Ballistic Missile Early Warning System

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For preceding northern radar networks for detecting Soviet bombers, see
DEW Line
.

Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
RCA Defense Electronics Products[6]: 29 [b]
FateReplaced in 2001 by SSPARS

The RCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS, 474L System,

early warning radar, computer, and communications system,[18] for ballistic missile detection. The network of twelve radars,[12] 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[19] also provided Project Space Track[20] satellite data (e.g., about one-quarter of SPADATS observations).[21]

It was replaced by the Solid State Phased Array Radar System in 2001.[22]

Background

The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was a radar system built by the United States (with the cooperation of Canada and Denmark on whose territory some of the radars were sited) during the Cold War to give early warning of a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) nuclear strike, to allow time for US bombers to get off the ground and land-based US ICBMs to be launched, to reduce the chances that a preemptive strike could destroy US strategic nuclear forces.

The shortest (

DEW line
, but it was designed to detect bombers and did not have the capability of tracking ICBMs.

The challenges of designing a system that could detect and track a massive strike of hundreds of ICBMs were formidable. The radar sites were located as far north in the Arctic as possible, to give maximum warning time of an attack. However, the time between when a Soviet missile would rise above the horizon and be detected and when it would reach its target in the US was only 10 to 25 minutes.

Equipment

BMEWS consisted of two types of radars and various computer and reporting systems to support them. The first type of radar consisted of very large, fixed rectangular partial-parabolic reflectors with two primary feed points. They produced two fan-shaped microwave beams that allowed them to detect targets across a very wide horizontal front at two narrow vertical angles. These were used to provide wide-front coverage of missiles rising into their radar horizon, and by tracking them at two points as they climbed, enough information to determine their rough trajectory.

The second type of radar was used for fine tracking of selected targets, and consisted of a very large steerable parabolic reflector under a large

phased array radar
that could perform both roles at the same time.

Three of the huge AN/FPS-50 radars, BMEWS Site 2, near Anderson, Alaska, in 1962.

BMEWS equipment included:[23]

  • General Electric AN/FPS-50 Radar Set, a UHF (440 MHz) detector with transmitter having an organ-pipe scanner feed, fixed 1,500 ton[24] parabolic-torus reflector, and receiver with Doppler filter bank to scan with 2 horizontally-sweeping fans[12] for as many as ~12,000 observations per day[13] for surveillance (determining range, position, and range rate) of space objects[25]
  • RCA AN/FPS-49 Radar Set, a five-horn monopulse tracker (e.g., 3 at Site III) and FPS-49A variant (different radome) at Thule[26] (vacuum tubes 10 feet tall in transmitter buildings are used to warm the site)[27]
  • RCA AN/FPS-92 Radar Set, an upgraded FPS-49 featuring more elaborate receiver circuits and hydrostatic bearings[13] at Clear[28]
  • Sylvania AN/FSQ-53 Radar Monitoring Set, with console and Signal Data Converter Group[29] ("data take-off unit")[citation needed]
  • Sylvania AN/FSQ-28 Missile Impact Predictor Set, with duplex IBM-7090 TX solid-state computers e.g., in Building 2 at Thule [30][unreliable source?] and part of the AN/FPA-21 Radar Central Computer at Site III[31]—Satellite Information Processor (SIP) software was later added at Site III for use on the backup IBM 7090.[32]
  • RCA Communications Data Processor (CDP),
    AUTODIN[6]
    : 21 
  • Pinetree Line, White Alice in Alaska,[6] and to RAF Fylingdales, NARS
    )
  • the Pentagon[5]

To predict when parts might break down,

Project 949, and 1970 DSP
satellites).

Classification of radar systems

Further information: Joint Electronics Type Designation System

Under the Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), all U.S. military radar and tracking systems are assigned a unique identifying alphanumeric designation. The letters “AN” (for Army-Navy) are placed ahead of a three-letter code.[45]

  • The first letter of the three-letter code denotes the type of platform hosting the electronic device, where A=Aircraft, F=Fixed (land-based), S=Ship-mounted, and T=Ground transportable.
  • The second letter indicates the type of equipment, where P=Radar (pulsed), Q=Sonar, and R=Radio.
  • The third letter indicates the function or purpose of the device, where G=Fire control, R=Receiving, S=Search, and T=Transmitting.

Thus, the AN/FPS-49 represents the 49th design of an Army-Navy “Fixed, Radar, Search” electronic device.[45][46]

Early tests

BMEWS station's detection arcs.[f]

On June 2, 1955, a General Electric AN/FPS-17 "XW-1" radar at Site IX[50] in Turkey that had been expedited was completed by the US in proximity to the ballistic missile launch test site at Kapustin Yar in the Soviet Union[12] for tracking Soviet rockets[49] and to demonstrate the feasibility of advanced Doppler processing, high-power system components, and computerized tracking needed for BMEWS [sic].[12]

The first missile tracked was on June 15, and the radar's parabolic reflector was replaced in 1958,[50] and its range was extended from 1000 to 2000 nautical miles[51] after the 1957 Gaither Commission identified that because of expected Soviet ICBM development, there would be little likelihood of SAC's bombers surviving since there was no way to detect an incoming attack until the first warhead landed.[52]

BMEWS' General Operational Requirement 156 was issued on November 7, 1957 (BMEWS was designed to go with the active portion of

Air Defense Command (ADC) that BMEWS was an "all-out program" and the "system has been directed by the President, has the same national priority as the ballistic missile and satellite programs and is being placed on the Department of Defense master urgency list."[53] By July 1958 after NORAD manning began, ADC's 1954 blockhouse for the Ent AFB command center had inadequate floor space; and Ent's "requirement for a ballistic missile defense system display facility...brought renewed action...for a new command post"[7]
(the JCS approved the nuclear bunker on February 11, 1959).

Planning and development

BMEWS tracking monitors in the Thule Tactical Operations Room, which were upgraded in 1987.[54][g]

On January 14, 1958, the US announced its decision to establish a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System

Nike Zeus, or vice versa.[61]

On March 18, 1959, the USAF told the BMEWS Project Office[

Ent's Federal Building
was completed c. 1960-1.

Deployment

4 AN/FPS-50 detection reflectors at Thule Site J.[h] The concrete foundation included a large refrigeration system to prevent the curing concrete's heat from melting the permafrost.

Clear AFS construction began in August 1958[42] with 700 workers[42] and was completed July 1, 1961,[42] and Thule Site J construction began by May 18, 1960,[67] with radar pedestals complete by June 2.[63] Thule testing began on May 16, 1960,[68] IOC was completed on September 30,[57] and the initial operational radar transmission was in October 1960[69] (initially duplex vacuum tube IBM 709s occupied two floors).[citation needed]

On October 5, 1960, when Khrushchev was in New York,

Colorado Springs[72][unreliable source?] caused a BMEWS communications outage to Ent and Offutt – a B-52 near Thule confirmed the site still remained.[73]

Training for civilian technicians included a February 1961 RCA class in

SSB substituted);[40] and in December 1961, Capt. Joseph P. Kaufman was charged "with giving [BMEWS] defense data to ... East German Communists."[78]

BMEWS surveillance wing

The

ECCM had been installed at Fylingdales Moor, Thule and Cape Clear AK[40] and by June 30, integration of BMEWS and SPADATS at Ent AFB was completed.[5] During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Moorestown AN/FPS-49 radar on October 24 was "withdrawn from SPADATS and realigned to provide missile surveillance over Cuba."[40] 1962 "strikes and walkouts" delayed Fylingdales' planned completion from March until September 1963 and on November 7, the Pentagon BMEWS display subsytem installation was complete.[5] At the end of 1962, NORAD was "concerned over BMEWS' virtual inability to detect objects beyond a range of 1500 nautical miles."[40] The Moorestown FPS-49 completed a BMEWS "signature analysis program" on scale models by January 1963.[15]

Air Defense Command / Aerospace Defense Command

Fylingdales AN/FPS-49 radomes in 1986[j]

Operations transferred from civilian contractors (RCA Government Services)[6]: 29  to ADC on January 5, 1962[69] (renamed Aerospace Defense Command in 1968.) Fylingdales became operational on September 17, 1963,[84][69] and Site III transferred to RAF Fighter Command on January 15, 1964. [85] Remaining BMEWS development responsibilities transferred to the "Space Track SPO (496L)" when the BMEWS SPO closed on February 14, 1964[5]—e.g., the AN/FPS-92 with "66-inch panels"[86] was added to Clear in 1966[87] (last of the 5 tracking radars),[88] and in 1967, BMEWS modification testing was complete on May 15, when the system cost totaled $1.259 billion,[5] equivalent to $8.78 billion in 2023.[89] In 1968, Ent's 9th Division HQ had a Spacetrack/BMEWS Maintenance Section.[90]

In 1975,

CDC 6000, and Honeywell 800 computers.[92]

USAF Space Command

On October 1, 1979, Thule and Clear transferred to

MIRVs[96] installed in new Missile Impact Predictor computers was complete by September 1984.[5][54]

Replacement

The BMEWS was replaced by the Solid State Early Warning System in 2001.[22]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Replaced by a Solid State Phased Array Radar System[1] constructed April 16, 1998 – February 1, 2001.[2][3]
  2. ^ RCA was contracted in January 1958[7] and employed 485 large companies and 2415 smaller firms spread over 29 states[8] ($474,831,000 contract in February 1960)[9]
  3. ^
    ADC general surveillance stations
    )
  4. ^ site for FPS-50 prototype[12] (AN/FPS-43)[13]
  5. ^ site for 1959–76[16][unreliable source?] FPS-49 prototype[13] and test/training[6]
  6. BMEWS station's detection arcs of 200°[47] were a missile warning "fence" created by 4 radars' separate arcs: each AN/FPS-50 created 2 arcs (shown) centered at 3.5° and 7° elevation[13] (exaggerated in illustration.) Each arc was created by a smaller radar beam ~1° wide x 3.5° high at a "horizontal sweep rate...fast enough that a missile or satellite cannot pass through...undetected".[13] Concerns in 1962 of "ERBM's (Extended Range Ballistic Missiles)" were that missile speeds after burnout would be higher than the initially-deployed Soviet ICBMs[48] and prevent the sweeping "Lower Fan" and then the "Upper Fan" (with "revisit time of 2 sec")[49]
    from detecting the missiles. A missile within the lower arc (~1.75-5.25° elevation) would be detected at a "Lower Fan Q Point" (black dot) and then by the upper fan (black dot with jagged outline), which allowed the impact area to be estimated from "where the object crossed the two fans and the elapsed time interval between fan crossings"[13] (displays showed the uncertain impact point as an elliptical area.) The free flight range of the missile outside the atmosphere (burnout to reentry) depends on the flight path angle and on the missile's parametric value of Q calculated from altitude and speed—additional ballistic range within the atmosphere to an estimated burst altitude was determined from computerized look-up tables in the Missile Impact Predictor.[13]
  7. ^ (renamed "Missile Warning Operations Center"[55])
  8. ^ replaced by an AN/FPS-120 with "two-faced...phased array radar...in 2QFY87."[66]
  9. ^ The p. 4 command post photo caption does not identify if it is in the Ent blockhouse (1954–1963) or in the Chidlaw Building, where war room operations moved to the NORAD/CONAD Combined Operations Center in 1963.
  10. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems[82] with 3 faces built August 1989-October 1992.[83]

References

  1. ^ "Raytheon wins Air Force Contract for Radar and Communications Sites (Press Release)". Raytheon via thefreelibrary.com. September 7, 1994.
  2. ^ "AN/FPS-120 Solid State Phased-Array System [SSPARS]: Clear Radar Upgrade". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  3. ^ "Clear AFS, AK". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  4. ^ "HAER AK-30-A - Clear Air Force Station, Ballistic Missile Early Warning System Site II". Historic American Engineering Record. 2003.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Del Papa, Dr. E. Michael; Warner, Mary P (October 1987). A Historical Chronology of the Electronic Systems Division 1947–1986 (PDF) (Report). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2014. 7 November [1984] Installation of [SSPARS] radar hardware at Site I, Thule, Greenland, for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was begun.
  6. ^
    Pan American
    for the planning, systems engineering, operation, and maintenance of the vast complex instrumentation systems that constitute the Atlantic Missile Range.
  7. ^ a b c Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (October 1, 1958). North American Air Defense Command Historical Summary: January–June 1958 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services. NORAD looked at the Zl portion of the BMEWS not only as an integral portion of the system, but as the heart of the entire ballistic missile defense system.
  8. ^ Engstrom, E.W. (February 1984). "The years 1958-1962" (PDF). 100 Years With IEEE In The Delaware Valley, Part 1. Philadelphia Section of IEEE. p. 16.
  9. ^ "Big Missile-Warning System Outlay". The Age. Melbourne. Australian Associated Press. February 16, 1960.
  10. ^ "Remembering Our Heritage 25 June - 1 July" (PDF). Office of History, Elmendorf AFB via AlaskaWingCAF.org. Retrieved November 5, 2016. ...facilities to accommodate the radar came to $62 million. More than 1,100 workers worked on the project. It involved excavating 185,000 cubic yards of dirt and gravel and the pouring of 65,000 yards of concrete. Materials totaled 4,000 tons of structural steel, 2,600 tons of reinforcing steel and 900,000 square feet of fabricated panels.
  11. 9th Aerospace Defense Division
    . August 1967. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Stone & Banner. Radars for the Detection and Tracking of Ballistic Missiles, Satellites, and Planets (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2014. The Millstone radar served as a development model for RCA's AN/FPS-49, AN/FPS-49A, and AN/FPS-92 radars, all of which were used in the BMEWS. Millstone was used to develop a fundamental understanding of several important environmental challenges facing the BMEWS. These challenges included the measurement of UHF propagation effects in the ionosphere, the impact of refraction close to the horizon, the effect of Faraday rotation on polarization, and the impact of backscatter from meteors and the aurora on the detection performance of the radar and its false-alarm rate [15–17]. In the early 1960s, the Millstone radar was converted from a UHF to an L-band system. The Air Force in the 1960s sponsored the development of Haystack, a versatile facility in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, that supports radar- and radio-astronomy research and the national need for deep-space surveillance.
  13. ^
    ISBN 9780486600611
    . Retrieved March 5, 2014. fan-shaped beams, about 1° in width and 3½° in elevation… The horizontal sweep rate is fast enough that a missile or satellite cannot pass through the fans undetected.
  14. ^ "USS Rancocas: The Cornfield Cruiser". LockheedMartin.com. Retrieved March 10, 2014. Originally owned by the Air Force, the building was constructed in the 1950s. For years it was an Air Force-operated radar site, operating a ballistic missile early warning system. The warehouse-like gray building was topped by a radome...
  15. ^
    9th...Division. January 10, 1963. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2014. eventual transfer to a Spacetrack Analysis Center at Colorado Springs.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: location (link
    )
  16. ^ Flack, John S. Jr. "Moorestowns Giant Golf Ball" (personal anecdote w/ photos). Personal web page on Homestead.com. Retrieved March 10, 2014. It was taken out of service in December, 1974 and dismantled in early 1976. After this, RCA built a replica of a US Navy cruiser deckhouse atop the building that the golf ball sat on for testing its Aegis Combat System and for training Navy personnel. The Aegis facility is still located here, operated jointly by Lockheed Martin (which now operates the radar plant) and the Navy.
  17. ^ a b "Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS): AN/FPS-50 Detection Radar AN/FPS-92 Tracking Radar". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  18. ISBN 9780262550284. 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)
  19. ^ McNamara, Robert (November 3, 1961). Report to the US Senate Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee on Warning and Detection systems (PDF) (Report). National Archives via nsarchive.gwu.edu. p. 5.
  20. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. ISBN 9780788148002
    .
  22. ^
    ISBN 9781598840063
    . Retrieved March 13, 2014. BMEWS was replaced by the Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS) in 2001. ... CINCAD (Command in Chief, Aerospace Defense Command)
  23. ^
    BOMARC missile and the hardened "supercombat" centers for the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment
    (SAGE) system, and an acceleration in the modernization of the fighter interceptor forces and in the construction of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) [with] three widely dispersed, long-range radar stations, a central computer and display facility in the United States, and a communications network to link the separate elements.
  24. ^ Fay, Elton C. (May 18, 1960). "Radar Net Nearing Completion". Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. AP.
  25. ^ "FPS-50". radomes.org.
  26. ^ "AN/FPS-49, 49A". radomes.org. Retrieved March 5, 2014. The prototype unit operated at Moorestown, New Jersey
  27. The Milwaukee Journal
    . January 4, 1961. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  28. ^ "FPS-92". Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  29. ^ "MONITORING SET, RADAR - continued - TM-11-487C-10192". Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  30. ^ "Cold War Comms Group forum". groups.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014.
  31. ^ title tbd (PDF) (Report). Retrieved March 7, 2014. Missile Impact Predictor Set AN/FSQ-28 accepts output of Radar Set AN/FPS-19 or AN/FPS-19A and Radar Set AN/FPS-50(V) to determine the trajectory of space objects and predicts the point of impact. Furnishes designation data to tracking Radar for enhancing target data accuracy. The AN/FSQ-28 is a duplex, general purpose computer (IBM-709-TX with real-time terminal and control equipment added).
  32. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) the USA and UK agreed to be separately responsible for their own rearward data handling systems.’ [46] The UK systems were to meet Air Staff Requirement 2208 and called for ‘display of processed IRBM data at the Air Defence Operations Centre (ADOC), the Bomber Command Operations Centre (BCOC), the Air Ministry Operations Centre and, for standby purposes, at the Air Defence Main Control Centre and Headquarters No. 1 Group. The processed data will also be passed to NORAD over the USA rearward data handling system and this system
  33. ^
    ISBN 9780230389113
    .
  34. ^ Moora, Robert L (Autumn 1960). "BMEWS Takes Shape…On Schedule: Greenland radar site begins early warning operations…" (PDF). Electronic Age. Retrieved March 6, 2014. a "data takeoff" computer translates the visual image into digital form, calculating distance, range, angle of flight, speed and direction. In split seconds, this data is on its way to a high-speed "missile impact predictor" computer. … prime system contractor is the Radio Corporation of America, with headquarters at the Missile and Surface Radar Division, Moorestown… Principal subcontractors to RCA include General Electric Company…
  35. ^ "ABMWSP Summary - 23 Apr 1960". alternatewars.com World War III wargame alternative reality website. Progress is satisfactory on the establishment of rearward communications from the forward sites to the Zone of the Interior display facilities at Colorado Springs, Colorado. On 1 December, through communication was established between the switchboard at Thule and the BMEWS Project Office in New York City. This tie line, together with a similar one between Thule and Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, represents the first use to be made of the submarine cable completed this last summer between Thule and Cape Dyer.
  36. ^ Olsson, Tom (October 31, 1969). Report of the Economic Committee on Domestic Satellites (PDF) (Report). US Office of Telecommunications Management via claywhitehead.com.
  37. ^ Mitchell, Walt. "Memories of Troposcatter at Resolution Island". Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2014. he BMEWS Rearward link came from Thule to Dye to ResX1 to ResX on Resolution and then on to Goose Bay. I suspect that was the link maintained by Canadian Marconi under contract in the 1961 to 1974 period.
  38. ^ "DEWDROP Troposheric Scatter AM Communications Link between Thule BMEWS and Cape Dyer". Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  39. ^ Bubb, John. "Tropospheric Scatter Communications Site Saglek Labrador Canada Circa 1969/70". Personal Webpage at members.shaw.ca. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  40. ^ a b c d e f "1962 NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary, July-December" (PDF). Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  41. ^ SAC Command Post, Reel 2. National Archives Motion Pictures Unit, Record Group 342 via nsarchive.gwu.edu. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  42. ^ a b c d "Watchful eye of BMEWS turns toward Soviets" (Google news archive). Ellensburg Daily Record. June 18, 1961. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  43. ^ "RCA501". Archived from the original on July 2, 2012.
  44. ^ "NORAD's Information Processing Improvement Program: Will It Enhance Mission Capability?" (Report to Congress). Comptroller General. September 21, 1978. Retrieved January 24, 2013. The 496L Spacetrack system uses a Philco 212 computer as its primary processor. … The off-line utility processors are two Philco 1000 computers which can also serve as backup processors for the 496L system and the Automatic Digital Relay Switch, if necessary. … The NCS segment will replace the Burroughs 425L Command and Control system including the Univac 1218s, the 425L Back-up system, the Command Center Processing system, and the Display Information Processor.
  45. ^ a b Avionics Department (2013). "Missile and Electronic Equipment Designations". Electronic Warfare and Radar Systems Engineering Handbook (PDF) (4 ed.). Point Mugu, California: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. p. 2-8.1.
  46. LCCN 97020912
    .
  47. ^ Hanley, Charles J (August 17, 1987). "Soviets, Eskimos protest Thule radar" (Google news archive). Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. Associated Press. Retrieved March 9, 2014. The radar, a Phased Array Warning System…can "see" 3,200 miles, 200 miles farther than the old system, and has a 240-degree arc…40 degrees more than the old.
  48. ^ a b c d Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (April 14, 1959). North American Air Defense Command and Continental Air Defense Command Historical Summary: July–December 1958 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services.
  49. ^ a b Skolnik, Merrill. "Oral-History" (audio transcript). IEEE Global History Network. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  50. ^
    FTD
    Oscar equipment consists of a film reader which gives time and range data in analog form, a converter unit that changes them to digital form, and an IBM printing card punch that receives the digital data. The Oscar equipment and human operator thus generate a deck of IBM cards for...each target's position through time.
  51. ^ Development of the Soviet Ballistic Missile Threat (George Washington University video). USAF Aerospace Audio Visual Service. 1960. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  52. ^ a b Freeman, Maj Steve (September 1997). "Visionaries, Cold War, hard work built the foundations of Air Force Space Command". Guardian Magazine…funded Air Force newspaper. Vol. 5, no. 6 (Special Anniversary ed.). Peterson Air Force Base. pp. 6, 9.
  53. ^ USAF memo to Air Defense Command cited in 1958 NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary, Jan-Jun
  54. ^ a b "Document Detail for IRISNUM= 01073102". Air Force History Index. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
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  58. S2CID 17821721
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  62. ^ a b c Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (November 1, 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. pp. 92, 94.
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  64. ^ Muolo (December 1993). Space Handbook (manual). Air University Press.
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  69. ^ a b c "Ballistic Warning Is Aim of BMEWS" (Google news archive). The Evening News. Newburgh, New York. June 19, 1964. Retrieved March 9, 2014. high-speed scanning switches and a massive array of feedhorns… Federal Electric Corp., Paramus, N.J., is the prime contractor for manning and maintaining the Thule BMEWS site.
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  72. Colorado Springs Gazette
    . August 26, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2014. an engineer we'll call "Q" didn't follow instructions "for routining a TD2 transmitter and receiver." He enclosed diagrams showing what went wrong. There was no "500A termination on the Channel Dropping Network when he was running the Radio Frequency (RF) Sweep Generator to adjust the equipment." That generator leaked RF into the Channel Separating Filter "interfering with all the other transmitters in the Black Forest Microwave Station, causing a complete failure of all channels going to Ent. SAC scrambled all aircraft. Later SAC billed AT&T for all the fuel used."
  73. ^ Philips, Alan F. "20 Mishaps That Might Have Started Accidental Nuclear War". NuclearFiles.org. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
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  75. ^
    ISBN 0-912799-53-6
    .
  76. ^ "NORAD Center Located At Colorado Springs Site" (Google news archive). The Othello Outlook. November 26, 1964. p. 3. Retrieved March 9, 2014. COMMAND POST – The main battle staff position in the Combat Operations Center (COC)...fronts a display area which allows observers to see the positions of airborne objects thousands of miles away.
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  82. ^ "Fylingdales". Raytheon.co.uk. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  83. ISSN 1473-6403
    . Retrieved March 9, 2014. in March 1963 an Air Ministry review of ABM systems said of MIDAS that 'performance to date has been disappointing'.78 … A teletype circuit was established between NORAD and the ADOC in Britain to pass information derived from Site 1 at Thule.95 This was supplemented by a voice circuit with agreed formatted messages, and both were operational by October 1960. … AN/FPS-49 Range resolution 240 nm Maximum range 2,650 nm Minimum target at 1,650 m 2.8 m2 Impact accuracy North America 135 nm
  84. ^ "Early Warning System has Important Role in NORAD". The Othello Outlook. Othello, Washington. November 26, 1964. p. 6.
  85. ^ Wilson, B.C.F. (January 1, 1983). A History - Royal Air Force Fylingdales. Royal Air Force Flyingdales (January 1, 1983).
    ISBN 0950852104
    . [plaque in the Tactical Operations Room] This plaque commemorates the commissioning of Royal Air Force Fylingdales as Site III of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System on 17 September 1963. This site is a joint enterprise of the United States of America and Great Britain for the protection of both the North American Continent and the United Kingdom.
  86. ^ Radome is maze of wires, girders. March 29, 1962. p. 17. {{cite book}}: |newspaper= ignored (help)
  87. ^ "Electronic Eye Scans Eurasian Air Space". The Morning Record. AP. July 8, 1966. p. 14.
  88. ^ "Electronic Eye Watches For Sneak Missile Attack" (Google news archive). Herald-Journal. July 8, 1966. Retrieved March 9, 2014. rotating 84-foot parabolic radar dish antenna…weighing 185 tons, can detect and track a 16-inch piece of wire 1-32nd of an inch in diameter, at a distance of 2,500 miles… The electronic dishes, each costing $19 million…
  89. Gross Domestic Product deflator
    figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  90. ^ "Outstanding Airman of the Year History" (PDF). Unknown source via higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2016.[unreliable source?][improper synthesis?]
  91. ^ Schlesinger, James R. (February 5, 1975). Report of the Secretary of Defense to the Congress on the FY 1976 and Transition Budgets... (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2011.
  92. ^ "Electronic Technicians BMEWS" (PDF). p. 27. Archived from the original (job advertisement) on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014. FELEC Services…a subsidiary of Federal Electric…newly awarded contract at Thule…IBM 360-7090 and 7094; CDC 6000; Honeywell 800
  93. ^ compiled by Johnson, Mildred W (December 31, 1980) [Feb 1973 original by Cornett, Lloyd H. Jr]. A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946–1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 23, 2006. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  94. ^ Failures of the North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) attack warning system (minutes of "hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress; May 19 and 20, 1981") (Report). United States Government Printing Office. Retrieved January 23, 2013. at Norad is the establishment of a Systems Integration Office
  95. ^ Modernization of the WWMCCS Information System (WIS) (ADA095409) (Report). United States House Committee on Armed Services. January 19, 1981. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  96. ISBN 9780896081543
    .

External links
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