Beginning in 1948, the Minnesota Air National Guard built permanent facilities on the east end of the field.

[3] SAGE was an automated control system for tracking and intercepting enemy bomber aircraft used by NORAD.

The air national guard base occupies 153.3 acres (620,000 m2) on the northeast corner of the airport.

[6] The munitions storage area, which is physically separated from the main base, occupies 16.71 acres (67,600 m2) north of Runway 09/27.

Normal ANG population is 320 personnel but surges to 1100 at least once each month during unit training assembly (UTA) drill sessions for the entire wing.