As the Department of Defense's east coast spaceport and provider of launch support services, the 45th Space Wing is a far-reaching organization. Its Eastern Range extends more than 10,000 miles from the Florida mainland through the South Atlantic Into the Indian Ocean. The Eastern Range includes the launch head at Cape Canaveral AFS and a network of instrumentation stations including Malabar and Jonathan Dickinson Tracking Annexes and down-range sites at Antigua Air Station and Ascension Auxiliary Air Field. The Jonathan Dickinson Missile Tracking Annex is located 95 miles south of Cape Canaveral near Jupiter, Florida. This state-of-the-art site includes five telemetry units which monitor fuel consumption rates, propulsion systems performance, electronics and other subsystems on launch vehicles during flight.

JDMTA also employs radar, flight test support systems, a microwave relay to the Cape and a command destruct system—which is necessary to protect life and property should a launch veer off course.

Antigua AS is located 1,250 miles south of the Cape in the Lesser Antilles. Ascension AAF is built on a volcanic-rock island in the South Atlantic Ocean, nearly 5,000 miles down range.

Major instrumentation at the Antigua and Ascension sites includes radar and telemetry, tracking systems and telecommunications. Because of its strategic location, Ascension also supports several secondary missions. These secondary missions include maintaining sensors for the NORAD space tracking network, operations of the NAVSTAR global-monitoring station and ground antenna and global command and control communications for the Air Force and the Navy.

Air surveillance during launch countdowns—to make sure commercial aircraft are clear of restricted areas—is coordinated by the 45th Space Wing. Waters within the launch safety zone are patrolled jointly by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Air Force.