NORAD Control Center

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with the combined NORAD/ADC command centers in the Colorado Springs area from 1957: Ent AFB, the Chidlaw Building, Cheyenne Mountain, or for NORAD/NORTHCOM, Peterson AFB.
NORAD Control Center
Joint Manual Direction Center
Joint Fire Direction Center
NORAD sector direction center
military installation
USAF SAGE Air Defense Sectors that included Army Nike Defense Areas had to coordinate GCI (e.g., designate an interceptor airbase or SAM launch site to attack a target). The "NORAD sector direction center" (NSDC) in a hardened blockhouse (large "cube" structure, above) included a US Army "ADA battle staff officer" and "air defense artillery director (ADAD) consoles" manned by ARADCOM [ 1] to provide crosstelling of attack information to NIKE Defense Areas' Army Air Defense Command Posts (e.g., at Missile Master nuclear bunkers).
Country United States
Part of North American Air Defense Command
Parts ADDC & AADCP [1]
Operational 1958 May 15: Geiger Field WA

NORAD Control Centers (NCCs) were Cold War "joint direction centers"[ 1] for command, control, and coordination of ground-controlled interception by both USAF Air Defense Command (ADC) and Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM). The Joint Manual Steering Group was "formed by the Army and Air Force in July 1957 to support…collocation"[ 1] of USAF Air Defense Direction Centers and Army Air Defense Command Posts, which began after a January 28, 1958, ADC/ARADCOM meeting with NORAD to "collocate the Fairchild-Geiger facilities" (operations began on May 15, 1958.)[ 1] Army contracts for 5 NCCs had been let by August 17, 1958, after 1956 DoD approval for collocation of interim "pre-SAGE semiautomatic intercept systems" and radar squadrons at 10 planned Army Missile Master AADCPs[ 1] (the remaining 5 Missile Master bunkers of the Joint Use Site System (JUSS) were delayed until the Missile Master Plan[2] resolved the BOMARC/NIKE surface-to-air missile dispute.)[3]

Stations

Two NCCs were completed in Alaska ("Fire Island on 1 March 1959 and Murphy Dome on 10 May 1959"), and by the end of 1959 NCCs "with limited ident­ification and control facilities [were at:]

Loring AFB, Fairchild AFB, [sic] Ellsworth AFB, Minneapolis, Malmstrom AFB, Glasgow AFB, Minot AFB, Mt. Home AFB, Davis-Monthan AFB, and Offutt AFB."[4]

USAF/Army collocation in Texas, Kansas, and Illinois was underway in 1959.[5]

Several USAF AC&W squadrons during the SAGE Geographic Reorganization had begun moving to JUSS installations by May 15, 1960, e.g., 635th RADSQ to operate the RP-1 site radars at the 1st completed Missile Master bunker (Ft Lawton SE-90DC on January 21, 1960). Mill Valley Air Force Station was the "San Francisco Defense Area NORAD Control Center from 1961 to 1974" after the "40th Artillery Brigade Air Defense Command Post" was established in September 1961 with a BIRDIE command, control, and coordination.[6] NCC tracking data was provided to the computer(s) at the "NORAD/ADC Combined Operations Center" which opened at the 1963 Chidlaw Building in Colorado Springs near Ent Air Force Base.

Computerized centrals

Military installations with hardened NCCs included 9 JUSS stations with partially underground Missile Master nuclear bunkers housing Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense Systems and over 20 bases with above ground SAGE Direction Centers built for 5 psi (34 kPa).overpressure[ 1]:264 and containing AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Centrals (the last completed "SAGE direction center became operational at Sioux City, Iowa, in December 1961)." Three SAGE DCs were collocated with SAGE Combat Centers that used AN/FSQ-8 Combat Control Centrals for managing the air battle. Solid-state Martin AN/GSG-5/6 BIRDIE systems were at Mill Valley AFS CA, Belleville AFS IL, and in Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas (2) by July 1, 1962.[ 1]:131 In 1968, 17 of the NORAD Control Centers received the new Bell 305 Switching System to use AUTOVON telecommunications for Back-Up Interceptor Control.[7]

AADCPs at NORAD Control Centers were phased out as Nike Defense Areas were closed (e.g., by Project Concise in 1974) and on December 23, 1980, the USAF declared full operational capability for the first seven Joint Surveillance System ROCCs[ 1] with Hughes AN/FYQ-93 systems.[8]

External images
Fort Fisher NCC, Security Post, & radome

References

  1. ↑ Morton, Col. John, narrator (). In Your Defense (digitized movie). Western Electric. Retrieved 2012-04-03. 
  2. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HzY_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=7VAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3193,5546728&dq=missile-master-plan&hl=en 1959
  3. ↑ "To Congress Today: Missile Master Plan is Readied" (Google News Archive). Sarasota Herald Tribune. June 12, 1959. Retrieved 2011-09-20.  (Windsor Daily Star article: Peek Slated At Missile Master Plan Retrieved 2011-09-28)
  4. ↑ Preface by Buss, L. H.—Director.  (Report).
  5. ↑ Preface by Buss, L. H.—Director.  (Report).
  6. ↑ "title tbd". TechBastard.com. Retrieved [date needs specified]. "The 666th Radar Squadron [at Mill Valley Z-38] was under the manual control system of operations from 1951 and was designated as a Master Direction Center. … September [1961], the squadron became host to the 40th Artillery Brigade Air Defense Command Post. The station was then equipped with Battery Integration and Radar Display Equipment (BIRDIE)." 
  7. ↑ Russey, W. A. "Commanding with Communications -- Reprint" (Gene McManus pdf "created 2/24/2008"). Southern Telephone News. Retrieved 2013-05-02. "a new switching system. It is the 305 Switching System and is a part of the over-all integrated nationwide network of SAGE (Semiautomatic Ground Environment) and BUIC (Back-Up Interceptor Command). … Staff Sergeant Darrel Dobbins … Captain D. C. Cook, Director of Operations, 701st Radar Squadron … Airmen 1-C T. S. Sarris … Bell System 305 Switching System"  (article includes image of general surveillance radar on 30 foot tower and height-finder)
  8. ↑ "USAF Air Defense Radar Equipment". Online Radar Museum. Retrieved 2013-02-22. "AN/FPS-24…Frequency-diverse search radar designed for SAGE [also:] AN/FPS-26…AN/FPS-27…AN/FPS-28…Field tested at Houma AFS, LA" 
  9. ↑ Del Papa, Dr. E. Michael; Warner, Mary P. (October 1987). A Historical Chronology of the Electronic Systems Division 1947-1986 (Report). http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a201708.pdf. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  10. ↑ Missile Master… (field manual), FM44-1, United States Army, "AN/FSG-1 … f. Utilizes reference track data from local radars and voice communications with the NORAD sector direction center (NSDC) or GC 1 station when SAGE data is unavailable. … 22. Normal Tracking The S & E [Surveillance & Entry] officers and the trackers monitor the SAGE reference track data …at NORAD SAGE direction centers…personnel operate the air defense artillery director (ADAD) consoles … An Army field grade officer serves as the ADA battle staff officer on the NORAD sector commander's operational staff." 
  11. ↑ McMaster, B. N., et al. (December 1984). Historical Overview of the Nike Missile System (Report). Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc.. http://www5.hanford.gov/pdw/fsd/AR/FSD0001/FSD0037/D199049898/D199049898_19126_147.pdf. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  12. ↑ (PDF) NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary July–December 1958 (Report). 1958b. Ent Air Force Base: Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services. 15 April 1959. http://www.northcom.mil/FOIA/docs/1958%20NORAD%20CONAD%20History%20Jul-Dec.pdf. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
    In September 1956, CONAD proposed to the JCS the collocation of the Missile Master and the Air Force's AN/GPA-37 in ten areas. The Office of the Secretary of Defense concurred on 30 October 1956. … The NORAD Control Centers were referred to by such terms as Joint Fire Direction Centers and Joint Manual Direction Centers. In October 1958, NORAD asked that the term NORAD Control Center be used for the collocated facility.
    —p. 31 (p. 54 of PDF document)
    On 5 August 1958, Department of the Army informed USARAL that two AN/MSQ-18 systems were to be delivered in the second quarter FY 1960…modified for integration into the joint direction centers …includ[ing] dismounting the systems to fit into the centers
    —p. 50 (p. 73 of PDF document)
    Geiger Field. At an ADC, ARADCOM, NORAD meeting on 28 January 1958, agreement was reached that collocation at Geiger was feasible. Action to collocate the Fairchild-Geiger facilities was started soon thereafter, and on 15 May 1958, operations began. This was the first NORAD Control Center. It was not officially recognized by general order until 1 September 1958. Effective this date, the Geiger center was established and assigned to the 25th NORAD Division.
    —p. 42 (p. 65 of PDF document)
  13. ↑ Schaffel, Kenneth (1991). "Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense 1945-1960" (45MB pdf). General Histories (Office of Air Force History). ISBN 0-912799-60-9. http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/Annotations/schaffelemerging.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-26. "A SAGE component, a 64 x 64 [4K] magnetic core memory … SAGE direction center. This installation is located at Stewart Air Force Base in New York state. …[Hancock Field] combined direction-combat center was located at Syracuse, New York." [captions of p. 198, 208, & 265 photos]
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.