Patrick Air Force Base

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Patrick Air Force Base

Air Force Space Command.png
Part of Air Force Space Command (AFSC)
Located in: Brevard County, Florida
Titan IVB Centaur launching ELINTspy satellite.jpg
A Titan IV B rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral AFS on 9 September 2006.
Type Air Force Base
Coordinates 28°14′06″N 080°36′36″W / 28.235°N 80.61°W / 28.235; -80.61 (Patrick AFB)
Built 1949
In use 1949-Present
Controlled by  United States Air Force
Garrison 45th Space Wing.png
45th Space Wing (USAF)
Airfield information
IATA: COF – ICAO: KCOF – FAA LID: COF
Summary
Elevation AMSL 8 ft / 2 m
Website www.patrick.af.mil
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
2/20 9,023 2,750 Asphalt/Concrete
11/29 4,000 1,219 Asphalt
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]
Patrick AFB is located in Florida
{{{alt}}}
Patrick AFB
Location of Patrick AFB, Florida
HC-130s of the 920th Rescue Wing

Patrick Air Force Base (IATA: COF, ICAO: KCOF, FAA LID: COF) is a United States Air Force Base located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It was named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick. An Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) base, it is home to the 45th Space Wing (45 SW). In addition to its "host wing" responsibilities at Patrick AFB, the 45 SW also controls and operates Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) and the Eastern Range.

Additional tenant activities at Patrick AFB include the 920th Rescue Wing, the Air Force Technical Applications Center and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI). Total employment is 10,400. There are 13,099 military, dependents, civilian employees and contractors on base.[2]

The base is a census-designated place (CDP) and had a resident population of 1,222 at the 2010 census.[3]

Contents

[edit] Current operations

The host wing for Patrick AFB is the 45th Space Wing (45 SW), whose officers and airmen manage all launches of unmanned rockets at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). These rockets include satellites for the US military, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Security Agency, as well as scientific payload launches in support of NASA, weather satellite launches in support of NOAA, payloads in support of international customers such as the European Space Agency, and commercial payloads for various corporate communications entities. Units and individuals from the 45 SW have also deployed abroad during wartime, most notably during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom[4]

Also headquartered at Patrick Air Force Base is the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC). AFTAC is the sole Department of Defense agency operating and maintaining a global network of nuclear event detection sensors.

The 920th Rescue Wing (920 RQW), part of Air Force Reserve Command, is also headquartered at Patrick AFB. An Air Combat Command (ACC)-gained combat search and rescue organization, the 920 RQW is the only rescue wing in the Air Force Reserve, operating the HC-130P/N "King" variant of the C-130 Hercules and HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, ready for worldwide deployment. The wing is also a major player in civilian rescue operations, most notably is its role in manned spaceflight support to NASA, providing Eastern Range monitoring and search and rescue support for Space Shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Additional operations have also included searching the Caribbean for downed aircraft, as well as retrieving critically ill sailors and passengers from ships hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic, often at night and/or in bad weather. Because the USAF HH-60G can refuel in flight from the USAF HC-130, MC-130, or USMC KC-130, it possesses a much greater range and mission radius versus similar military helicopters.[5]

The 920 RQW is also a full participant in the Air Force's current Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force (AETF) operating concept. Under this concept, the bulk of the wing deployed to Iraq in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Subsequent AETF deployments have included Djibouti in 2004 and 2006 and Afghanistan in 2007 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.[6]

Adjacent to the 920 RQW's facilities is the NASA Flight Operations Facility, which provides support for NASA's permanently based UH-1H helicopters supporting Kennedy Space Center and transient NASA fixed-wing aircraft such as the T-38 Talon.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Air Wing helps foreign countries combat drugs and narcotics criminals. The Bureau operates a fleet of aircraft, primarily former USAF and USMC OV-10 and former USAF C-27 aircraft at Patrick AFB to help detect and interdict the drug trade in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Afghanistan.

[edit] History

The facility which is today Patrick AFB initially started as Naval Air Station Banana River, having been commissioned on October 1, 1940. NAS Banana River supported seaplane patrol operations during World War II and it continued to operate as a Navy support base for two years after the war. The installation was deactivated and placed in a caretaker status on August 1, 1947.

The Navy transferred NAS Banana River to the Air Force on September 1, 1948. The station was renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground (JLRPG) Base on June 10, 1949. On October 1, 1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base was transferred from Air Materiel Command to the Air Force Division of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground.

In 1971 DEOMI was created at the base.

Five of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 were stationed at Patrick.[7]

The 9/11 attacks prompted the Air Force to close the heavily used 4-lane Florida State Road A1A which ran near the AFTAC building for awhile. Then it was reopened to two lane traffic with car inspections; then two-lane traffic until a barrier was constructed in front of the building and the building reinforced with steel and concrete with the windows sealed.[8]

In February 2005, the officers club was destroyed by an accidental fire.[9]

In 2010, the Air Force announced its intention to replace the AFTAC building with a new one costing from $100 to $200 million. This was the largest construction project in the US for the AF. It will be 276,000 square feet (25,600 m2) multistory command and control building with a 38,000 square feet (3,500 m2) radiochemistry laboratory, 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) central utility plant and a 600 space 180,000 square feet (17,000 m2) parking garage. [8]

Boeing E-6 Mercurys, part of Operation Looking Glass were sometimes seen at PAFB in 2010-11 and often mistaken by onlookers for the President's Plane, Air Force One which looks similar.[10]

[edit] Operational history

On May 17, 1950, the base was renamed the "Long Range Proving Ground Base" but three months later was renamed "Patrick Air Force Base", in honor of Major General Mason Patrick.[11]

On May 3, 1951, the Long Range Proving Ground Division was assigned to the newly-created Air Research and Development Command (ARDC). The next month the division was redesignated the Air Force Missile Test Center (AFMTC).[11]

Cost comparison studies done in the early 1950s pointed out the desirability of letting contractors operate the station. The first range contract was signed with Pan American World Services on December 31, 1953. The Air Force Missile Test Center began transferring property and equipment to Pan American World Services at the end of that year. Pan American operated under contract to the Air Force for the next 34 years (until early October 1988). In 1988, the old range contract was divided into the Range Technical Services (RTS) and the Launch Base Services (LBS) contracts. The RTS contract was awarded to Computer Sciences Raytheon (CSR) in June 1988, and the LBS contract was awarded to Pan American World Services (later known as Johnson Controls) in August 1988.

Rocket and missile display in front of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick AFB, Florida, c. 1970. These static displays have since been relocated to the AF Space & Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral AFS.

The Eastern Range supported a variety of missile and manned and unmanned space programs in the 1960s, making it a regular focus of media attention. In the 1960s, a test range office at Patrick AFB with a missile backdrop was used to film scenes for the TV sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie, which was set in nearby Cocoa Beach (no cast was present).[12] But by the mid-1970s, the demise of the Apollo manned space program and the end of land-based ballistic missile development at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station signaled a downturn in fortunes, and on February 1, 1977, the "Air Force Eastern Test Range" organization was inactivated and its functions transferred to Detachment 1 of the Space and Missile Test Center (SAMTEC) until the activation of the Eastern Space and Missile Center in 1979 on October 1, 1979. In 1990, ESMC was transferred from the inactivating Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) to the newly established Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). On November 12, 1991 ESMC was inactivated and the 45th Space Wing (45 SW) assumed its remaining functions.[13]

[edit] Air Defense Command

In 1961, Patrick AFB began hosting a joint Federal Aviation Administration/Air Defense Command joint-use radar site featuring an AN/FPS-66 general surveillance radar set for air defense of the Patrick AFB/Cape Canaveral area. Designated site "Z-211" (FAA J-05), the 645th Radar Squadron was reactivated on 28 June 1962 to operate the radar, feeding data to SAGE Data Center DC-09 at Gunter AFB, Alabama.

Aerospace Defense Command operated the radar until 25 April 1976 when it was replaced by a detachment of the 20th Air Defense Squadron (OLA-A). The USAF radar was removed around 1988. After its closure by the Air Force, and turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The former ADC site was replaced by a new site near Melbourne, Florida, as part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS), designated by NORAD as Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS) Ground Equipment Facility "J-5", with a new ARSR-4 radar.[14]

[edit] Major commands assigned

  • Air Proving Ground Command, October 1, 1949
  • Air Research and Development Command, May 14, 1951
Redesignated: Air Force Systems Command, April 1, 1961

[edit] Major units assigned

  • 2nd Combat Communications Group (inactivated 1993)
  • 2770th Standby Squadron, November 20, 1948 - October 1, 1949
  • Advance HQ, Joint Long Range Proving Ground, October 1, 1949 - August 15, 1950
Redesignated, 4820th Air Base Squadron, August 15, 1950 - September 4, 1951
  • 6550th Air Base Wing, September 4, 1951 - March 1, 1953
Redesignated: 6550th Air Base Group, March 1, 1953 - October 1, 1990
Redesignated: 1040th Space Support Group, October 1, 1990 - November 12, 1991
Redesignated: 45th Support Group, November 12, 1991 - present
  • Air Force Eastern Test Range, October 1, 1949 - February 1, 1977
Det. 1 Space and Missile Test Center (SAMTEC), February 1, 1977 - October 1, 1979
Eastern Space & Missile Center (ESMC), October 1, 1979 - November 1, 1991
  • 4802d (later 6555th) Guided Missile Squadron, April 10, 1951 - August 15, 1959
Redesignated: 6555th Guided Missile Group, August 15, 1959 - July 1, 1992
  • 6541st Missile Test Wing, September 4, 1951 - September 7, 1954
  • 45th Space Wing on November 12, 1991–present
45th Support Group became subordinate of Wing
Eastern Space & Missile Center became subordinate of Wing

Reference for history summation, major commands assigned and major units assigned[13][15]

[edit] Buildings

The base has the Space Coast Inn for visiting personnel, dormitories for permanent party single enlisted personnel, quarters for families in three separate housing areas, recreational housing on the beach, beach access, combined officers and enlisted clubs, commissary, a large base exchange (BX), library and numerous morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) facilities.

There are several chapels including Chapel One, Chapel Two, South Chapel at the South Housing area, and Seaside Chapel (Building 440). There is also a "45th Space Wing Chapel" which travels with the Wing when it is deployed. The Catholic Group is called "St. George Parish" and meets in Chapel One or Two. While the buildings are owned by the Air Force, the Catholic Parish is under the spiritual direction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

In 2009, base housing was privatized and became available for lease by members of the Reserve and Guard, military retirees, Department of Defense civil service employees and DOD contractors.[16]

In 2010, the construction of a new 74,000 square feet (6,900 m2) medical clinic was started. It is expected to cost $18.5 million.[8]

[edit] Media

  • The Missileer - published weekly.

[edit] Surrounding areas

[edit] Access

Patrick Air Force Base lies on a barrier island, and is primarily accessed from the mainland by the Pineda Causeway (State Road 404) in Satellite Beach, or Florida State Road A1A which runs the entire length of Patrick AFB.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ FAA Airport Master Record for COF (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-10-25
  2. ^ Moody, R. Norman (13 February 2010). "New Commander takes the flag". Melbourne, Florida: Florida Today. pp. 1A. http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100213/NEWS01/2130322/New-commander-takes-the-flag. 
  3. ^ "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Patrick AFB CDP, Florida". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. http://factfinder2.census.gov. Retrieved January 31, 2012. 
  4. ^ Moody, R. Norman (May 12, 2007). After days of delay, airmen return from deployments. Florida Today. 
  5. ^ retrieved May 9, 2007
  6. ^ Moody, R. Norman (May 12, 2007). "After days of delay, airmen return from deployments". Florida Today. 
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ a b c Moody, R. Norman (15 October 2010). "Major construction planned at Patrick". Melbourne, Florida: Florida Today. pp. 1A. http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20101015/NEWS01/10150319/Major-construction-planned-at-Patrick. 
  9. ^ [2]. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
  10. ^ Moody, R. Norman (February 8, 2011). "President's plane was not Air Force One". Florida Today (Melbourne, Florida): pp. 2B. 
  11. ^ a b Lethbridge, Keith. "THE MISSILE RANGE TAKES SHAPE (1949-1958)". http://www.spaceline.org/capehistory/2a.html. Retrieved 2008-02-24. 
  12. ^ http://blogs.ocregister.com/travel/archives/2007/03/ooooooh_master_a_night_in_jean.html
  13. ^ a b "Fact Sheets : EVOLUTION OF THE 45TH SPACE WING". http://www.patrick.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4514. Retrieved 2008-06-02. 
  14. ^ Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
  15. ^ Mueller, Robert (1989). Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on September 17, 1982. USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C. ISBN 0912799536; 0160022614
  16. ^ Calkins, Chris (2009-01-29). "Base housing policy changes Feb. 2". 45th SW Public Affairs. http://www.patrick.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123133179. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 

[edit] Other sources

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Patrick Air Force Base
Portal icon Military of the United States portal
Portal icon United States Air Force portal
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patrick_Air_Force_Base&oldid=480945236"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages