Redevelopment of Stanley R. Mickelson SAFEGUARD Complex
The decade of the 1970’s brought Nekoma, North Dakota, to world prominence when the SAFEGUARD Antiballistic Missile System was located in the surrounding area of Cavalier, Pembina and Ramsey Counties in the northeastern corner of the state. The SAFEGUARD System was the result of an unprecedented technological evolution encompassing more than 20 years of research and development of the system by the U.S. Army and its contractors. The site became a negotiable asset of the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), and after reaching Fully Combat Ready Status in 1976, it was subsequently closed down.
Currently, local, regional, state and Congressional leaders are working to acquire the site for commercial development.
Site Quick Facts:
- Located 12 miles S. of Langdon, ND on ND Highway #1
- 435 acre-site, maintained through local contract with U.S. Military
- Available concrete block and cement buildings, all conducive to refurbishment and expansion according to need:
- Industrial building, 30’ high side walls, loading docks
- Gymnasium
- Community Center
- Headquarters building
- Electricity capacity 72,000 volt service 12/4/70 Service Line, truncated line that has a 115,000 voltage capacity.
- Electrical service through Cavalier Rural Electric Co-op
- Water Service through the Langdon Rural Water Association
- Natural Gas through Montana Dakota Utilities
- Phone/Internet Service through Polar Communications (would need upgrades)
- One entrance/exit and an 8’ high chain link fence with outriggers in place to address security issues.
- Site drainage excellent
- The development of a 160 megawatt, 106 turbine wind farm was announced by Langdon Wind Energy on March 29, 2007. The project, located approximately 3 miles northeast of the Nekoma site, was constructed between 7-1-07 and 12-31-07. An additional 27 turbines were added to the wind farm in 2008.
- Efforts are also underway to use a portion of the site in conjunction with the University of North Dakota’s UAV Center of Excellence. The goal of the Center of Excellence is to promote excellence in aviation education and training related to Unmanned Aircraft Systems by establishing and operating an integrated environment for the safe testing and evaluation of UAV’s and technologies while providing training and collecting essential data.