![]() | This article may be too technical for most readers to understand.(March 2024) |
The SAGE radar stations of Air Defense Command (Aerospace Defense Command after 1968) were the military installations operated by USAF squadrons using the first automated air defense environment (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) and networked by the SAGE System, a computer network. Most of the radar stations used the Burroughs AN/FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitting Set (CDTS) to automate the operator environment and provide radar tracks to sector command posts at SAGE Direction Centers (DCs), e.g., the Malmstrom Z-124 radar station was co-located with DC-20. The sector/division radar stations were networked by DCs and Manual Control Centers to provide command, control, and coordination (e.g., at Topsham AFS for the "Bangor North American Air Defense Sector" [1] ) for ground-controlled interception of enemy aircraft by interceptors such as the F-106 developed to work with the SAGE System. [2] : 128
Post-World War II radar stations included those of the 1948 "five-station radar net" and the Lashup network completed in 1950, followed by the "Priority Permanent System" with the initial (priority) radar stations completed in 1952 [3] : 223 as a "manual air defense system" [4] with Manual ADCCs (e.g., using Plexiglas plotting boards as at the 1954 Ent Air Force Base command center for ADC.) [3] : 151 Several Lashup stations became permanent stations (Camp Hero L-10 became LP-45, Fort Custis L-15/LP-56/P-56, Palermo L-13/LP-54, Sault Sainte Marie L-17/LP-20, Highlands L-12/LP-9) and in 1951 some new Permanent System stations similarly designated LP-2, LP-16, etc., instead of using newly deployed radars, were outfitted with older radars such as the January 1945 GE AN/CPS-5 radar, 1948 Western Electric AN/TPS-1B Radar, Bendix AN/TPS-1C radar. The MX-1353 and other programs developed the AN/FPS-6, AN/MPS-10, and other Cold War radars. [5]
"At the end of 1957, ADC operated 182 radar stations…32 had been added during the last half of the year as low-altitude, unmanned gap-filler radars. The total consisted of 47 gap-filler stations, 75 Permanent System radars, 39 semimobile radars, 19 Pinetree stations,…1 Lashup[-era radar and a] single Texas Tower". [3] : 223 SAGE System groundbreaking was at McChord Air Force Base for DC-12 in 1957 [6] where the "electronic brain" began arriving in November 1958 [7] for the Seattle Air Defense Sector, and the post-war Ground Observation Corps was disbanded in 1959.
Radar station personnel monitored systems (e.g., local radars and remote radars at gap-filler annexes) and at most radar stations, used CDTS equipment such as the antenna control unit and the Range Height Indicator—CDTS range precision was 1,300 ft (400 m). Also part of the SAGE Air Defense System were radar stations in sectors with Manual Control Centers which provided radar tracks by voice communication, and fourth floor consoles of SAGE Direction Centers in adjacent sectors could input those stations' tracks in the "Manual Inputs" room adjacent to the "Communication Recording-Monitoring and VHF" room. [8] Squadrons at some radar stations were the parent organizations for detachments at other stations, e.g., the 666th RADSQ at Mill Valley Z-38 was the parent of Detachment 2 at the Mather AFB radar station, and the 771st RADSQ at Cape Charles Z-56 was responsible for three gap-filler annexes in Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Most radar stations were part of the preceding Permanent System and some SAGE stations had Ground Air Transmit Receive (GATR) equipment for radioing command guidance by TDDL automated data link to autopilots of equipped interceptors for vectoring to targets [9] (e.g., GATR site R-28 was at Palermo Z-54.) In addition to a squadron operations building (e.g., with CDTS), structures at the radar station included the radar pedestals (e.g., some CONUS stations such as Fort Heath used Arctic Towers), a squadron headquarters building, electrical generator and fuel storage structures, etc. [10]
Notable remaining structures of SAGE radar stations include the radar tower at the Selfridge Military Air Museum, the Walker AFS quonset hut next to the Arctic Tower, [11] the former SAGE barracks used for the McChord AFB museum, [12] and the antenna tower, building, and Cold War era radar equipment which have survived nearly completely intact at the Saugatuck gap filler annex.
Air Defense Command radar squadrons were renamed as personnel were assigned with training for the automated CDTS, e.g., the "609th Radar Squadron (SAGE)" was designated on September 1, 1958 [9] [ verification needed ] (originally an AC&W Sq). The Air Defense Command reorganization when the SAGE System was deployed included the redesignation of Air Divisions to Air Defense Sectors in 1959, e.g., the 27th Air Division was renamed between February 1, 1959 and April 1, 1966, as the Los Angeles Air Defense Sector (LAADS) followed by the inactivation of units such as the Air Defense Forces (Western, Central, and Eastern, on July 1, 1960) and some Numbered Air Forces (e.g., Fourth Air Force, September 1, 1960). Radar station tracks were used for 1958 CIM-10 "BOMARC test firings at Patrick, Gunter, and McGuire", [13] and a SAGE Radar Station[ where? ] was used for the first Bomarc intercept of a Cape Canaveral drone on August 7, 1958. A few SAGE radar stations[ specify ] provided radar tracks for use with the eight operational Bomarc complexes, e.g., for 28 Upper Peninsula launch shelters ("Kincheloe AFB BOMARC site"), 56 shelters in New Jersey (operational September 1, 1959), [14] and 56 Long Island shelters (SAGE codename "BED") near the "FOX"[ where? ] mainland site. [15]
Of the eight Permanent System stations that closed from 1959 to 1964 with squadrons relocating to stations with "RP" designations, two were the last remaining stations with the "LP" designation: (Elkhorn LP-31/RP-31F and Blue Knob LP-63). From 1959 to 1962, three NORAD radar stations were added for the SAGE Radar Network (i.e., after the third semi-mobile phase of the Permanent System): Key West Z-209, Richmond Z-210, Patrick Z-211 in 1962.[ specify ] One SAGE radar station also provided gap-filler[ specify ] radar coverage for Nike Hercules: San Pedro Hill Z-39 (RP-39) for the 1963–74 Integrated Fire Control area of Malibu Nike battery LA-78 on San Vicente Mtn. [16]
A few Permanent System stations continued operations without being redesignated with Z-xx "NORAD identification codes", e.g., 1952 Duncanville P-79 until 1964, 1958 Cottonwood SM-150 until 1965, and 1948 Hamilton P-48 until 1973. In 1963 when NORAD/ADC command operations moved from Ent AFB to the nearby Chidlaw Building's Combined Operations Center with SAGE-automation, on July 31 the SAGE radar stations were redesignated with the Z-xx codes.[ citation needed ] Some sector assignments were redesignated (e.g., Watertown AFS was assigned from the 1958 Syracuse Air Defense Sector to the Boston Air Defense Sector on September 4, 1963) and by the end of 1963 nearly all of the Permanent System radar stations not used for SAGE had closed. In 1966, Chidlaw Building operations transferred to the Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker, SAGE's first BUIC II II CCCS was deployed (North Truro Z-10), [17] and NORAD/ADC reorganized the Air Defense Sectors back to Air Divisions.
The joint-use site system (JUSS) [18] was completed after the 1959 Missile Master Plan resolved the surface-to-air missile (SAM) dispute: [19] both the US Army and USAF SAMs would be deployed and their computers were integrated with each CCCS netting the USAF sector or Army region radar stations. The SAGE System used crosstelling of "SAGE reference track data" from the BOMARC AN/FSQ-7 to the NIKE Hercules AN/FSG-1's "two surveillance and entry consoles", [20] and the nine bunker sites had been selected by June 1957 for coordinating Army batteries' intercept of targets within an interior NIKE Defense Area of the USAF sector. Deployment of JUSS resulted in several "LP" Permanent System stations closing, and the squadrons relocated to new JUSS "RP" radar stations at most of the nine sites where Army Missile Master bunkers were being constructed through December 14, 1960. Construction of the Highlands Army Air Defense Site for NY-55DC (fourth AN/FSQ-7) began adjacent to the 1948 Highlands P-9 to use the existing equipment as "Missile Master organic radars" [20] and in 1961, the 770th Radar Squadron at Palermo LP-54 moved to the existing Ft Meade Nike AADCP (W-13DC with USAF RP-54 designation). Squadrons moving to new JUSS radar stations included the 635th RADSQ on May 15, 1960, to the first completed Missile Master bunker (Fort Lawton Air Force Station SE-90DC, January 21, 1960), and two JUSS installations used geographically separate radar stations and Missile Master bunkers: the new San Pedro Hill RP-39 was TBD[ specify ] miles from the Ft MacArthur bunker (completed December 1960), and the new Gibbsboro RP-63 in 1961 later provided 1966 radar tracks to replace the Nike radars at Pedricktown PH-64DC, 15 miles (24 km) away. As at San Pedro Hill (ARSR-tbd[ specify ]), the JUSS radar station at Fort Heath B-21DC (the third FSG-1 and second bunker completed—c. April 1960) [21] also had a 1959 ARSR-1 radar of the FAA in addition to two USAF and two Army height finder radars. [18]
Many of the SAGE radar stations, particularly the locations with Air Route Surveillance Radars (e.g., San Pedro Hill Z-39) were retained when the SAGE System was replaced by the Joint Surveillance System for which the USAF declared full operational capability of the first seven Regional Operational Control Centers (ROCCs) on December 23, 1980 [26] (the NORAD Command Center was also upgraded). SAGE radar stations discontinued in 1980 included Almaden (activated 1957), Cambria (1951). Dauphin Island (1959), MacDill (1954), Mill Valley (1951), North Bend (1951), and North Charleston (1955); and stations eventually transferring to the Federal Aviation Administration included Mill Valley Air Force Station.
External image | |
---|---|
![]() |
The Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc was a supersonic ramjet powered long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) used during the Cold War for the air defense of North America. In addition to being the first operational long-range SAM and the first operational pulse doppler aviation radar, it was the only SAM deployed by the United States Air Force.
The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. SAGE directed and controlled the NORAD response to a possible Soviet air attack, operating in this role from the late 1950s into the 1980s. Its enormous computers and huge displays remain a part of Cold War lore, and after decommissioning were common props in movies such as Dr. Strangelove and Colossus, and on science fiction TV series such as The Time Tunnel.
Point Arena Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 3.7 miles (6.0 km) east of Point Arena, California. It was closed in 1998 by the Air Force, and turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inactivated in 1950, reactivated in 1951, and then redesignated Aerospace rather than Air in 1968. Its mission was to provide air defense of the Continental United States (CONUS). It directly controlled all active measures, and was tasked to coordinate all passive means of air defense.
The 27th Air Division was a United States Air Force numbered air division and the geographic Air Defense Command region controlled by the 27th AD. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command (ADC)'s Tenth Air Force, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It was inactivated on 19 November 1969.
Thomasville Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 1.9 miles (3.1 km) north-northwest of Thomasville, Alabama. It was closed in 1969.
Claysburg Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Claysburg, Pennsylvania. It was closed in 1961 due to budget constraints. The unit was eventually moved to Gibbsboro Air Force Station (RP-63), New Jersey.
Palermo Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force (USAF) General Surveillance Radar station. It was located in Palermo, New Jersey, 4.8 miles (7.7 km) north of Sea Isle City, in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It was closed in 1970.
Manassas Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 7.4 miles (11.9 km) west of Dale City, Virginia. It was closed in 1965.
Port Austin Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south-southwest Port Austin, Michigan. It was closed in 1988 by the Air Force.
West Mesa Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 9.5 miles (15.3 km) west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was closed by the Air Force in 1968 and turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The site is now data-tied into the Joint Surveillance System (JSS).
Naselle Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 3.9 miles (6.3 km) north of Naselle, Washington. It was decommissioned by the Air Force in 1966 and later used for commercial and recreational uses.
The Lashup Radar Network was a United States Cold War radar netting system for air defense surveillance which followed the post-World War II "five-station radar net" and preceded the "high Priority Permanent System". ROTOR was a similar expedient system in the United Kingdom.
The Selfridge AFB radar station is a United States military facility in Michigan. It began operations in 1949 with a Bendix AN/CPS-5 Radar test that tracked aircraft at 210 mi (340 km). A height finder MIT AN/CPS-4 Radar was added by March 9, 1950; and the station was site L-17 of the Lashup Radar Network and site LP-17 of the subsequent network during construction of the Air Defense Command permanent network. The 661st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at Selfridge in 1951, and with a pair of General Electric AN/CPS-6 Radars, the station became site LP-20 of the permanent ADC network in 1952. In 1957 the station added a height finder General Electric AN/FPS-6 Radar. The station became part of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment radar network in 1959, supplying radar tracks to SAGE data center DC-06 at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan, for directing interceptor aircraft and CIM-10 Bomarc air defense missiles.
The Permanent System was a 1950s radar network used for the CONUS "manual air defense system" and which had a USAF aircraft control and warning (AC&W) organization of personnel and military installations with radars to allow Air Defense Command ground-controlled interception of Cold War bombers attacking the United States.
The Fort Heath radar station was a USAF radar site and US Army Missile Master installation of the joint-use site system (JUSS) for North American Air Defense at a former coastal defense site. The Cold War radar station had 2 USAF AN/FPS-6B height finding radars, 2 Army AN/FPS-6A height finders, an FAA ARSR-1 radar emplaced 1958-9, and an Army nuclear bunker. Arctic Towers were the pedestals for the FPS antennas and radomes, while the Air Route Surveillance Radar was on a 50-foot extension temperate tower adjacent to the Federal Aviation Administration building.
NORAD Control Centers (NCCs) were Cold War "joint direction centers" 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" 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" 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
Continental Air Defense Integration North (CADIN) was a Cold War program to develop military installations in Canada for the air defense of North America using the Semi Automatic Ground Environment already being deployed in the CONUS. CADIN was a revision of the 1955 Operation Pillow for a "Fourth Phase Radar Program" to "extend the combat zone northward" with additional radars in Canada After the 25 July 1958 NORAD plan included a single SAGE sector in Canada, Canada's Minister of National Defense proposed increased Canadian manning on the DEW Line, a right granted by the May 1955 US-Canada agreement. In December 1958 NORAD also approved 52 Canada radars with Frequency Diversity for FY61-63, and the initial 5 January 1959 CADIN cost sharing agreement was for 2 CIM-10 Bomarc squadrons, 7 heavy radars, 45 gap fillers, an Air Defense Direction Center, and SAGE upgrades for 25 existing radars. The USAF and RCAF approved on 13 July 1959 the construction of the Ottawa Super Combat Center to be "fully operational on 1 July 1963" to control BOMARC missile sites to be completed in 1962 at LaMacaza and North Bay. The cost sharing was for $305 million (USAF) and $135 million (RCAF) that included "tying into...32 ground-to-air radio sites."
Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) was a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense, tasked with air defense for the Continental United States. It comprised Army, Air Force, and Navy components. It included Army Project Nike missiles anti-aircraft defenses and USAF interceptors. The primary purpose of continental air defense during the CONAD period was to provide sufficient attack warning of a Soviet bomber air raid to ensure Strategic Air Command could launch a counterattack without being destroyed. CONAD controlled nuclear air defense weapons such as the 10 kiloton W-40 nuclear warhead on the CIM-10B BOMARC. The command was disestablished in 1975, and Aerospace Defense Command became the major U.S. component of North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
the SAGE block house was bulldozed in 1985.(image of entrance sign with arrow: "Bangor North American Air Defense Sector")
[LASHUP] Stations were undermanned, personnel lacked training, and repair and maintenance were difficult. This stop-gap system later would be replaced by a 75-station, permanent net authorized by Congress and approved by the President in 1949 … To be closer to ConAC, ARAACOM moved to Mitchel AFB, New York on 1 November 1950.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)In 1958 Air Defense Command established a Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) sector at Minot AFB, which was activated in June 1961. However, as SAC's mission continued to grow at Minot, ownership passed from ADC to SAC, and the SAGE center was deactivated in May 1963.
Jacobs read a communication forwarded from the 4620th AEW concerning meeting September 9th at Colorado Springs concerning tie-in of AAOCs with SAGE. …plans for BOMARC test firings at Patrick, Gunter, and McGuire. …ESS tests using live strike aircraft…to obtain quantitative data on the…improved tracking logic for SAGE. He emphasized the experimental nature of the tests and indicated the preference for console operation directly by Lincoln engineers rather than through Air Force operators.
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location (link)the 12/3/59 Boeing "IM-99A Bases Manual"...depicted the facility in its original configuration with 56 individual BOMARC A "Model II Launcher Shelters". The Ground-to-Air Transmitter site which provided missile guidance was depicted one mile to the northwest.
PEN4…FAD…QUEZ…P BOX…34NY…FOX…PKMP…BED
"BUIC II radar sites would be capable of incorporating data feeds from other radar sectors directly onto their radar screens.
In 1958, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) constructed long-range acquisition radar at Fort Heath. Commissioned in 1959, the ARSR-1 radar was used to track aircraft 220 miles distant for flight-following" purposes. ...the army and air force also used this surveillance radar for Air Defense Control and Coordination Systems (ADCCS).
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)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 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. … 34. General … The two surveillance and entry consoles…are separated by a channel status unit … "Missile Master organic radars:" … SAGE SELECTOR two-position switch: Selects SAGE 1 or SAGE 2 (primary or secondary SAGE DC) as the source of SAGE data. … 45. Range-Height Subsystem a. Equipment. The range-height equipment consists of two RHI consoles (fig. 15) and two antenna control units
RADAR SCANNER at Missile Master atop Highlands hills tells the height of aircraft or other flying objects. It is one of the smaller pieces of radar equipment. …replaces a manuel[ sic ] operations center at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, where Gen.Hewitt's headquarters, the 52d Artillery Brigade Air Defense, also known as "the New York Defense… In addition to the New York area, Missile Master sites are now operational in the Baltimore-Washington area, Seattle and Boston. … A Detroit installation will open this week."
An Air Force radar facility at Tonopah, Nevada is being released by the Air Force to the Federal Aviation Agency. … ADC has a BUIC III radar facility installed and operating at Fallon. This semi-automated ground environment system permits several other radars to be tied into it.
9 ADD(the 9th Air Division was activated October 8, 1954, at Geiger Field)Volume I
so-called Semi-Automatic Direction Center System, later known as…Semi-Automatic Ground Environment System, in essence, the Lincoln Transition System.