In August 1967, a severe flood inundated the region surrounding Fairbanks, Alaska, and the squadron provided shelter to 216 refugees. The squadron was assigned its first female officer in 1973. By 1986, the squadron would be employing all-female crews. Because of a fire that destroyed part of a similar facility at Thule Air Base, Greenland, in 1981 the missile tracking radar and its radome were disassembled and replaced.[2]
The radar at Clear was the last mechanically operated BMEWS site. In 1998 the radar began to be converted to a phased array radar by employing components of the PAVE PAWS submarine-launched ballistic missile detection site from the closed facility at Eldorado Air Force Station near Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas. The new system, known as the Solid-State Phased-Array Radar System, achieved initial operating capability on 31 January 2001.[2]
On 21 May 2004, the 213th activated at Clear Air Force Station. In 2006, the 213th Space Warning Squadron became the majority force provider to the mission of Clear Air Force Station by providing both space operations crews for the early warning radar and security forces for the installation. The early warning radar supports ballistic missile warning for threats to North America. Clear Air Force Station consists largely of Air National Guard members assigned to the 213th, but the smaller active duty squadron, 13th Space Warning Squadron, maintains responsibility for both the installation and execution of the mission.
Lineage
Constituted as the 13th Missile Warning Squadron on 1 November 1966 and activated (not organized)
Organized on 1 January 1967
Redesignated 13th Space Warning Squadron on 15 May 1992
Redesignated 213th Space Warning Squadron, allotted to the Air National Guard, and federally recognized on 21 May 2004
