At the end of World War II, Kwajalein was established as a U.S. Navy refueling, supply and communications station. A brief flurry of activity supporting Korean War operations in the early 1950’s and weapons testing a few years later was followed by declining activity that resulted in the station being scheduled for closure.

A new chapter in its history began in 1959, after Kwajalein was selected to be the test site for the NIKE-ZEUS anti-missile program by the U.S. Army Rocket and Guided Missile Agency. At approximately the same time, the island of Roi-Namur in Kwajalein Atoll was chosen for the development of a center for the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) of the (DoD). This program, designated Project PRESS (Pacific Range Electromagnetic Signature Studies), had related facilities in California, Hawaii and Wake Island. Naval Station Kwajalein became Pacific Missile Range Facility Kwajalein, with the Army and ARPA as tenants.

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In July 1964, command of Kwajalein was transferred from the Navy to the Army as Kwajalein Test Site (KTS), and assigned to the NIKE-ZEUS Project Office at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama.