Mount Laguna Air Force Station

Mount Laguna Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 24.3mi north-northeast of Tecate, California. It was closed in 1981 by the Air Force, and turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration .Today the site is part of the Joint Surveillance System, designated by NORAD as Western Air Defense Sector Ground Equipment Facility J-30.HistoryMount Laguna Air Force Station was one of twenty-eight stations built as part of the second segment of the Air Defense Command permanent radar network. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on July 11, 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary’s approval on July 21, the Air Force directed the United States Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction.The 751st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was initially assigned to Mount Laguna by September 1951. Within months the radar assumed coverage formerly provided by the Minter Field Lashup site (L-34). At that time the 751st AC&W Squadron operated AN/CPS-4 and AN/FPS-3 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. An AN/FPS-8 replaced the AN/CPS-4 in 1955. This radar then was converted to an AN/GPS-3 in 1956, and removed in 1960. 1956 also saw the arrival of an AN/FPS-6 at the site.