The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system 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
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,
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
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.
SAGE radar stations were grouped by Air Defense Sectors (Air Divisions after 1966). The SAGE System networked the radar stations in over 20 of the sectors using AN/FSQ-7 centrals in Direction Centers.
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,
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.
Valley Committee
When the
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
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]
Whirlwind computer elements: core memory (left) and operator consoleModule from a SAGE
The Committee then had to consider whether or not such a computer was possible. The Valley Committee was introduced to
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]
Project Charles
With this successful demonstration,
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]
Project Lincoln
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
Lincoln Laboratory, the USAF conducted Project Claude which concluded an improved air defense system was needed.[citation needed
]
To increase warning time, radar systems called Texas Towers were placed in the Atlantic Ocean using technology similar to Texas-style offshore oil platforms
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]
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
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]
Development
Systems scientist
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 had 100 system consoles, including the OA-1008 Situation Display (SD) with a light gun (at end of cable under plastic museum cover), cigarette lighter, and ash tray (left of the light gun).
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,
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
display, which was projected from above. Archive photo taken during equipment installation.
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
Stewart Air Force Base
, New York in 2016
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
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 The Subsector Command Post ("blue room") had personnel on the DC's 3rd floor and a Display and Warning Light System for the operator environment, e.g., Large Board Projection Equipment projecting from the 4th floor[3] (top, Cape Cod shown on 3rd/4th floor wall) and Command Post Digital Display Desk[45] (center, with operators)
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
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]
SAGE sites
The SAGE system included a direction center (DC) assigned to air defense sectors as they were defined at the time.
operational December 1961, completing the SAGE system;[62] used AN/FSQ-8 that was retrofitted to have the LRI, GFI, and other components/software specific to the Q-7.[26]
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]
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]
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]
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]
] 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).
^ abcColonel John Morton (narrator). In Your Defense(digitized movie). Western Electric. Archived from the original on 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-04-03. 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?]
^ abc"Introduction". Ed-Thelen.org. Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. 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)
from the original on 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2013-04-23. "BUIC II radar sites would be capable of incorporating data feeds from other radar sectors directly onto their radar screens.
^Mola, Roger A. (March 2002). "This Is Only a Test". Air & Space Magazine. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
^Nelson, Maj Gen Morris R. (June 12, 1950). "subj: Employment of an American Version of CDS" (letter). USAFHRC microfilm. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (cited by Schaffel pdf p. 311)
^Futrell, Robert Frank (June 1971). Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine: A History of Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force 1907–1964 (Report). Vol. 1. Aerospace Studies Institute, Air University. (cited by Volume I p. 187)
^McRee, [who?] (15 December 1950). …Electronic Air Defense Environment for 1954 (Report). Headquarters, Air Materiel Command.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Lapp; Alsop (March 21, 1953). "We Can Smash the Red A-Bombers". Saturday Evening Post. p. 19. (citation 29 of Volume I, p. 25)
. Retrieved 2013-05-02. 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)
^quote from Schaffel p. 191; Condit p. 259 footnote 1 cites: "CCS 381 US (5-23-46) sec 37."
^McVeigh, D. R. (January 1956). The Development of the Bomarc Guided Missile 1950–1953 (Report). Western Air Development Center. (cited by Volume I p. 108 footnote 69: "Before the end of 1953, it was also decided that the Sage system being developed by Lincoln Laboratories would be used to control the Bomarc.69")
^ abCondit, Kenneth W. (1992) [1971 classified vol]. "Chapter 15: Continental Defense". The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy: 1955–1956 (Report). Vol. VI of History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Washington, D.C.: Historical Office, Joint Staff. 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.)
^ abcdefghijkPreface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (14 April 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. "USAF also set down a new schedule (see table preceding). This schedule was to be included in an entirely new SAGE schedule (Schedule A) to be prepared by the SAGE Project Office. The phasing was to be as follows. The last combat center, AN/FSQ-8, to be installed under SAGE Schedule 7 (Improved), was to be at McChord AFB (25th Air Division). Subsequent combat facilities and equipment were to be cancelled with the exception of (1) one AN/FSQ-8 that was to be converted to an AN/FSQ-7, using FY 1959 funds, to be installed at the Sioux City DC, and (2) the combat center building at Minot." (improved) On April 1, 1966, Combat Center CC-03 at McChord AFB, WA was inactivated in conjunction with the activation of Combat Center CC-05 at Hamilton AFB, CA, and the combining of 25th, 26th and 27th NORAD divisions into the new Headquarters Western NORAD Region at HAFB. CC-05 utilized a 3-String AN/GSA-51 computer system. CC-05 and Headquarters Western NORAD Region were inactivated at Hamilton AFB on December 31, 1969.
^ abLincoln Laboratory. The SAGE Air Defense System. Lincoln Laboratory MIT. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-08-05.(this source was also referenced at a time earlier than 2015-08-05, for info: ...ADL... - Interceptors)
^ abcd"Vigilance and Vacuum Tubes: The SAGE System 1956-63"(SAGE Talk Transcript). Ed-Thelen.org. 1998. Archived from the original on 2013-03-30. Retrieved 2013-02-16. the Whirlwind computer, which was a digital version of the ASCA, was about five million dollars, in 1950's [sic] 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.
^McMullen, Richard F. (1965). The Birth of SAGE, 1951–1958 (Report). Vol. ADC Hist Study 33. (cited by Schaffel p. 207/312)
^"Overview |". SAGE: The First [computerized] National Air Defense Network. IBM.com. 7 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2013-05-08. 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.
^"SAGE: The New Aerial Defense System of the United States". The Military Engineer. Mar–Apr 1956. (cited by Schaffel pp. 311, 332)
^
Richards-Gebaur AFB
. This feature permitted the ALCOP to continue operations of the network and carry on with the alert procedures should NORAD become a war casualty."
^ abThe SAGE/Bomarc Air Defense Weapons System: An Illustrated Explanation of What it is and How it Works(fact sheet) (Report). New York: International Business Machines Corporation. 1959. 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)
^ (NORAD message). North American Air Defense Command. June 30, 1958. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help) (identified by NORAD Hist. Summary Jan–Jun '58 p. 7)[not specific enough to verify]
(PDF) from the original on 23 November 2006. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
^Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (1 November 1959). North American Air Defense Command and Continental Air Defense Command Historical Summary: January–June 1959 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services.
^McMullen, R. F. (15 Feb 1980). History of Air Defense Weapons 1946–1962 (Report). Vol. ADC Historical Study No. 14. Historical Division, Office of information, HQ ADC. p. 224. (cited by Volume I p. 271 & Schaffel p. 325)
^ abcdDel 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 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2012-07-19. Semi-Automatic Direction Center System, later known as…Semi-Automatic Ground Environment System, in essence, the Lincoln Transition System.
^"Topsham AFS". Cold War Relics. 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2013-02-19. the SAGE block house was bulldozed in 1985. (image of entrance sign with arrow: "Bangor North American Air Defense Sector")
^"title tbd". Retrieved 2013-04-01. (GATR R-19 "was located at Minot AFB" DC-19.)
^Murphy, Michael F. "AN/FSQ7 SAGE Computer: Luke AFB". Radomes.org. Archived from the original(personal notes) on December 19, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2012. 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
^ ab"Missile Master…" (field manual). FM44-1. United States Army. February 1963. 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{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
a. DeWerth, John P. …Sage Memories (personal notes). SMECC.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2012-04-03. Senior Director's keyed console…fire button
b. "[AN/GSA-51]" (system description). SMECC.org. Archived from the original on 2014-10-03. BUIC … Burroughs…D825 … McChord AFB…August 1983
^Benington, Herbert D. Production of Large Computer Programs(PDF) (adaptation of June 1956 presentation). Archived(PDF) from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2015. 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.
^Murphy, Michael F. "AN/FSQ7 SAGE Computer: Luke AFB"(personal notes). Radomes.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2012-04-02. Luke center was unique [as] the programming center for all other sage sites [and] had more core memory, 32K total
ISBN 9780262550284 – via Internet Archive. 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.
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)
^ ab[who?], Tim (Sep 21, 2007). "Re: Speaking of AUTOVON". Yahoo.com (coldwarcomms newsgroup). Archived from the original(personal notes) on April 12, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-18. 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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abYahoo! Groups. Dir.groups.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-18.
^"CONUS AUTOVON Switching Centers". CO Cheyenne Mountain 1 July 1966…underground (inside mountain) … CO Lamar 1 Jan. 1967{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"AN/FST-2, RADAR Data Processor/Network System: Gallery". Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. 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.
^Benington, Herbert D. Foreword: Production of Large Computer Programs(PDF) (Report). Archived(PDF) from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2015. (Foreword is part of pdf that includes "Editor's Note" and a transcript of Benington's 1956 symposium paper beginning with the Introduction—"This paper looks ahead at some programming problems that are likely to arise during Forrester's 1960–1965 period of real-time control applications."—through Summary: "The techniques that have been developed for automatic programming over the past five years have mostly aimed at simplifying the part of programming that, at first glance, seems toughest—program input, or conversion from programmer language to machine code.")
^Phase III: Sage/Missile Master Integration/ECM-ECCM Test (Deep River) (Report). Ent AFB, Colorado: North America Air Defense Command. 1963.
^Missile Master Plan [1][2]; identified by Schaffel p. 260: "…the Defense Department to issue, on June 19, 1959, the Master Air Defense Plan. [sic] Key features of the plan included a reduction in BOMARC squadrons, cancellation of plans to upgrade the interceptor force, and a new austere SAGE program. In addition, funds were deleted for gap-filler and frequency-agility radars.21 [1959 NORAD/CONAD Hist Summary: Jan–Jun]"
^Furlong, R. D. M. (Jun 1974). "NORAD—A Study in Evolution". International Defense Review. 7 (3): 317–9. (Schaffel p. 268 citation 39)
^Project LAMPLIGHT (Final Report). copy in AF/CHO. 1955. (Schaffel Ch 8 footnote 64 cites this report on pp. 223/312)
Formerly Used Defense Site
C02NY0714
^Page, Thomas E. (June 16, 2009). "title tbd"(anecdotal message post). Ed-Thelen.org. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
^Harrington, Jacobs, Tropp; et al. (1983). Everett, Robert R (ed.). "Special Issue: SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment)". Annals of the History of Computing. 5 (4).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link). Articles include:
Harrington, John V. (1983). "Radar Data Transmission". Annals of the History of Computing. 5 (4): 370–374.
Tropp, Henry S. (moderator); Everett, Robert R.; et al. (1983). "A Perspective on SAGE: Discussion". Annals of the History of Computing. 5 (4): 375–98.
^Baum, Claud (1981). System Builders: The Story of SDC. Santa Monica: System Development Corporation. (cited by Schaffel p. 205/311: "Although technically a Lincoln unit, SDC did much of its work at RAND Headquarters in Santa Monica, California. RAND designers developed the Model I software that allowed realistic training for [SAGE] technicians scheduled to operate the first direction center.")
Enticknap, R. G.; Schuster, E. F. (1959). "Sage data system considerations". Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Part I: Communication and Electronics. 77 (6): 824–832.
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