NORAD Control Center

NORAD Control Center

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 Army Air Defense Command[1] to provide crosstelling of attack information to NIKE Defense Areas' Army Air Defense Command Posts (e.g., at Missile Master nuclear bunkers).
Alternative names
  • Joint Manual Direction Center
  • Joint Fire Direction Center
  • NORAD sector direction center
General information
Status Defunct
Type Military installation
Country United States
Owner North American Air Defense Command

NORAD Control Centers (NCCs) were Cold War "joint direction centers"[2] 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"[3] 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.)[2] 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[2] (the remaining 5 Missile Master bunkers of the Joint Use Site System (JUSS) were delayed until the Missile Master Plan[4] resolved the BOMARC/NIKE surface-to-air missile dispute.)[5]

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."[6]

USAF/Army collocation in Texas, Kansas, and Illinois was underway in 1959.[3]

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.[7] 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[8]: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.[9]: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.[10]

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[11] with Hughes AN/FYQ-93 systems.[12]

External images
Fort Fisher NCC, Security Post, & radome

References

  1. ↑ Missile Master… (field manual), FM44-1, United States Army, February 1963
  2. 1 2 3 NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary July–December 1958 (PDF) (Report). 1958b. Ent Air Force Base: Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services. 15 April 1959. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  3. 1 2 Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (1 November 1959). North American Air Defense Command and Continental Air Defense Command Historical Summary: January–June 1959 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services.
  4. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HzY_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=7VAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3193,5546728&dq=missile-master-plan&hl=en 1959
  5. ↑ "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)
  6. ↑ Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (1 May 1960). North American Air Defense Command and Continental Air Defense Command Historical Summary: July–December 1959 (PDF) (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services.
  7. ↑ "Mill Valley Early Warning Mission". TechBastard.com. Retrieved 2015-02-16. 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).
  8. ↑ Schaffel, Kenneth (1991). Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense 1945-1960 (45MB pdf). General Histories (Report) (Office of Air Force History). ISBN 0-912799-60-9. Retrieved 2011-09-26. [captions of p. 198, 208, & 265 photos]
  9. ↑ McMaster, B. N., et al. (December 1984). Historical Overview of the Nike Missile System (PDF) (Report). Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  10. ↑ Russey, W. A. (September 1968). "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)
  11. ↑ Del Papa, Dr. E. Michael; Warner, Mary P. (October 1987). A Historical Chronology of the Electronic Systems Division 1947-1986 (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  12. ↑ "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
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