)[21] President Dwight D. Eisenhower was notified on 23 April 1960 of "construction work at Thule on schedule [and that] all technical buildings have been accepted and emplacement of the electronic components is underway [and] erection of the four radar antennas was completed",[22] and radar testing began on 16 May 1960[23]—a simplex vacuum tube IBM 709 used as the prototype Missile Impact Predictor (MIP) occupied 2 floors [2] (duplex IBM-709-TX solid-state computers of the AN/FSQ-28 Missile Impact Predictor Set were later installed in Building 2.

)[24] To predict when parts "might break down",[25] the contractor also installed a "Checkout Data Processor"[3]--RCA 501 computers [4] with 32k "high speed memory", 5-76KC 556 bpi 3/4" tape drives, & 200 track random access LFE drums.

[10] After local interference (e.g., "cranes and floor waxers") and equipment problems were mitigated and a 72-hour test verified "the automatic rearward data transmission" (BRCS), the 1961 "authorization to begin fully automatic operation; effective 2400 hours GMT 31 January, was issued"[26] "Lt. Col. Harry J. Wills [was the] senior air force officer on the project at Thule" on 3 January 1961[33] ("BMEWS deputy program director" by 1964—he was reassigned from the BMEWS SPO to the "Space Track SPO"[8] on 14 February 1964.

)[34] Thule operations transferred from civilian contractors (RCA Government Services)[35] to Air Defense Command on 5 January 1962;[36] and 1962 sinkholes formed in the drainage ditch at "Scanner 6".

[13] After the Danish parliament approved, [14] Raytheon was contracted in 2005 to upgrade Thule's "Early Warning Radar" as part of the larger Ground-Based Midcourse Defense program.

[15] Thule's AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR) completes about 10% of the United States' observations of Earth orbiting satellites.