Editing Ellsworth Air Force Base (section)

====Air Defense Command, 1953–1962====
[[Air Defense Command]] (ADC) activated the [[740th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron]] at Rapid City AFB on 1 February 1953 under the ADC [[31st Air Division]]. The site was located on the base, and was given designation M-97. The site was part of the ADC's planned deployment of 44 mobile radar stations across the United States to support the permanent air defense radar network established during the [[Cold War]]. The squadron was reassigned to the [[29th Air Division]] on 16 February 1953, and Rapid City AFB was re-designated Ellsworth AFB.

The 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with [[AN/MPS-7]] search radar, and initially the station functioned as a ground-controlled interception (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/MPS-14]] height-finder radar was added in 1956. In 1959 an [[AN/FPS-20]]A search radar replaced the AN/MPS-7 set. The squadron was reassigned to the [[Minot Air Defense Sector]] on 1 January 1961.

Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued. After M-97 closed, coverage was assumed by [[Sundance AFS]], Wyoming (TM-201/Z-201).<ref>A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 – 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado</ref><ref>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.</ref>