Semi-Automatic Ground Environment | |
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General information | |
Type | military C3 human–computer interface |
Country | United States |
Opened | 1958 June 26 — DC-01 1958 December 1 — DC-03 1959 (early) — CC-01 1966 April 1 — CC-05 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | USAF Air Materiel Command Western Electric [4] System Development Corporation [4] Burroughs Corporation |
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. [5] 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 .
The processing power behind SAGE was supplied by the largest discrete component-based computer ever built, the AN/FSQ-7, manufactured by IBM. Each SAGE Direction Center (DC) housed an FSQ-7 which occupied an entire floor, approximately 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) not including supporting equipment. The FSQ-7 was actually two computers, "A" side and "B" side. Computer processing was switched from "A" side to "B" side on a regular basis, allowing maintenance on the unused side. Information was fed to the DCs from a network of radar stations as well as readiness information from various defense sites. The computers, based on the raw radar data, developed "tracks" for the reported targets, and automatically calculated which defenses were within range. Operators used light guns to select targets on-screen for further information, select one of the available defenses, and issue commands to attack. These commands would then be automatically sent to the defense site via teleprinter.
Connecting the various sites was an enormous network of telephones, modems and teleprinters. Later additions to the system allowed SAGE's tracking data to be sent directly to CIM-10 Bomarc missiles and some of the US Air Force's interceptor aircraft in-flight, directly updating their autopilots to maintain an intercept course without operator intervention. Each DC also forwarded data to a Combat Center (CC) for "supervision of the several sectors within the division" [6] ("each combat center [had] the capability to coordinate defense for the whole nation"). [7] : 51
SAGE became operational in the late 1950s and early 1960s at a combined cost of billions of dollars. It was noted that the deployment cost more than the Manhattan Project—which it was, in a way, defending against. Throughout its development, there were continual concerns about its real ability to deal with large attacks, and the Operation Sky Shield tests showed that only about one-fourth of enemy bombers would have been intercepted. [8] Nevertheless, SAGE was the backbone of NORAD's air defense system into the 1980s, by which time the tube-based FSQ-7s were increasingly costly to maintain and completely outdated. Today the same command and control task is carried out by microcomputers, based on the same basic underlying data.
Just prior to World War II, Royal Air Force (RAF) tests with the new Chain Home (CH) radars had demonstrated that relaying information to the fighter aircraft directly from the radar sites was not feasible. The radars determined the map coordinates of the enemy, but could generally not see the fighters at the same time. This meant the fighters had to be able to determine where to fly to perform an interception but were often unaware of their own exact location and unable to calculate an interception while also flying their aircraft.
The solution was to send all of the radar information to a central control station where operators collated the reports into single tracks, and then reported these tracks to the airbases, or sectors. The sectors used additional systems to track their own aircraft, plotting both on a single large map. Operators viewing the map could then see what direction their fighters would have to fly to approach their targets and relay that simply by telling them to fly along a certain heading or vector. This Dowding system was the first ground-controlled interception (GCI) system of large scale, covering the entirety of the UK. It proved enormously successful during the Battle of Britain, and is credited as being a key part of the RAF's success.
The system was slow, often providing information that was up to five minutes out of date. Against propeller driven bombers flying at perhaps 225 miles per hour (362 km/h) this was not a serious concern, but it was clear the system would be of little use against jet-powered bombers flying at perhaps 600 miles per hour (970 km/h). The system was extremely expensive in manpower terms, requiring hundreds of telephone operators, plotters and trackers in addition to the radar operators. This was a serious drain on manpower, making it difficult to expand the network.
The idea of using a computer to handle the task of taking reports and developing tracks had been explored beginning late in the war. By 1944, analog computers had been installed at the CH stations to automatically convert radar readings into map locations, eliminating two people. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy began experimenting with the Comprehensive Display System (CDS), another analog computer that took X and Y locations from a map and automatically generated tracks from repeated inputs. Similar systems began development with the Royal Canadian Navy, DATAR, and the US Navy, the Naval Tactical Data System. A similar system was also specified for the Nike SAM project, specifically referring to a US version of CDS, [9] coordinating the defense over a battle area so that multiple batteries did not fire on a single target. All of these systems were relatively small in geographic scale, generally tracking within a city-sized area.
When the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb in August 1949, the topic of air defense of the US became important for the first time. A study group, the "Air Defense Systems Engineering Committee" was set up under the direction of Dr. George Valley to consider the problem, and is known to history as the "Valley Committee". [10]
Their December report noted a key problem in air defense using ground-based radars. A bomber approaching a radar station would detect the signals from the radar long before the reflection off the bomber was strong enough to be detected by the station. The committee suggested that when this occurred, the bomber would descend to low altitude, thereby greatly limiting the radar horizon, allowing the bomber to fly past the station undetected. Although flying at low altitude greatly increased fuel consumption, the team calculated that the bomber would only need to do this for about 10% of its flight, making the fuel penalty acceptable. [10]
The only solution to this problem was to build a huge number of stations with overlapping coverage. At that point the problem became one of managing the information. Manual plotting was ruled out as too slow, and a computerized solution was the only possibility. To handle this task, the computer would need to be fed information directly, eliminating any manual translation by phone operators, and it would have to be able to analyze that information and automatically develop tracks. [10] A system tasked with defending cities against the predicted future Soviet bomber fleet would have to be dramatically more powerful than the models used in the NTDS or DATAR. [11] [12]
The Committee then had to consider whether or not such a computer was possible. The Valley Committee was introduced to Jerome Wiesner, associate director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. Wiesner noted that the Servomechanisms Laboratory had already begun development of a machine that might be fast enough. This was the Whirlwind I, originally developed for the Office of Naval Research [13] as a general purpose flight simulator that could simulate any current or future aircraft by changing its software. [10]
Wiesner introduced the Valley Committee to Whirlwind's project lead, Jay Forrester, who convinced him that Whirlwind was sufficiently capable. In September 1950, an early microwave early-warning radar system at Hanscom Field was connected to Whirlwind using a custom interface developed by Forrester's team. An aircraft was flown past the site, and the system digitized the radar information and successfully sent it to Whirlwind. With this demonstration, the technical concept was proven. Forrester was invited to join the committee. [10]
With this successful demonstration, Louis Ridenour, chief scientist of the Air Force, wrote a memo stating "It is now apparent that the experimental work necessary to develop, test, and evaluate the systems proposals made by ADSEC will require a substantial amount of laboratory and field effort." [10] Ridenour approached MIT President James Killian with the aim of beginning a development lab similar to the war-era Radiation Laboratory that made enormous progress in radar technology. Killian was initially uninterested, desiring to return the school to its peacetime civilian charter. Ridenour eventually convinced Killian the idea was sound by describing the way the lab would lead to the development of a local electronics industry based on the needs of the lab and the students who would leave the lab to start their own companies. Killian agreed to at least consider the issue, and began Project Charles to consider the size and scope of such a lab. [14]
Project Charles was placed under the direction of Francis Wheeler Loomis and included 28 scientists, about half of whom were already associated with MIT. Their study ran from February to August 1951, and in their final report they stated that "We endorse the concept of a centralized system as proposed by the Air Defense Systems Engineering Committee, and we agree that the central coordinating apparatus of this system should be a high-speed electronic digital computer." [14] The report went on to describe a new lab that would be used for generic technology development for the Air Force, Army and Navy, and would be known as Project Lincoln. [14]
Loomis took over direction of Project Lincoln and began planning by following the lead of the earlier RadLab. By September 1951, only months after the Charles report, Project Lincoln had more than 300 employees. By the end of the summer of 1952 this had risen to 1300, and after another year, 1800. The only building suitable for classified work at that point was Building 22, suitable for a few hundred people at most, although some relief was found by moving the non-classified portions of the project, administration and similar, to Building 20. But this was clearly insufficient space. After considering a variety of suitable locations, a site at Laurence G. Hanscom Field was selected, with the groundbreaking taking place in 1951. [14]
The terms of the National Security Act were formulated during 1947, leading to the creation of the US Air Force out of the former US Army Air Force. During April of the same year, US Air Force staff were identifying specifically the requirement for the creation of automatic equipment for radar-detection which would relay information to an air defence control system, a system which would function without the inclusion of persons for its operation. [15] The December 1949 "Air Defense Systems Engineering Committee" led by Dr. George Valley had recommended computerized networking [11] for "radar stations guarding the northern air approaches to the United States" [12] (e.g., in Canada). After a January 1950 meeting, Valley and Jay Forrester proposed using the Whirlwind I (completed 1951) for air defense. [16] On August 18, 1950, when the "1954 Interceptor" requirements were issued, the USAF "noted that manual techniques of aircraft warning and control would impose "intolerable" delays" [17] : 484 (Air Materiel Command (AMC) published Electronic Air Defense Environment for 1954 in December .) [18] During February–August 1951 at the new Lincoln Laboratory, the USAF conducted Project Claude which concluded an improved air defense system was needed.[ citation needed ]
In a test for the US military at Bedford, Massachusetts on 20 April 1951, data produced by a radar was transmitted through telephone lines to a computer for the first time, showing the detection of a mock enemy aircraft. This first test was directed by C. Robert Wieser. [15]
The "Summer Study Group" of scientists in 1952 recommended "computerized air direction centers…to be ready by 1954." [19]
IBM's "Project High" assisted under their October 1952 Whirlwind subcontract with Lincoln Laboratory, [20] : 210 and a 1952 USAF Project Lincoln "fullscale study" of "a large scale integrated ground control system" resulted in the SAGE approval "first on a trial basis in 1953". [21] : 128 The USAF had decided by April 10, 1953, to cancel the competing ADIS (based on CDS), and the University of Michigan's Aeronautical Research Center withdrew in the spring. [22] : 289 Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) planned to "finalize a production contract for the Lincoln Transition System". [2] : 201 Similarly, the July 22, 1953, report by the Bull Committee (NSC 159) identified completing the Mid-Canada Line radars as the top priority and "on a second-priority-basis: the Lincoln automated system" [23] (the decision to control Bomarc with the automated system was also in 1953.) [24]
The Priority Permanent System with the initial (priority) radar stations was completed in 1952 [2] : 223 as a "manual air defense system" [4] (e.g., NORAD/ADC used a "Plexiglas plotting board" at the Ent command center.) The Permanent System radar stations included 3 subsequent phases of deployments and by June 30, 1957, had 119 "Fixed CONUS" radars, 29 "Gap-filler low altitude" radars, and 23 control centers". [25] At "the end of 1957, ADC operated 182 radar stations [and] 17 control centers … 32 [stations] 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". [2] : 223 "On 31 December 1958, USAF ADC had 187 operational land-based radar stations" (74 were "P-sites", 29 "M-sites", 13 "SM-sites", & 68 "ZI Gap Fillers"). [26]
Systems scientist Jay Forrester was instrumental in directing the development of the key concept of an interception system during his work at Servomechanisms Laboratory of MIT. The concept of the system, according to the Lincoln Laboratory site was to "develop a digital computer that could receive vast quantities of data from multiple radars and perform real-time processing to produce targeting information for intercepting aircraft and missiles." [27]
The AN/FSQ-7 was developed by the Lincoln Laboratory's Digital Computer Laboratory and Division 6, working closely with IBM as the manufacturer. Each FSQ-7 actually consisted of two nearly identical computers operating in "duplex" [28] for redundancy. The design used an improved version of the Whirlwind I magnetic core memory and was an extension of the Whirlwind II computer program, renamed AN/FSQ-7 in 1953 to comply with Air Force nomenclature. It has been suggested the FSQ-7 was based on the IBM 701 but, while the 701 was investigated by MIT engineers, its design was ultimately rejected due to high error rates and generally being "inadequate to the task." [29] IBM's contributions were essential to the success of the FSQ-7, and IBM benefited immensely from its association with the SAGE project, most evidently during development of the IBM 704. [30] [31]
On October 28, 1953, the Air Force Council recommended 1955 funding for "ADC to convert to the Lincoln automated system" [2] : 193 ("redesignated the SAGE System in 1954"). [2] : 201 The "experimental SAGE subsector, located in Lexington, Mass., was completed in 1955…with a prototype AN/FSQ-7…known as XD-1" [6] (single computer system [32] in Building F). [22] In 1955, Air Force personnel began IBM training at the Kingston, New York, prototype facility, [3] and the "4620th Air Defense Wing (experimental SAGE) was established at Lincoln Laboratory"
On May 3, 1956, General Partridge presented CINCNORAD's Operational Concept for Control of Air Defense Weapons to the Armed Forces Policy Council, [21] and a June 1956 symposium presentation identified advanced programming methods of SAGE code. [33] For SAGE consulting Western Electric and Bell Telephone Laboratories formed the Air Defense Engineering Service (ADES), [34] which was contracted in January 1954. [22] IBM delivered the FSQ-7 computer's prototype in June 1956, [35] and Kingston's XD-2 with dual computers [32] guided a Cape Canaveral BOMARC to a successful aircraft intercept on August 7, 1958. [2] : 197 Initially contracted to RCA, the AN/FSQ-7 production units were started by IBM in 1958[ citation needed ] (32 DCs were planned [2] : 207 for networking NORAD regions.) [36] IBM's production contract developed 56 SAGE computers for $.5 billion (~$18 million per computer pair in each FSQ-7) [32] —cf. the $2 billion WWII Manhattan Project.
General Operational Requirements (GOR) 79 and 97 were "the basic USAF documents guiding development and improvement of [the semi-automatic] ground environment. [37] : 97 Prior to fielding the AN/FSQ-7 centrals, the USAF initially deployed "pre-SAGE semiautomatic intercept systems" (AN/GPA-37) to Air Defense Direction Centers, ADDCs [37] : 11 (e.g., at "NORAD Control Centers"). [26] On April 22, 1958, NORAD approved Nike AADCPs to be collocated with the USAF manual ADDCs at Duncanville Air Force Station TX, Olathe Air Force Station KS, Belleville Air Force Station IL, and Osceola Air Force Station KS. [26]
In 1957, SAGE System groundbreaking at McChord AFB was for DC-12 [38] where the "electronic brain" began arriving in November 1958, [39] and the "first SAGE regional battle post [CC-01] began operating in Syracuse, New York in early 1959". [2] : 263 BOMARC "crew training was activated January 1, 1958", [40] and AT&T "hardened many of its switching centers, putting them in deep underground bunkers", [41] The North American Defense Objectives Plan (NADOP 59–63) submitted to Canada in December 1958 scheduled 5 Direction Centers and 1 Combat Center to be complete in Fiscal Year 1959, 12 DCs and 3 CCs complete at the end of FY 60, 19 DC/4 CC FY 61, 25/6 FY 62, and 30/10 FY 63. [26] On June 30 NORAD ordered that "Air Defense Sectors (SAGE) were to be designated as NORAD sectors", [42] (the military reorganization had begun when effective April 1, 1958, CONAD "designated four SAGE sectors – New York, Boston, Syracuse, and Washington – as CONAD Sectors".) [37] : 7
SAGE Geographic Reorganization: The SAGE Geographic Reorganization Plan of July 25, 1958, by NORAD was "to provide a means for the orderly transition and phasing from the manual to the SAGE system." The plan identified deactivation of the Eastern, Central, and Western Region/Defense Forces on July 1, 1960, and "current manual boundaries" were to be moved to the new "eight SAGE divisions" (1 in Canada, "the 35th") as soon as possible. Manual divisions "not to get SAGE computers were to be phased out" along with their Manual Air Defense Control Centers at the headquarters base: "9th [at] Geiger Field… 32d, Syracuse AFS… 35th, Dobbins AFB… 58th, Wright-Patterson AFB… 85th, Andrews AFB". [26] The 26th SAGE Division (New York, Boston, Syracuse & Bangor SAGE sectors)--the 1st of the SAGE divisions—became operational at Hancock Field on 1 January 1959 [26] after the redesignation started for AC&W Squadrons (e.g., the Highlands P-9 unit became the 646th Radar Squadron (SAGE) October 1.) [43] : 156 Additional sectors included the Los Angeles Air Defense Sector (SAGE) designated in February 1959. A June 23 JCS memorandum approved the new "March 1959 Reorganization Plan" for HQ NORAD/CONAD/ADC. [44] : 5
Project Wild Goose teams of Air Materiel Command personnel installed c. 1960 the Ground Air Transmit Receive stations for the SAGE TDDL (in April 1961, Sault Ste Marie was the first operational sector with TDDL). [46] By the middle of 1960, AMC had determined that about 800,000 man-hours (involving 130 changes) would be required to bring the F-106 fleet to the point where it would be a valuable adjunct to the air defense system. Part of the work (Project Broad Jump) was accomplished by Sacramento Air Materiel Area. The remainder (Project Wild Goose) was done at ADC bases by roving AMC field assistance teams supported by ADC maintenance personnel. (cited by Volume I p. 271 & Schaffel p. 325) After a September 1959 experimental ATABE test between an "abbreviated" AN/FSQ-7 staged at Fort Banks and the Lexington XD-1, the 1961 "SAGE/Missile Master test program" conducted large-scale field testing of the ATABE "mathematical model" using radar tracks of actual SAC and ADC aircraft flying mock penetrations into defense sectors. [47] Similarly conducted was the joint SAC-NORAD Sky Shield II exercise followed by Sky Shield III on 2 September 1962 [48] On July 15, 1963, ESD's CMC Management Office assumed "responsibilities in connection with BMEWS, Space Track, SAGE, and BUIC." [49] The Chidlaw Building's computerized[ specify ] NORAD/ADC Combined Operations Center in 1963 became the highest echelon of the SAGE computer network when operations moved from Ent AFB's 1954 manual Command Center to the partially underground [49] "war room". [50] Also in 1963, radar stations were renumbered (e.g., Cambria AFS was redesignated from P-2 to Z-2 on July 31) and the vacuum-tube SAGE System was completed (and obsolete). [51] : 9
On "June 26, 1958,…the New York sector became operational" [2] : 207 and on December 1, 1958, the Syracuse sector's DC-03 was operational ("the SAGE system [did not] become operational until January 1959.") [25] Construction of CFB North Bay in Canada was started in 1959 for a bunker ~700 feet (210 m) underground (operational October 1, 1963), [52] and by 1963 the system had 3 Combat Centers. The 23 SAGE centers included 1 in Canada, [53] and the "SAGE control centers reached their full 22 site deployments in 1961 (out of 46 originally planned)." [54] The completed Minot AFB blockhouse received an AN/FSQ-7, but never received the FSQ-8 (the April 1, 1959, Minot Air Defense Sector consolidated with the Grand Forks ADS on March 1, 1963). [55]
The SAGE system included a direction center (DC) assigned to air defense sectors as they were defined at the time.
*Some of the originally planned 32 DCs were never completed and DCs were planned at installations for additional sectors: Calypso/Raleigh NC, England/Shreveport LA, Fort Knox KY, Kirtland/Albuquerque NM, Robins/Miami, Scott/St. Louis, Webb/San Antonio TX.
The environment allowed radar station personnel to monitor the radar data and systems' status (e.g., Arctic Tower radome pressure) and to use the range height equipment to process height requests from Direction Center (DC) personnel. DCs received the Long Range Radar Input from the sector's radar stations, and DC personnel monitored the radar tracks and IFF data provided by the stations, requested height-finder radar data on targets, and monitored the computer's evaluation of which fighter aircraft or Bomarc missile site could reach the threat first. The DC's "NORAD sector commander's operational staff" [63] could designate fighter intercept of a target or, using the Senior Director's keyed console [64] in the Weapons Direction room, [3] launch a Bomarc intercept with automatic Q-7 guidance of the surface-to-air missile to a final homing dive (equipped fighters eventually were automatically guided to intercepts).
The "NORAD sector direction center (NSDC) [also had] air defense artillery director (ADAD) consoles [and an Army] ADA battle staff officer", and the NSDC automatically communicated crosstelling of "SAGE reference track data" to/from adjacent sectors' DCs and to 10 Nike Missile Master AADCPs. [63] Forwardtelling automatically communicated data from multiple DCs to a 3-story Combat Center (CC) usually at one of the sector's DCs [6] (cf. planned Hamilton AFB CC-05 near the Beale AFB DC-18) for coordinating the air battle in the NORAD region (multiple sectors) and which forwarded data to the NORAD Command Center (Ent AFB, 1963 Chidlaw Building, & 1966 Cheyenne Mountain). NORAD's integration of air warning data (at the ADOC) along with space surveillance, intelligence, and other data allowed attack assessment of an Air Defense Emergency for alerting the SAC command centers (465L SACCS nodes at Offutt AFB & The Notch), The Pentagon/Raven Rock NMCC/ANMCC, and the public via CONELRAD radio stations.
External images | |
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XD-1 consoles | |
Situation Display with SAM sites | |
operator with light gun | |
room diagrams for each DC floor | |
images of a radar scope during a SAGE intercept |
The Burroughs 416L SAGE component (ESD Project 416L, [65] Semi Automatic Ground Environment System) [49] was the Cold War network connecting IBM supplied computer system at the various DC and that created the display and control environment for operation of the separate radars [65] and to provide outbound command guidance for ground-controlled interception by air defense aircraft in the "SAGE Defense System" [66] ("Air Defense Weapons System"). [40] Burroughs Corporation was a prime contractor for SAGE network interface equipment which included 134 Burroughs AN/FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitting Sets (CDTS) at radar stations and other sites, the IBM supplied AN/FSQ-7 at 23 Direction Centers, and the AN/FSQ-8 Combat Control Computers at 8 Combat Centers. The 2 computers of each AN/FSQ-7 together weighing 275 short tons-force (2,450 kN) [67] [ This quote needs a citation ] used about ⅓ of the DC's 2nd floor space [3] and at ~$50 per instruction had approximately 125,000 "computer instructions support[ing] actual operational air-defense mission" processing. [68] The AN/FSQ-7 at Luke AFB had additional memory (32K total) and was used as a "computer center for all other" DCs. [69] Project 416L was the USAF predecessor of NORAD, SAC, and other military organizations' "Big L" computer systems (e.g., 438L Air Force Intelligence Data Handling System & 496L Space Detection and Tracking System). [70]
Network communications:
The SAGE network of computers connected by a "Digital Radar Relay" [71] (SAGE data system) [72] used AT&T voice lines, microwave towers, switching centers (e.g., SAGE NNX 764 was at Delta, Utah [73] & 759 at Mounds, Oklahoma [74] ), etc.; and AT&T's "main underground station" was in Kansas (Fairview) with other bunkers in Connecticut (Cheshire), California (Santa Rosa), Iowa (Boone) [75] and Maryland (Hearthstone Mountain). CDTS modems at automated radar stations transmitted range and azimuth, [76] and the Air Movements Identification Service (AMIS) provided air traffic data to the SAGE System. [77] Radar tracks by telephone calls (e.g., from Manual Control Centers in the Albuquerque, Minot, and Oklahoma City sectors) could be entered via consoles of the 4th floor "Manual Inputs" room adjacent to the "Communication Recording-Monitoring and VHF" room. [78] In 1966, SAGE communications were integrated into the AUTOVON Network. [74]
SAGE Sector Warning Networks (cf. NORAD Division Warning Networks) provided the radar netting communications for each DC [26] and eventually also allowed transfer of command guidance to autopilots of TDDL-equipped interceptors for vectoring to targets [43] via the Ground to Air Data Link Subsystem and the Ground Air Transmit Receive (GATR) network of radio sites for "HF/VHF/UHF voice & TDDL" [73] each generally co-located at a CDTS site. SAGE Direction Centers and Combat Centers were also nodes of NORAD's Alert Network Number 1, and SAC Emergency War Order Traffic [79] included "Positive Control/Noah's Ark instructions" through northern NORAD radio sites to confirm or recall SAC bombers if "SAC decided to launch the alert force before receiving an execution order from the JCS". [26]
A SAGE System ergonomic test at Luke AFB in 1964 "showed conclusively that the wrong timing of human and technical operations was leading to frequent truncation of the flight path tracking system" (Harold Sackman). [51] : 9 SAGE software development was "grossly underestimated" [22] : 370 (60,000 lines in September 1955): [80] "the biggest mistake [of] the SAGE computer program was [underestimating the] jump from the 35,000 [WWI] instructions … to the more than 100,000 instructions on the" AN/FSQ-8. [81] NORAD conducted a Sage/Missile Master Integration/ECM-ECCM Test in 1963, [82] and although SAGE used AMIS input of air traffic information, the 1959 plan developed by the July 1958 USAF Air Defense Systems Integration Division [26] for SAGE Air Traffic Integration (SATIN) was cancelled by the DoD. [83]
SAGE radar stations, including 78 DEW Line sites in December 1961, [84] provided radar tracks to DCs and had frequency diversity (FD) radars [85] United States Navy picket ships also provided radar tracks, and seaward radar coverage was provided. By the late 1960s EC-121 Warning Star aircraft based at Otis AFB MA and McClellan AFB CA provided radar tracks via automatic data link to the SAGE System. [2] Civil Aeronautics Administration radars were at some stations (e.g., stations of the Joint Use Site System), and the ARSR-1 Air Route Surveillance Radar rotation rate had to be modified "for SAGE [IFF/SIF] Modes III and IV" ("antenna gear box modification" for compatibility with FSQ-7 & FSG-1 centrals.) [37] : 21
ADC aircraft such as the F-94 Starfire, F-89 Scorpion, F-101B Voodoo, and F-4 Phantom were controlled by SAGE GCI. The F-104 Starfighter was "too small to be equipped with [SAGE] data link equipment" and used voice-commanded GCI, [2] : 229 but the F-106 Delta Dart was equipped for the automated data link (ADL).[ citation needed ] The ADL was designed to allow Interceptors that reached targets to transmit real-time tactical friendly and enemy movements and to determine whether sector defence reinforcement was necessary. [27]
Familiarization flights allowed SAGE weapons directors to fly on two-seat interceptors to observe GCI operations.[ citation needed ] Surface-to-air missile installations for CIM-10 Bomarc interceptors were displayed on SAGE consoles. [86]
Partially solid-state AN/FST-2B and later AN/FYQ-47 computers replaced[ when? ] the AN/FST-2, [76] and sectors without AN/FSQ-7 centrals requiring a "weapon direction control device" for USAF air defense used the solid-state AN/GSG-5 CCCS instead of the AN/GPA-73 recommended by ADC in June 1958. Back-Up Interceptor Control (BUIC) [26] with CCCS dispersed to radar stations for survivability allowed a diminished but functional SAGE capability. In 1962, Burroughs "won the contract to provide a military version of its D825" modular data processing system [64] for BUIC II. [7] BUIC II was first used at North Truro Z-10 in 1966, [7] and the Hamilton AFB BUIC II was installed in the former MCC building when it was converted to a SAGE Combat Center in 1966 (CC-05). [87] On June 3, 1963, the Direction Centers at Marysville CA, Marquette/K I Sawyer AFB (DC-14) MI,[ specify ] Stewart AFB NY (DC-02), and Moses Lake WA (DC-15) were planned for closing [52] and at the end of 1969, only 6 CONUS SAGE DCs remained (DC-03, -04, -10, -12, -20, & -21) all with the vacuum tube AN/FSQ-7 centrals. [7] : 47 In 1966, NORAD Combined Operations Center operations at Chidlaw transferred to the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (425L System) and in December 1963, the DoD approved solid state replacement of Martin AN/FSG-1 centrals [88] : 317 with the AN/GSG-5 and subsequent Hughes AN/TSQ-51. The "416L/M/N Program Office" at Hanscom Field [65] had deployed the BUIC III by 1971 (e.g., to Fallon NAS), [89] and the initial BUIC systems were phased out 1974–5. [64] ADC had been renamed Aerospace Defense Command on January 15, 1968, [90] and its general surveillance radar stations transferred to ADTAC in 1979 when the ADC major command was broken up (space surveillance stations went to SAC and the Aerospace Defense Center was activated as a DRU.)
For airborne command posts, "as early as 1962 the Air Force began exploring possibilities for an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)", [2] : 266 and the Strategic Defense Architecture (SDA-2000) planned an integrated air defense and air traffic control network. The USAF declared full operational capability of the first seven Joint Surveillance System ROCCs on December 23, 1980, [49] with Hughes AN/FYQ-93 systems, [91] and many of the SAGE radar stations became Joint Surveillance System (JSS) sites (e.g., San Pedro Hill Z-39 became FAA Ground Equipment Facility J-31.) The North Bay AN/FSQ-7 was dismantled and sent to Boston's Computer Museum.[ citation needed ] In 1996, AN/FSQ-7 components were moved to Moffett Federal Airfield for storage and later moved[ when? ] to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The last AN/FSQ-7 centrals were demolished at McChord AFB (August 1983) and Luke AFB (February 1984). [64] Decommissioned AN/FSQ-7 equipment was also used as science fiction cinema and TV series props (e.g., Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, amongst others).
SAGE histories include a 1983 special issue of the Annals of the History of Computing, [92] and various personal histories were published, e.g., Valley in 1985 [93] and Jacobs in 1986. [94] In 1998, the SAGE System was identified as 1 of 4 "Monumental Projects", [95] and a SAGE lecture presented the vintage film In Your Defense followed by anecdotal information from Les Earnest, Jim Wong, and Paul Edwards. [32] In 2013, a copy of a 1950s cover girl image programmed for SAGE display was identified as the "earliest known figurative computer art". [3] Company histories identifying employees' roles in SAGE include the 1981 System Builders: The Story of SDC [96] and the 1998 Architects of Information Advantage: The MITRE Corporation Since 1958. [97]
The RCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System was a United States Air Force Cold War early warning radar, computer, and communications system, for ballistic missile detection. The network of twelve radars, which was constructed beginning in 1958 and became operational in 1961, was built to detect a mass ballistic missile attack launched on northern approaches [for] 15 to 25 minutes' warning time also provided Project Space Track satellite data.
The AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central, referred to as the Q7 for short, was a computerized air defence command and control system. It was used by the United States Air Force for ground-controlled interception as part of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment network during the Cold War.
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 AN/FSQ-32 SAGE Solid State Computer was a planned military computer of the United States Air Force. It was central for deployment to Super Combat Centers in nuclear bunkers and to some above-ground military installations. In 1958, Air Defense Command planned to acquire 13 Q-32 centrals for several Air Divisions/Sectors.
The Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) is a United States Air Force unit of Air Combat Command (ACC), permanently assigned to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). A joint, bi-national military organization, EADS is composed of US and Canadian military forces, federal civilians and contractors. It is located at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, New York, the former Griffiss Air Force Base. EADS is a subordinate command of the First Air Force and Continental NORAD Region, located at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.
The Boston Air Defense Sector (BADS) is an inactive United States Air Force Air Defense Command (ADC) organization. Its last assignment was with the ADC 26th Air Division at Hancock Field, New York.
The Detroit Air Defense Sector (DEADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command (ADC) 26th Air Division at Custer Air Force Station (AFS), Michigan. It was inactivated on 1 April 1966.
The Washington Air Defense Sector (WaADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command (ADC) 26th Air Division, being stationed at Fort Lee Air Force Station (AFS), Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 April 1966.
The Syracuse Air Defense Sector (SADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command (ADC) 26th Air Division at Hancock Field, New York.
The Duluth Air Defense Sector (DUADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command 29th Air Division, being stationed at Duluth Airport, Minnesota. It was inactivated on 1 April 1969.
The SAGE radar stations of Air Defense Command were the military installations operated by USAF squadrons using the first automated air defense 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 for ground-controlled interception of enemy aircraft by interceptors such as the F-106 developed to work with the SAGE System.
Backup Interceptor Control was the Electronic Systems Division 416M System to backup the SAGE 416L System in the United States and Canada. BUIC deployed Cold War command, control, and coordination systems to SAGE radar stations to create dispersed NORAD Control Centers.
The Burroughs AN/GSA-51 Radar Course Directing Group was a United States Air Force air defense command, control, and coordination system, part of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system. It was intended to replace vacuum tube IBM AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Centrals. Developed under Electronic Systems Division's 416M Program, in 1962 Burroughs "won the contract to provide a military version of its D825" modular data processing system for the AN/GSA-51 to be used at "BUIC II radar sites" BUIC II was 1st used at North Truro Z-10 in 1966, and the Hamilton AFB BUIC II was installed in the former MCC building.
The Burroughs AN/FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitting Set (CDTS) was a Cold War military computer system at SAGE radar stations for displaying aircraft tracks and converting them for digital transmission to IBM AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Centrals at air defense data centers. Developed by the Great Valley Research Laboratory of the Burroughs Corporation as part of the Electronic Systems Division's 416L network of computers, 134 CDTSs were deployed. Each was to "process the raw radar data, antenna position information, and IFF data, and send it over voice grade toll phone lines" at ~1200 baud with 1/4 mile precision. The transmissions were received as "Long Range Radar Input" at SAGE Direction Centers, which performed the aircraft control and warning operations and provided command information to Command Centers which forwarded data to the NORAD command center in Colorado. The AN/FST-2A included 2 vacuum tube computers and accepted 14 input signals.
The GE AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Group was a USAF Cold War air defense command, control, and coordination system for weapons direction. During Air Defense Command's "Control Capability Improvement Program" to improve command guidance of manned aircraft, the AN/GPA-37 was "developed by the General Electric Heavy Military Electronic Equipment Department at Syracuse in conjunction with...Rome Air Development Center and the Electronics Research Laboratories of Columbia University." Used to process radar data, the system was to "track a potential enemy aircraft and direct intercepters [sic] into a position from which they can make their automatic firing runs", the system included the:
An Air Defense Direction Center (ADDC) was a type of United States command post for assessing Cold War radar tracks, assigning height requests to available height-finder radars, and for "Weapons Direction": coordinating command guidance of aircraft from more than 1 site for ground-controlled interception. As with the World War II Aircraft Warning Service CONUS defense network, a "manual air defense system" was used through the 1950s Along with 182 radar stations at "the end of 1957, ADC operated … 17 control centers", and the Ground Observation Corps was TBD on TBD. With the formation of NORAD, several types of ADDCs were planned by Air Defense Command:
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
The Experimental Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Sector was a prototype Cold War Air Defense Sector for developing the Semi Automatic Ground Environment. The Lincoln Laboratory control center in a new building was at Lexington, Massachusetts.
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,
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).
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] NOTE: Schaffel's history uses the same name as "The Emerging Shield: The Air Defense Ground Environment," Air University Quarterly Review 8, no. 2 (spring 1956).
The System Development Corporation…in the design of massive computer programs … Burroughs…electronic equipment … Western Electric…assist the Air Force in coordinating and managing the entire effort…and design of buildings. …SAGE project office…Air Material Command[ when? ]
The function of the Control Center in solving the air defense problem is to combine, summarize, and display the air battle picture for the supervision of the several sectors within the division. … The typical Control Center (CC) building housing the AN/FSQ-8 Combat Control Central is a 3-story structure of the same type construction as the DC building.(p. 7)
"BUIC II radar sites would be capable of incorporating data feeds from other radar sectors directly onto their radar screens.
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(help) (cited by Schaffel pdf p. 311){{cite report}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)the "SAGE Red Book"--Operationa Plan, Semi-Automatic Ground Environment System for Air Defense (Formerly Designated The Transition System)(The Redmond & Smith citation for the operation plan identifies the date)
p. 268 Major elements to be developed to a high state of readiness by the beginning of 1957 included the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line and an air defense control system employing semiautomatic control centers.1 … At the beginning of 1955, the radar warning systems consisted of 83 permanent radars in the United States, 33 permanent radars of the Pine Tree system in Canada, 12 permanent radars in Alaska, and six shipborne radars stationed off the east coast of the United States. … To facilitate CONAD's job of absorbing data from warning radars and feeding the appropriate instructions to interceptor and antiaircraft forces, the Air Force had sponsored the development of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system by the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The SAGE system was adopted but was not to become operational until January 1959. … the DEW Line…became operational shortly afterward, on 13 Aug 57. … Chapter 15. Continental Defense 1. NSC 5408, 24 Feb 54, CCS 381 US (5-23-46) sec 37.(Condit includes detailed numbers of 1954, 1956, and 1957 radar stations on p. 269 Table 13.)
To ensure continuous operation each computer was duplexed; it actually consisted of two machines.
the Whirlwind computer, which was a digital version of the ASCA, was about five million dollars, in 1950s dollars … For the 1949 fiscal year, MIT requested 1.5 million dollars for the Whirlwind project. … one [SAGE computer] was at Lincoln Lab, …the XD-1, and the other one was at Kingston, the XD-2. So we used both those sites for development. … The XD-1 was a simplex system…not duplex … the original vacuum-tube computers—the last one was finally taken down in 1983, still operating. … IBM got…about 500 million dollars…to build the 56 computers.
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(help)the AN/FSQ-7…was developed, built and maintained by IBM. … In June 1956, IBM delivered the prototype of the computer to be used in SAGE.
BOMARC…Crew training was activated January 1, 1958. … The operator requests an "engagement prediction point" from the IBM computer. …missile guidance information is relayed via leased lines to Cape Canaveral, and via radio to the BOMARC missile.Alt URL (cited by Volume I p. 257)
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(help) (identified by NORAD Hist. Summary Jan–Jun '58 p. 7)[ not specific enough to verify ]Data from the Phase II and Phase III NORAD SAGE/ Missile Master … to validate the mathematical model [with] large-scale system tests employing SAC and ADC aircraft [under] the NORAD Joint Test Force stationed at Stewart Air Force Base.(cites Miller 1961)
Semi-Automatic Direction Center System, later known as…Semi-Automatic Ground Environment System, in essence, the Lincoln Transition System.
The North Bay SAGE centre is the only one on the continent to be fully "hardened", or constructed underground.
the SAGE block house was bulldozed in 1985.(image of entrance sign with arrow: "Bangor North American Air Defense Sector")
Luke center was unique in the fact that it was the programming center for all other sage sites. This only meant that our computers…had more core memory, 32K total
[T]he SAGE system was completed in December 1961 when the Sioux City Direction Center became operational.
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. … 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
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(help)Archivist Ed Sharpe near some of the SAGE artifacts at SMECC.
Senior Director's keyed console…fire button
BUIC … Burroughs…D825 … McChord AFB…August 1983
Luke AFB…February 1984
To be more specific, I have in mind something like the BADGE system; in U.S. experience, examples would be SAGE, 412L,[ specify ] or the NORAD COC … The early development of SAGE was hampered by the fact that the radars were not considered as a part of the system.
The following paper is a description of the organization and techniques we used at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory in the mid-1950s to produce programs for the SAGE air-defense system. The paper appeared a year before the announcement of SAGE; no mention was made of the specific application other than to indicate that the program was used in a large control system. The programming effort was very large—eventually, close to half a million computer instructions. About one-quarter of these instructions supported actual operational air-defense missions. … In a letter to me on April 23, 1981 … A Lincoln Utility System of service routines containing 40,000 instructions has been prepared … the experience of the Lincoln Laboratory that a system of service programs equal in size to the main system program must be maintained to support preparation, testing, and maintenance of the latter.
Luke center was unique [as] the programming center for all other sage sites [and] had more core memory, 32K total
SAGE—Air Force project 416L—became the pattern for at least twenty-five other major military command-control systems… These were the so-called "Big L" systems [and] included 425L, the NORAD system; 438L, the Air Force Intelligence Data Handling System; and 474L, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS). … Project 465L, the SAC Control System (SACCS) [with] over a million lines, reached four times the size of the SAGE code and consumed 1,400 man-years of programming; SDC invented a major computer language, JOVIAL, specifically for this project.
SAGE – Air Force project 416L – became the pattern for at least twenty-five other major military command-control systems … the Air Force Cambridge Research Center (AFCRC) [had] recently developed methods for digital transmission of data over telephone lines [with] Digital Radar Relay (DRR). …was the key issue.55 The DRR research, begun just after World War II, had taken four years to complete. Its availability solved one of the many analog-to-digital conversion problems faced by the eventual SAGE.(Edwards footnote 55 cites Harrington p. 370)
A previously referenced AT&T training manual on SAGE/BUIC/AUTOVON phone systems does list all the AUTOVON/SAGE Switching Centers & includes their General Purpose (AUTOVON) NNX, their SAGE NNX, and … For example, Delta, Utah had 890 for AUTOVON, 764 for SAGE
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)CO Cheyenne Mountain 1 July 1966…underground (inside mountain) … CO Lamar 1 Jan. 1967
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(help)Air Movements Identification Service (AMIS) AMIS is responsible for sending [Air Route Traffic Control Center] data on flight plans, weapons status, weather, and aircraft tracks to the Direction and Combat Centers over teletype and voice grade telephone circuits.
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(help)The missile and space surveillance and warning system currently[ specify ] consists of five systems and a space computational center located in the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain complex. The five systems are: the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System; the Defense Support Program (DSP) formerly called Project 647; the Forward Scatter over the Horizon Radar (440L system); the Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile Warning System; and the Space Detection and Warning System. … 20 April The 425L system portion of the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex (NCMC) became fully operational.
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(help)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.
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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