Fighting between the Eritrean resistance and the Ethiopian government forces began affecting operations at Kagnew Station in the 1970s.

In March 1974, only 100 civilian technicians remained to operate the residual communications facility, along with their families, and eight to ten U.S. military personnel.

On the night of January 31, 1975, heavy fighting broke out in Eritrea and incoming rocket-propelled grenades landed inside the Tract E compound.

This began a season of frequent nighttime firefights between the Eritrean resistance and the Soviet-backed Ethiopian forces.

The Americans, Steve Campbell and Jim Harrel, worked for Collins International Service Company (CISCO), a government contractor.

On Friday 12 September 1975, the Eritrean Liberation Front, ELF, raided the US facility at Asmara, kidnapping a further eight people, including two Americans.

On February 12, 1976, a meeting at the White House Situation Room took place discussing Kagnew Station.

Early in 1977, the United States informed the Ethiopian Government that it intended to close Kagnew Station by September 30, 1977.

In April 1977, Mengistu abrogated the 1953 mutual defense treaty and ordered a reduction of U.S. personnel in Ethiopia, including the closure of Kagnew Communications Center and the consulate in Asmara".

Ethiopia then abrogated the 1953 United States-Ethiopian Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement and terminated the lease on Kagnew station.

Eritrea's geographical location; 15 degrees north of the equator at an altitude of 7,600 feet (2,300 m), was excellent for sending and receiving radio signals.

Early testing proved so promising that the War Department moved to expand operations before Asmara Barracks officially opened.

The dishes were used at Stonehouse,[3] the military's "Deep Space Research Site," which was a joint project of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Army Security Agency (ASA).

Located on nearly the same longitude as the Soviet deep space command center in the Crimea, the large Stonehouse antennas were used to monitor telemetry from a variety of Russian spacecraft.

During the 1960s and 1970s Kagnew station was extremely unpopular with Eritrean nationalists and students, as it was viewed as an obvious symbol of an alliance between Emperor Haile Selassie's Ethiopia and American imperialism.

Due to its heavy protection, the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and students could do little about the station until the US government began withdrawing its personnel following the Ethiopian revolution during 1974.