Construction of what would become known as RCAF Station Cold Lake began in 1952 at the height of the
Cold War after a nearby site in Alberta's "Lakeland District" was chosen by the RCAF for the country's premier air weapons training base. The chosen location for the base was west of the former Town of
Grand Centre (now part of the City of Cold Lake), and was based on factors such as low population density, accessibility, weather, suitable terrain, and nearby available land for air weapons training. Although the location of the range attempted to avoid
First Nations reserves, it "encompassed traditional Aboriginal and treaty areas and the First Nations affected by the creation of the CLAWR were eventually compensated." Personnel arrived at Cold Lake on March 31, 1954, with operations at RCAF Station Cold Lake beginning that day. The following year, the federal government signed an agreement with the provinces of
Saskatchewan and Alberta for use of a tract of land measuring 180 km by 65 km covering an area of 11,700 square kilometres. This became known as the CLAWR and is the for the location of the base. CLAWR is the northern equivalent to the
United States Air Force's (USAF)
Nellis Air Force Range and provides a different training environment with heavy
boreal forest and numerous lakes more closely resembling European terrain. It hosts over 640 actual targets and 100 realistic target complexes, including 7 simulated aerodromes with runways, tarmac, aircraft, dispersal areas and buildings, as well as mechanized military equipment such as tanks, simulated radar and missile launching sites, mock industrial sites, and command and control centres. Operations in the 1950s and early 1960s centred around training crews destined for the
CF-100 Canuck all-weather interceptor, which was in operational use in Canada and
Western Europe. From 1962 onwards, the arrival of the
CF-104 Starfighter resulted in a change of task to the training pilots for Canada's
NATO commitment in
West Germany, which continued until the arrival of the CF-18 Hornet in 1982. Since then, the base has been the training focal point for this aircraft, in addition to operational squadrons being located here. On February 1, 1968, the RCAF was merged with the
Royal Canadian Navy and
Canadian Army to form the unified
Canadian Forces. RCAF Station Cold Lake saw its name changed to CFB Cold Lake and became the responsibility of
Air Defence Command. ADC and several other CF commands transformed in 1975 to become
Air Command (AIRCOM). During the 1980s, CFB Cold Lake was thrust into the international media spotlight when CLAWR was used as the target for testing of the newly developed
AGM-86 Tomahawk air-launched cruise missiles by the USAF. These missiles were launched from strategic bombers over the
Beaufort Sea and travelled up the
Mackenzie River valley, closely following the terrain at elevations of several metres above ground level. The tests caused significant controversy among peace activists and local
First Nations on the projected flight paths since the new untested weapons were considered a destabilizing force in the international arms race, potentially contributing to instability worldwide. The
Federal Court of Canada ruled in favour of allowing the tests to proceed in 1983 and the Canada–United States Test and Evaluation Program or CANUSTEP agreement was subsequently signed between both nations, allowing for the cruise missile tests to use Canadian airspace in the
Northwest Territories and Alberta en route to CLAWR. In 1990, 18 sounding rockets were launched. In 1995, the United States Air Force's
366th Air Base Wing,
Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, deployed to CFB Cold Lake for the 366th's Operational Readiness Inspection exercise. The deployment lasted approximately 14 days and consisted of three fighter and numerous support squadrons airlifting enough logistics and personnel to CFB Cold Lake to simulate setting up a frontline combat air base and initiating combat operations. In 2000/2001, several of the base's buildings were put on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings: Hangars 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and the Senior NCO's Building B-30. In 2007, the base was the setting for
Jetstream, a TV series depicting eight pilots training under the 410 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron to fly a CF-18. On August 27, 2020, the Government of Canada awarded EllisDon, Edmonton, with the $9.2 million construction of new facilities to house the RCAF's future fighter. The future fighter, to be housed at CFB Cold Lake and
CFB Bagotville, will require facility upgrades before the first delivery of the fighter in 2025. == Current use ==