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The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. As of 2021, the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and represents the land leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, along with the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers.
TACAMO is a United States military system of survivable communications links designed to be used in nuclear warfare to maintain communications between the decision-makers and the triad of strategic nuclear weapon delivery systems. Its primary mission is serving as a signals relay, where it receives orders from a command plane such as Operation Looking Glass, and verifies and retransmits their Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) to US strategic forces. As it is a dedicated communications post, it features the ability to communicate on virtually every radio frequency band from very low frequency (VLF) up through super high frequency (SHF) using a variety of modulations, encryptions and networks, minimizing the likelihood an emergency message will be jammed by an enemy. This airborne communications capability largely replaced the land-based extremely low frequency (ELF) broadcast sites which became vulnerable to nuclear strike.
The Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN) was a command and control communications system intended for use by the United States government to facilitate military communications before, during and after a nuclear war. Specifically, the GWEN network was intended to survive the effects of an electromagnetic pulse from a high-altitude nuclear explosion and ensure that the United States President or their survivors could issue a launch order to Strategic Air Command bombers by radio.
The Strategic Automated Command and Control System (SACCS) is a United States Strategic Command command and control system to coordinate the operational functions of United States nuclear forces.
A launch control center (LCC), in the United States, is the main control facility for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). A launch control center monitors and controls missile launch facilities. From a launch control center, the missile combat crew can monitor the complex, launch the missile, or relax in the living quarters. The LCC is designed to provide maximum protection for the missile combat crew and equipment vital to missile launch. Missile silos are common across the midwestern United States, and over 450 missiles remain in US Air Force (USAF) service.
The Boeing EC-135 is a retired family of command and control aircraft derived from the Boeing C-135 Stratolifter. During the Cold War, the EC-135 was best known for being modified to perform the Looking Glass mission where one EC-135 was always airborne 24 hours a day to serve as flying command post for the Strategic Air Command in the event of nuclear war. Various other EC-135 aircraft sat on airborne and ground alert throughout the Cold War, with the last EC-135C being retired in 1998. The EC-135N variant served as the tracking aircraft for the Apollo program.
Hawes Radio Relay Facility was a United States Air Force installation built on the site of the former Hawes Airfield at Hinkley, California, USA at 34°55′1″N117°22′36″W. The site contained a 373.7-meter-tall (1,226 ft) guyed mast antenna and hardened underground facility used for the Strategic Air Command's AN/FRC-117 Survivable Low Frequency Communications System. Detachment 2, 33rd Communications Group at March AFB, ran the site until its inactivation in 1986.
Looking Glass is the code name for an airborne command and control center operated by the United States. In more recent years it has been more officially referred to as the ABNCP. It provides command and control of U.S. nuclear forces in the event that ground-based command centers have been destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable. In such an event, the general officer aboard the Looking Glass serves as the Airborne Emergency Action Officer (AEAO) and by law assumes the authority of the National Command Authority and could command execution of nuclear attacks. The AEAO is supported by a battle staff of approximately 20 people, with another dozen responsible for the operation of the aircraft systems. The name Looking Glass, which is another name for a mirror, was chosen for the Airborne Command Post because the mission operates in parallel with the underground command post at Offutt Air Force Base.
The 625th Strategic Operations Squadron (STOS) is a United States Air Force nuclear missile control & support squadron. The 625th STOS has five flights that play different roles in this mission. The Latin motto of the 625th STOS is Si vis pacem para bellum, which means, "If you wish for peace, prepare for war."
The AN/FRC-117 Survivable Low Frequency Communications System (SLFCS) was a communications system designed to be able to operate, albeit at low data transfer rates, during and after a nuclear attack. The system used both very low frequency (VLF), and low frequency (LF) radio bands.
The Emergency Rocket Communications System (ERCS) was designed to provide a reliable and survivable emergency communications method for the United States National Command Authority, using a UHF repeater placed atop a Blue Scout rocket or Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile. ERCS was deactivated as a communication means when President George H.W. Bush issued a message to stand down SIOP-committed bombers and Minuteman IIs on 27 September 1991. Headquarters SAC was given approval by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to deactivate the 494L payloads beginning 1 October 1992. However, Headquarters SAC believed it was inefficient and unnecessary to support ERCS past fiscal year 1991, and kept the accelerated deactivation schedule.
The Post Attack Command and Control System (PACCS) was a network of communication sites for use before, during and after a nuclear attack on the United States. PACCS was designed to ensure that National Command Authority would retain exclusive and complete control over US nuclear weapons. Among other components, it included Strategic Air Command assets such as the Looking Glass aircraft and mission, and various hardened command and control facilities.
The Green Pine UHF communications system was designed to relay Strategic Air Command (SAC) Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) to SAC aircraft. Green Pine was designed in 1967. Each Green Pine station was equipped with a variety of communications systems, to ensure that nuclear command and control messages would reach nuclear strategic bombers in Northern latitudes.
The Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS) provides a survivable launch capability for the United States Air Force's LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) force. The ALCS is operated by airborne missileers from Air Force Global Strike Command's (AFGSC) 625th Strategic Operations Squadron (STOS) and United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The weapon system is located on board the United States Navy's E-6B Mercury, which serves as USSTRATCOM's "Looking Glass" Airborne Command Post (ABNCP). The ALCS crew is integrated into the ABNCP battle staff and is on alert around the clock.
The Primary Alerting System (PAS), was a network of land-line connections used by the Strategic Air Command (SAC) for command and control of its nuclear forces. PAS provided immediate and simultaneous voice communications to all (SAC) unit command posts and missile launch control facilities.
Silver Creek Communications Annex was a 373.7 metres tall guyed mast used by the USAF Survivable Low Frequency Communications System Site, which was built near Silver Creek, Nebraska at 41°20′46″N97°43′18″W . Detachment 1, 33d Communications Squadron, 1st Aerospace Communications Group out of Offutt AFB, ran the site until its inactivation.
The Strategic Air Command DIgital Network (SACDIN) was a United States military computer network that provided computerized record communications, replacing the Data Transmission Subsystem and part of the Data Display Subsystem of the SAC Automated Command and Control System. SACDIN enabled a rapid flow of communications from headquarters SAC to its fielded forces, such as B-52 bases and ICBM Launch Control Centers.
The United States military's Air Force Satellite Communications (AFSATCOM) is a network of ground and space systems to allow rapid dissemination of communications to a worldwide audience. AFSATCOM's creation was during the height of the Cold War to guarantee that Emergency Action Messages would be received by Strategic Air Command nuclear forces.
The ITT 465L Strategic Air Command Control System was a Cold War "Big L" network of computer and communication systems for command and control of Strategic Air Command "combat aircraft, refueling tankers, [and] ballistic missiles". International Telephone and Telegraph was the prime contractor for Project 465, and SACCS had "Cross Tell Links" between command posts at Offutt AFB, March AFB, & Barksdale AFB (SACCS also communicated with the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and Air Force command posts. The 465L System included IBM AN/FSQ-31 SAC Data Processing Systems, Remote and Simplex Remote Communication Systems, SAC Network Control Office, "4-wire, Schedule 4, Type 4B alternate voice-data operation", and one-way communication with "ICBM launch control centers" In addition to IBM for the "Super SAGE type computers", another of the 6 direct subcontractors was AT&T,
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4 (VQ-4), nicknamed the Shadows, is a naval aviation squadron of the United States Navy based at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The squadron flies the Boeing E-6B Mercury airborne command post and communications relay aircraft. It is part of the U.S. Navy's TACAMO community, whose mission is to enable the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense to directly communicate with U.S. submarines, bombers, and missile silos during a nuclear war.
References
- ↑ Aldridge, Robert C. (1983). First Strike! The Pentagon's Strategy for Nuclear War. ISBN 0-89608-154-0. LCCN 82061148. OCLC 82061148. OL 3509390M . Retrieved 15 July 2022– via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Program Management Directive for Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network (MEECN) VLF/LF System Improvements (Report). n.d. PMD 2070(29)/22131F/32015F/11213F – via Air Force Historical Research Agency.
- ↑ Critchlow, Robert D. (3 May 2006). Nuclear Command and Control: Current Programs and Issues (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. RL33408. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022– via Federation of American Scientists.
- ↑ "Rockwell Collins to build Air Force GEMS network". www.militaryaerospace.com. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
- ↑ "Minuteman Missile - Strategic Air Command - Nuclear Warhead". www.strategic-air-command.com.
- ↑ Air Force FOIA documents: 392d Training Squadron slides on MEECN, no date [ permanent dead link ]
- ↑ Williams, Carla (2 August 2006). "Minot completes final MEECN modifications" (Press release). United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
The 91st Space Wing completed the last modifications to its Minuteman Minimum Essential Emergency Communication Network here at the Oscar-01 Missile Alert Facility in the Minuteman missile complex Nov. 11. The completion of Oscar-01 marked the final modification to the last of 50 launch control centers in Twentieth Air Force. The other bases where modifications took place include Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo.