Cold Bay AFS was a continental defense radar station constructed to provide the United States Air Force early warning of an attack by the Soviet Union on Alaska.

Two other buildings contained living quarters, work areas, and recreational facilities plus opportunities for such sports as skiing, skating, horseshoes, and basketball.

As a result, personnel stationed there, with only very few exceptions, were able to wear "summer" uniforms year round, unless they had a need to go outside during the winter season.

It was inactivated in 1979, and replaced by an Alascom owned and operated satellite earth terminal as part of an Air Force plan to divest itself of the obsolete White Alice Communications System and transfer the responsibility to a commercial firm.

Over the years, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars.

In 1982, a new AN/FPS-117 minimally attended radar under Alaskan Air Command's SEEK IGLOO program was constructed about 2 miles southeast of the station 55°14′43″N 162°46′10″W / 55.24528°N 162.76944°W / 55.24528; -162.76944 (Cold Bay LRR A-08).

It was designed to transmit aircraft tracking data via satellite to the Alaskan NORAD Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC) at Elmendorf AFB.

In 1998 PACAF initiated "Operation Clean Sweep", in which abandoned Cold War stations in Alaska were remediated and the land restored to its previous state.

It had five manned detachments at remote sites, each located about 130 miles apart stretching from just west of King Salmon all the way to Nikolski Island, about halfway to Shemya.