The US radar station 'Prüm Air Station', on the heights of the Schneifel, was built in the 1950s and served purposes of communication between NATO, the US Ministry of Defense and the US forces in the nearby military bases at Bitburg and Spangdahlem in the Rhineland-Palatinate. Radar monitoring was the main task of this station. It was not so much a question of keeping an eye on the enemy as one of coordinating the take-off and landing of US aircraft. When the Cold War came to an end, the radar station lost its significance. It was closed in 2004.
