In 1972 20% of the site's "surveillance capability…became dedicated to search for SLBMs" and was subsequently renamed the 20th Missile Warning Squadron (the USAF SLBM Phased Array Radar System was initiated in November 1972 by the JCS while the Army's MSR and PAR phased arrays for missile defense were under construction.)

The unit was renamed the 20th Space surveillance squadron when a "new radar control computer" was installed at the site in 1994.

[3] By 2011 the site's "16 million observations of satellites per year" (rate of 30.4/minute) was "30 percent of the space surveillance network's total workload".

[citation needed] In September 2020, the 20 SPCS joined the newly created United States Space Force.

This sensitivity, and sky background during daytime that masks satellites reflected light, dictates that the system operate at night.

As with any ground-based optical system, cloud cover and local weather conditions directly influence its effectiveness.