It was soon apparent that the Navy's practice of short term tours and transfer out of the system was a problem. Equipment in the terminal buildings was installed by specially cleared Western Electric Company personnel. [3], In 1965 Flyer was acquired as a bathymetric survey ship. Jezebel research had developed an additional short range, high frequency, upward-looking system using active transducers for direct plotting of ships passing over the array. NAVFAC's were the terminal sites for . New signal processing capabilities allowed for innovations such as the split array in which a single line array was divided into segments, each separately processed, then electronically recombined to form narrower beams for better bearing and cross fixes between arrays. In 1939, with war imminent in Europe, the German Reich pressed for landing rights for Deutsche Luft Hansa's aircraft for alleged trans-Atlantic flights. Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) disestablished September 8, 2006 during a ceremony officially ending its 45 years of operations in support of the defense of Iceland. Further consolidation takes place such as in 2009 when Joint Maritime Facility, St. Mawgan in the U.K. has data remoted directly to NOPF Dam Neck and is decommissioned. [16][17], The first detection of Soviet Victor- and Charlie-class submarines was in 1968 with systems terminating at the facility followed by the first detection of a Soviet Delta Class Nuclear submarine in 1974. For those of us that braved the Icelandic Domain in the land of fire and ice. * Rotational TDY flights of aircraft from various squadrons of, mission to maintain the defense of Iceland, protests about the US militarizing the country, 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, 932d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 667th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 934th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 960th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron, Low Frequency Analyzer and Recorder (LOFAR), Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap, Naval Radio Transmitter Facility Grindavik, The Defence Relationship of Iceland and the United States and the Closure of Keflavk base, "Security and Defence - Landhelgisgsla slands", "Waking up the Keflavik air base; US Navy returns after 10 years of absence", "US plans $200 million buildup of European air bases flanking Russia", "U.S. Government Debated Secret Nuclear Deployments in Iceland", "Iceland's Elves Are Enlisted in Anti-Nato Effort", "Naval Air Station Keflavik Disestablishes After 45 Years", "U.S. Military to Reopen Base in Iceland? [29] The satellite communications ship Kingsport joined the project in 1967 for acoustic and bathymetric work. This article incorporates public domain material from the .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Air Force Historical Research Agency. 5. [2] US forces would return to Keflavik starting from 2016. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography were also tasked to develop an understanding of long-range sound transmission under Project Michael. During the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, Keflavik also hosted rotational E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft from CONUS to support the air defense mission and rotational HC-130 Hercules aircraft from RAF Woodbridge from the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron to support their detachment of Keflavik-based HH-3 Jolly Green Giant and later HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters in their search and rescue mission. Find NAVFAC Keflavik, Iceland unit information, patches, operation history, veteran photos and more on TogetherWeServed.com. The airfield complex, one of the largest in the world during the war, also required upgrading to accommodate modern aircraft. Patterson Field was closed after the war, but Meeks Field and the adjoining structures were returned to Iceland's control and renamed Naval Air Station Keflavik after the nearby town of Keflavk. Keflavik, Iceland Naval Security Group Activity The U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Carol Van Voorst and special envoy for Icelands Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thorsteinn Ingolfsson. Air Force Units Army Units Coast Guard Units Marine Corps Units Navy Units Become a VetFriends Member Site Map. [1][3] The need to better understand the acoustic environment drove much of the oceanographic research by both the Navy and institutions with Navy funding for oceanography. The United States has had a military presence in Iceland since 1941, and a formal defense agreement with that nation since 1951.The Navy assumed the responsibility of running the air station from the U.S. Air Force in 1961.The base acted as a platform for several operational capabilities throughout World War II, the Cold War and in the modern arena. navfac keflavik, icelandcapricorn and virgo flirting. Mount Keilir. Systems terminating at Naval Facility Cape Hatteras and Naval Facility Antigua and two Evaluation Centers, forerunners of NOPFs, were established in New York and Norfolk during 1956. And we were successful and the NASKEF team had a great deal to do with that, Preston said. During 1996 NAVFAC Keflavik Iceland closes and the new Fixed Distributed System Initial Operational Capability is accomplished. SOSUS grew out of tasking in 1949 to scientists and engineers to study the problem of antisubmarine warfare. [3], The Navy operational side, taking over when the systems were accepted and turned over for operation, came under Commander, Oceanographic System Atlantic (COMOCEANSYSLANT) in 1954. In 2017, the United States announced its intention to modify the largest hangar on the Icelandic base in order to house the new Boeing P-8 Poseidon ASW aircraft being introduced. Commander Ocean Systems Atlantic launched an effort in 1964 to create a rating peculiar to SOSUS and allow personnel to remain within the community. A British request to establish bases in Iceland for the protection of the vital North Atlantic supply lines after German forces occupied Denmark and Norway in April 1940 was also turned down in accordance with the neutrality policy. Texas Applied Research Laboratories,[45] and several other organizations have used the system for research. Naval Ocean Processing Facility (NOPF), Dam Neck, Virginia, in 1980 with Western Atlantic consolidation was the first of the NOPFs to be so named. <>/Metadata 2877 0 R/ViewerPreferences 2878 0 R>>
NAVFAC KEFLAVIC ICELAND. As a result, people in the fleet often did not know of the system's dedicated antisubmarine mission. Join Navy Veterans. The US pulled out of Iceland about 2 years ago and Iceland is in the process of City-Data Forum > General Forums . [citation needed]. Whether you're a current student, parent, player, fan or alumni, you'll find over 500 products to customize from, including Keflavik Naval Air Station T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, Hats, Jerseys and more. [19][20] In 1954 ten additional arrays were ordered with three more in the Atlantic, six on the Pacific coast and one in Hawaii. Mentions of environmental sustainability decreased by 51% in the aerospace, defence & security industry in Q3 2022, Whos saying what? These are the U. S. Naval Facilities. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the airfield was available for maritime patrol activities, air defense and for transiting aircraft between North America and Europe, in addition to supporting Iceland's international civilian aviation. NAVFAC Keflavik, Iceland commissioned and (Station AT) became operational; LT Ernest CASTILLO, III, USN was the first CO May NAVFAC Lewes, DE backfitted with DSA vernier and super-vernier equipment Sep NAVFAC Keflavik (Station AT-1) became operational Oct NAVFAC Eleuthera (Station MIKE-SUGAR) became operational 1967 In a separate development, the Department of the Air Force has chosen 15 additional companies to participate to develop new capabilities for Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). The airport was built by the United States military during World War II, as a replacement for a small British landing strip at Garur to the north. Have you had an experience related to the contents of this article? Intended as a temporary wartime base under an agreement with Iceland and the British, U.S. forces withdrew by 1947 but returned in 1951 as the Iceland Defense Force resident on a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base. [16], The original Naval Facilities and later, consolidated, processing centers were high security installations characterized by an outer security fence and gate checkpoint. The combination of location within the ocean and the sensitivity of arrays allowed the system to detect acoustic power of less than a single watt at ranges of several hundred kilometres. Naval Facility [NAVFAC], Keflavik, Iceland Tactical Support Center Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA Tactical Support Center .-.-.-. The US Navy requested funds on the 2017 US military budget for the upgrading of an aircraft hangar in Keflavk Airport, which served as a US Naval base until 2006. The product of these displays was the LOFARgram which graphically represented acoustic energy and frequency against time. Yes I enjoyed Iceland! [1][21] By the 1980s improved communications technology allowed the array data once processed in individual Naval Facilities to be sent to central processing centers (Naval Ocean Processing Facility (NOPF)) for centralized processing of multiple fixed and mobile array information. SOSUS history began in 1949 when the US Navy approached the Committee for Undersea Warfare, an academic advisory group formed in 1946 under the National Academy of Sciences, to research antisubmarine warfare. . The Keflavk Naval Air Station played an important role during the Cold War, allowing the US to monitor Soviet activities in the North Atlantic. MILITARY UNITS - NAVFAC KEFLAVIC ICELAND VetFriends Veteran ID Card Quick Links. Do you have NAVFAC KEFLAVIK ICELAND Reunion information you'd like to share. The first US troops after WWII were stationed . Hover to zoom. Naval Security Group Activity Keflavik was decommissioned and shut down in 1994. <>
The new Advanced Deployable System enters as a part of IUSS and NAVFAC Brawdy, Wales closes with equipment and operation transferred to Joint Maritime Facility St Mawgan during 1995. [note 11] Kingsport was still with the project. SOSUS then became the major collector of Soviet submarine signatures and "boot strapped" itself to becoming the primary signature library for itself and becoming the major intelligence source for all other Navy acoustic sensor systems. During 1981 Naval Ocean Processing Facility (NOPF), Ford Island became operational and the decommissioning of NAVFAC Midway with that system's data routed to NAVFAC Barbers Point was completed. On 25 May 1951 the United States Air Force (USAF) reestablished its presence at Keflavik Airport with the stationing of the 1400th Air Base Group. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilities were taken over by the Icelandic Defence Agency as their primary base until 1 January 2011, when the Agency was abolished and the base handed over to . [1], The combination of research and engineering under Jezebel and Michael into an actual broad area surveillance system as seen by Project Hartwell's Frederick V. Hunt became the Sound Surveillance System with the acronym SOSUS. In September 1954, Naval Facility Ramey was commissioned in Puerto Rico. It describes the operational arrays as being 1,800ft (548.6m) long. Artemis, goddess of the hunt, stood for those cleared for Frederick V. Hunt and his idea of a passive system like SOSUS in his May 1950 report. The positions of Commander, Fleet Air Keflavik and Commander, Iceland Defence Force were held by the same U.S. Navy rear admiral. [10][11], In January 2010, Verne Holdings announced that it had received equity funding from the Wellcome Trust to build a data center at Keflavik. [3], USNS Stalwart and USNSWorthy(T-AGOS-14) monohull SURTASS ships were withdrawn with SWATH hull USNSVictorious(T-AGOS-19) accepted by the Navy during 1992. NAVFAC Bermuda data is routed to Naval Ocean Processing Facility (NOPF) at Dam Neck. homes for sale by owner in vinton county, ohio; matthew reed obituary; cjfl eligibility rules; alabama symphony orchestra appalachian spring; how to auto sync photos to sound on tiktok [1][3], The cable ships Neptune and Albert J. Myer were acquired to support Project Caesar with later addition of the cable ships Aeolus and Thor. [10][14] Despite being qualified for a warfare specialty and its symbols, the Navy personnel in the small SOSUS community could not do so for the sake of secrecy until the mission became public in 1991. The base offered a wide variety of recreational services which included bowling, swimming, gymnasium, theater, social clubs, a Wendy's restaurant, and hobby centers. With all noncritical surplus equipment and supplies disposed of, all U.S. air activity ended at the airfield on 11 March 1947. But this was insufficient for the new Defense Force, so additional facilities had to be provided quickly. yb. I was stationed at an off-site location known as a NAVFAC, although I lived with my family on the air station. Augmenting these local improvements was the increased central processing in centers that eventually became the Naval Oceanographic Processing Facilities. stream
[1][3][18], From 219 January 1952 the British cable layer Alert installed the first full sized, 1,000ft (304.8m) long, forty transducer element operational array in 240 fathoms (1,440.0ft; 438.9m) off Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The core fleet appears to be those listed below. NAVFAC Ramey becomes NAVFAC Punta Borinquen in 1974. [3], In 1974 Naval Facility Brawdy, Wales was established as the terminus of new arrays covering the eastern Atlantic. * United States Air Forces units changed from host to tenant status on 1 July 1961, when the U.S. Icelandic nationals had unrestricted access to most of the base, especially since the civilian international airport terminal was also located on the base at the time. [citation needed]. US Naval Facility Keflavik, Iceland, the oldest operating site in the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS), closed after 30 years of service on Dec. 30, 1996. . The operators had no information on which to identify a hostile submerged submarine's unique signature while snorkeling on the LOFARgram. [30], In 1980 consolidation and elimination of expensive individual facilities was made possible by the Wideband Acoustic Data Relay (WADR) first installed at Midway Island in January 1982 so that the two Midway arrays could eventually be remoted directly to NOPF Ford Island. Over the next four decades, the Defense Force was "at the front" of the Cold War and was credited[by whom?] The design and construction manager, Detachment 4, will carry out the project with aid from NAVFAC EURACENT. "[7] This refers to A2 on the musical scale, which is technically two A's below middle C. Jezebel and LOFAR branched into the localization of submarines with the AN/SSQ-28 passive omnidirectional Jezebel-LOFAR sonobuoy introduced in 1956 for use by the air antisubmarine forces. ", "Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) History 1950 - 2010", "Naval Facility Keflavik March 1966 - December 1996", USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers1908 to present, Official Navy disestablishment press release, Guarding the United States and its Outposts, United States Army Center of Military History, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naval_Air_Station_Keflavik&oldid=1133698383, Reykjavik Administrative Area, 6 August 1941, Keflavik Airport*, 25 October 1946 28 June 2006, European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA), 10 June 1942, 386th Army Air Force Base Unit, 1 August 1944 18 February 1946, 1400th Air Base Group, 23 May 1951 1 July 1960, 53d Air Rescue Squadron, 14 November 1952 24 March 1960. [1][8], The system was considered a strategic, not tactical, system at the time and part of continental defense. [1][3][6] The origin of the project name was explained by Dr. Robert Frosch to Senator Stennis during a 1968 hearing. In addition, during this same time period, the former Soviet Union constructed one of their largest embassy facilities in the nearby capital, Reykjavik, which doubled as a diplomatic cover for intelligence collection activities against U.S. and NATO military forces. Naval Air Station Keflavik was the host command for all U.S. defense activities in Iceland. During 1958 the remainder of the Pacific stations at Naval Facility Point Sur and Centerville Beach in California and Pacific Beach, Washington, and Coos Head near Coos Bay, Oregon were installed. If you worked at or supported the Naval Facility on NAS Keflavik, you are. With American air activities greatly reduced in Europe in the immediate postwar months, U.S. flying operations were similarly reduced in preparation for transfer of the base to the Icelandic government at the end of 1946. [3] NAVFAC Cape Hatteras closed in 1982 and in 1983 Midway acoustic data was rerouted directly to Naval Ocean Processing Facility, Ford Island. Tactical Support Center Keflavik - U.S. The Navy was requesting four fully functional cable ships, the modernized Albert J. Myer and Neptune and two large new ships. Keflavk, a small beautiful town is located in southwest Iceland positioned along the Reykjanes Peninsula.Keflavk (meaning 'Driftwood Bay') is a home to Keflavk Airport that marks the footprints of travelers coming from around the world. Shore upgrades and new cable technology allowed system consolidation until by 1980 . Army National Guard units and Interim Marine Security Forces stormed the lava fields surrounding the base during training exercises such as Northern Viking. Organization. [10], The first women were assigned to NAVFAC Eleuthera when an officer and ten enlisted women were assigned in 1972. That opened a new field for women outside the usual medical, education, or administrative specialties. The Detachment 4 of the US Air Force (USAF) Installation and Mission Support Center has awarded three contracts with a total value of $38m to upgrade the airfield infrastructure at Naval Air Station Keflavik in Iceland. History Facilities Related Programs. PDF: NAVFAC Pacific Organizational Chart February 2022. wb. [1] The system could provide cuing information on the presence of the submarines and an approximate location for air or surface antisubmarine warfare assets to localize the target. This was the beginning of the Iceland Defense Force. [12], In September 2015, news media reported U.S. government officials expressed a desire to reopen aspects of the NATO base of Keflavik Naval Air Station, to cope with increasing Russian military activity around Iceland. [7], On 1 October 1979 Tactical Air Command (TAC) absorbed ADC's assets, and the F-4E Phantom II aircraft of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (57 FIS). It has the typical cone shape of a volcano, thought I'm not sure if it is, and is a prominent sight as you travel along. Argentia became a joint Canadian Forces and U.S. Navy facility. The first detection of a Soviet nuclear submarine had been by United States Naval Facility, Barbados on 6 July 1962 of a submarine off the coast of Norway as it entered the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap. The system was capable of oceanic surveillance with the long ranges made possible by exploiting the deep sound channel, or SOFAR channel. [1] The cable of the time consisted of multi-pair wire connected to the forty hydrophones of the array. In 1951, the U.S. military returned to the airport under a defense agreement between Iceland and the U.S. signed on 5 May 1951.[5]. (B. [3][34][note 10] The facility (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}515215.3N 0050813.8W / 51.870917N 5.137167W / 51.870917; -5.137167) was adjacent to the Royal Air Force Station Brawdy which had returned to RAF control during February 1974 after closure in 1971. Browse Military Units. Though there is no positive proof that action was the cause, the Yankees moved back to their usual areas and had not moved close to the U.S. coast again at the time of the piece. In 1998 that command was placed under Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Less than a year later, the 57 FIS was redesignated as the 57 Fighter Squadron (57 FS) and reassigned to the 35th Fighter Wing that was transferred from the closing George AFB, California. Mountains. The unclassified name Project Caesar was used to cover the installation of the system and a cover story developed regarding the shore stations, identified only as a Naval Facility (NAVFAC), being for oceanographic research. Header Menu Menu navfac keflavik, iceland. Region: Reykjanes. The same year, the Pacific systems began to be installed and activated. The Ocean System commands, COMOCEANSYSLANT (COSL) and COMOCEANSYSPAC (COSP), then began to reflect their true nature as Undersea Surveillance commands COMUNDERSEASURVLANT (CUSL) and COMUNDERSEASURVPAC (CUSP) under the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) name that had come into effect in 1985 as systems other than fixed emerged. Yes, I was a plank owner. Office of Air Force History, Fletcher, Harry R., Air Force Bases Volume II, Active Air Force Bases outside the United States of America on 17 September 1982, Office of Air Force History, 1989, Hill, Mike and Campbell, John, Tactical Air Command An Illustrated History 19461992, 2001, Martin, Patrick, Tail Code: The Complete History Of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings, 1994, Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983, Ravenstein, Charles A., Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 19471977, Office of Air Force History, 1984. NAS PANAMA CANAL NAVAL STATION HAT PATCH CAP US NAVY VETERAN USS SAILOR GIFT WOW. During 194751, while the base was operated by a U.S. civilian contractor company most of the World War II temporary structures were left empty and became badly deteriorated. Also present were representatives from Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark. [24] The SD-C cable was the basis for a fourth generation of sonar sets with installation of the Lightweight Undersea Components (LUSC) involving new shore equipment in 1984. The hangar housed rotational P-3 Orion aircraft and crews in support of anti-submarine warfare until 2004. An indication of ranges is the first detection, recognition and reporting of a Soviet nuclear submarine coming into the Atlantic through the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap by an array terminating at NAVFAC Barbados on 6 July 1962. [11] The first Atlantic stations, ranging from Nova Scotia to Barbados, formed a long line semicircle looking into the Western Atlantic basin with geographic separation for contact correlation and triangulation. A contractor for the Office of Naval Research, Fleet Analysis and Support Division published an unclassified report with "SOSUS" in association with the system acronym "SOSS", defined as "Sound Search Station," and a capability to display data from sonobuoys side by side on either aircraft or SOSS displays in contact classification as either friendly or unfriendly targets. United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) took over ACC responsibilities at Keflavik on 1 October 2002 as part of a larger restructuring of the unified commands. The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was a submarine detection system based on passive sonar developed by the United States Navy to track Soviet submarines. We have incorporated innovative design and construction techniques to build resilient facilities to ensure the longest lifespan at the overall lowest lifecycle cost.. British and US Forces then begin joint, combined operations at NOPF Dam Neck. endobj
During the height of the Cold War, this access situation created definitive operational security (OPSEC) concerns by U.S. and NATO officials due to potential espionage activities by Soviet operatives masquerading as Icelandic nationals. The facility at Whidbey, with multiple systems terminating there became Naval Ocean Processing Facility (NOPF) Whidbey. It received long-range radar inputs from five radar sites: the four sites in Iceland plus a data-tie from the Trshavn AS radar in the Faroe Islands. Also Air Force component of NATO Iceland Defense Force. SOSUS shore terminal processing stations were designated with the vague, generic name of Naval Facility (NAVFAC). Though reluctant to sanction the stationing of foreign troops in significant numbers on their soil, Icelandic officials decided in light of the fact they had no standing army to speak of, that membership in NATO alone was not a sufficient defense; and at the request of NATO, Iceland entered into a defense agreement with the United States directly[citation needed]. Meeks Field to the north-west opened on 23 March 1943. Don't worry, we won't spam you. The Icelandic government turned them down. The cover explained that data gathered by oceanographic and acoustic surveys with ships could at times be collected "more expeditiously and more economically by means of shore stations. [3], With the new, mobile systems Towed Array Sensor System (TASS) and the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) entering the system, the SOSUS name was changed in 1984 to Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) to reflect the change from bottom fixed systems alone. * Rotational TDY flights of aircraft from various squadrons of 52d Operations Group, Spangdahlem AB, Germany. The US forces replaced the British garrison stationed in . By mid-July 2006, many of the military spouses and military active duty staff had transferred. Bragi's personal project became an exhibition, Iceland Defense Force, that's been widely displayed in Iceland and is now on show in Umbrella Gallery in New York City (317 E 9th St Ste 2, New York, 10003, umbrellaarts.com). It was the primary cuing system which antisubmarine forces used to localize and potentially destroy targets for over forty years but secrecy largely kept that fact from the fleet. If you would like to find more information about benefits offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, please visit the official U.S. government web site for veterans benefits at. Changes in Soviet operations, few hostile nuclear submarines at sea and the ending of the Cold War in the 1990s meant the need to maintain IUSS/SOSUS at full capability decreased. The major commands stationed on the base were the USAF's 85th Group, Fleet Air Keflavik, the headquarters of the U.S.-provided Iceland Defense Force, Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station (NCTS) Keflavik, U.S. AFCEC Facility Engineering Directorate director Col David Norton said: The airforce depends on the technical expertise of the professionals from AFCEC and Det. Further NAVFACs shut down in 1976 with NAVFACs Punta Borinquen and Nantucket decommissioned. Even then, others had doubts until 19631964 Norwegian data on submarines deploying or returning collected correlated signatures.