-16 PARCS==
[[File:Cavalier Space Force Station.jpg|left|thumb|The AN/FPQ-16 PARCS building at Cavalier.]]
{{main|AN/FPQ-16 PARCS}}
The AN/FPQ-16 PARCS is a [[Solid State Phased Array Radar System|solid state phased array radar system]] housed "on a plain just east of the [[Pembina Escarpment]]"<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://srmsc.org/par2000.html |title = Perimeter Acquisition Radar (Safeguard PAR)}}</ref> in a 37 m (121 ft)<ref name="10SWS">{{cite web |url=https://www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil/?id=4710 |title=10th Space Warning Squadron |publisher=Peterson Air Force Base|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123091728/http://www.peterson.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4710|archive-date=2008-01-23|url-status=live}}</ref> with a single-faced phased array radar pointed northward over [[Hudson Bay]].<ref name="LonePrairie">{{cite web|url=https://www.af.mil/News/airman/0399/remote/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714171942/http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0399/remote.htm|title=On The Lone Prairie|last=Kuhn|first= Tom|publisher=Airman Magazine|date=March 1999|archive-date=July 14, 2007 |url-status=live|access-date= }}</ref> In normal operation PARCS can spot an object the size of a [[Basketball (ball)|basketball]] (24 cm) at 3000 km (2000 miles). Tests during the 1970s and 1980s showed that with proposed software updates (not carried out) it could spot objects less than 9 cm in size.<ref name="SSSTPCR">{{cite web|url=http://mostlymissiledefense.com/2012/04/12/parcs-cavalier-radar-april-12-2012/ |title=Space Surveillance Sensors: The PARCS (Cavalier) Radar (April 12, 2012)|publisher=MostlyMissileDefense.com |access-date= |date=2012-04-12}}</ref> It analyzes more than 20,000 tracks per day, from giant satellites to space debris.<ref name="LonePrairie" />
The PARCS building includes an underground power plant with five, 16 cylinder dual-fuel (diesel/natural gas) engines manufactured by Cooper Bessemer driving 5 General Electric generators for a total output of 14 megawatts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=tbd |first=Mark |year=2011 |title=Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR), Concrete, ND |url=http://coldwartourist.com/stanley_r_mickelson_safeguard_abm_complex/perimeter_acquisition_radar_par_complex |format=trip report |work=Cold War Tourist webpage |access-date=2014-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328183804/http://coldwartourist.com/stanley_r_mickelson_safeguard_abm_complex/perimeter_acquisition_radar_par_complex |archive-date=2014-03-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==History==
[[File:Cavalier_AFS_sign.png|alt=Former sign at entrance to Cavalier Air Force Station.|left|thumb|Sign at entrance to Cavalier.]]
The facility was built as one site of the [[Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex]] for the [[Safeguard Program]]'s anti-ballistic missile defense, with the PAR providing detection data for computing preliminary trajectories to be provided to the [[Missile Site Radar]]<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://srmsc.org/par1000.html |title = Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR) Complex}}</ref> (the complex was deactivated in 1976). In 1977, the USAF acquired the site and expanded it into the '''Concrete Missile Early Warning System''' (CMEWS) named for the nearby Concrete ND community.<ref name="CAFSIWI">{{cite web |url=https://www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil/?id=123288480 |title=Cavalier Air Force Station: Instant to Watchful Instant|author=Jim Godfrey|publisher=Peterson Air Force Base |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510185614/http://www.peterson.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123288480|archive-date=2012-05-10|url-status=live}}</ref>
The military installation was named for the nearby town of [[Cavalier, North Dakota]] in 1983 when Concrete's post office closed.
[[BAE Systems]] maintained the PARCS site from 2003 - 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baesystems.com/article/BAES_154792/bae-systems-awarded-60-million-in-us-air-force-contract-extensions-to-maintain-space-radar-and-telescope-systems?_afrLoop=517101254590000&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null&baeSessionId=TKzQTppMDnpLT71tMh7VSy8Cc2JznQprvMh0kSCY4nQnvLZcMfn9!-1646284472|title=BAE Systems Awarded $60 Million in U.S. Air Force Contract Extensions to Maintain Space Radar and Telescope Systems|date=November 27, 2012|publisher=BAE Systems|access-date=}}</ref>
Summit Technical Solutions, LLC took over the Operations, Maintenance and Logistics support of the PARCS site in October 2017.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
On 30 July 2021 Cavalier Air Force Station was renamed Cavalier Space Force Station.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.buckley.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2715043/cavalier-afs-renamed-as-us-space-force-installation/|title = Cavalier AFS renamed as U.S. Space Force installation}}</ref>
== Based units ==
Notable units based at Cavalier Air Force Station.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 2020|title=Fact Sheet – Space Delta 4 - Missile Warning|url=https://www.buckley.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Article/322395/space-delta-4-missile-warning/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725060312/https://www.buckley.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Article/322395/space-delta-4-missile-warning/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 25, 2020|access-date=2 August 2020|website=Buckley Air Force Base|publisher=US Space Force|language=en-US}}</ref>
United States Space Force:
'''[[Space Operations Command]] (SpOC)'''
* [[Space Delta 4]]
** [[10th Space Warning Squadron]] (GSU)
The 10th SWS is a Geographically Separate Unit, which although based at Cavalier, is subordinate to Space Delta 4 based at [[Buckley Space Force Base]] in [[Colorado]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 2020|title=Fact Sheet – Space Delta 4 - Missile Warning|url=https://www.buckley.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Article/322395/space-delta-4-missile-warning/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725060312/https://www.buckley.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Article/322395/space-delta-4-missile-warning/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 25, 2020|access-date=2 August 2020|website=Buckley Air Force Base|publisher=US Space Force|language=en-US}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{HAER |survey=ND-9-P |id=nd0078 |title=Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Perimeter Acquisition Radar Building, Limited Access Area, between Limited Access Patrol Road & Service Road A, Nekoma vicinity, Cavalier County, ND}}
*[http://srmsc.org/pdf/004430p0.pdf Chapter 8: Perimeter Acquisition Radar], ABM Research and Development at Bell Laboratories: Project History at the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex History Page.*
*{{cite news|url=http://srmsc.org/cgi-bin/pds0010.cgi?0003__G004x0|last=Bonham|first=Kevin|title=Cavalier Air Base undergoes major upgrades|publisher=Bakken Today|date=October 16, 2014}}
{{United States Space Force}}
{{USAF Space Command}}
[[Category:Installations of the United States Space Force]]
[[Category:Military installations established in 1983]]
[[Category:Radar stations of the United States Air Force]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Pembina County, North Dakota]]
[[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in North Dakota]]
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