It is one of fifteen Long Range Radar Sites within Alaska maintained and operated by ARCTEC, a subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.

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

It was one of the 10 original AC&W surveillance stations constructed as part of the establishment of a permanent air defense system in Alaska during the early 1950s.

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

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.

In 1983, Indian Mountain AFS received a new AN/FPS-117 minimally attended radar under Alaskan Air Command's SEEK IGLOO program.

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.