Air Defense Direction Center
An Air Defense Direction Center[2]:11 (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 ("weapons assignment").[3] As with the World War II Aircraft Warning Service CONUS defense network, a "manual air defense system"[4] was used through the 1950s (e.g., NORAD/ADC used a "Plexiglass [sic] plotting board" at the Ent command center.)[5]:151 Along with 182 radar stations at "the end of 1957, ADC operated … 17 control centers",[5]:223 and the Ground Observation Corps was TBD on TBD. With the formation of NORAD, several types of ADDCs were planned by Air Defense Command:
- Joint Direction Center,[6]:22 a USAF ADDC collocated with an Army Air Defense Command Post, AADCP (together designated a "NORAD Control Center").
- Alaskan Joint Direction Center, at 2 sites: Fire Island and Murphy Dome Air Force Station for the Alaskan Air Command Semi-Automatic Defense System (ALSADS)[6]:49
- Semi-Automatic Direction Center[7] (SAGE Direction Center),[8] an ADCC (e.g., the "Duluth Sector Direction Center"[9]) with a command, control, and coordination system that provided the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), e.g., AN/FSQ-7 or AN/GSA-51 (in 1958, NORAD "forecast full SAGE direction center capability" by January 1963.)[6]:24
- Combined Direction-Combat Center,[5]:256 a USAF ADDC collocated with a SAGE Combat Center (e.g., DC-03 & CC-01 at Hancock Field for the Syracuse Air Defense Sector)
- SCC Direction Center (SCC/DC), a USAF ADDC to be collocated with a planned Super Combat Center in a nuclear bunker (no SCCs, SCC/DCs, or above-ground DCs with AN/FSQ-32 were ever completed)[6]
- Manual Direction Center, an ADCC without a SAGE CCCS, successors to the Manual Air Defense Control Centers of the Permanent System (cf. ADCCs with a "pre-SAGE semiautomatic intercept system")[10]
- NIKE direction center, Army Project Nike AADCPs for coordinating surface-to-air missile fire from multiple batteries, e.g., W-13DC (at the Fort Meade radar station) through LA-45DC (Fort MacArthur Direction Center), 9 of which were within Missile Master nuclear bunkers.
| Air Defense Direction Center | |
|---|---|
NORAD sector direction center (NSDC)[1] | |
| United States |
Most ADDCs were replaced by Regional Operations Control Centers of the Joint Surveillance System (FOC on December 23, 1980).[7]
References
- 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) … 22. Normal Tracking The S & E officers and the trackers monitor the SAGE reference track data … 34. General … The two surveillance and entry consoles…are separated by a channel status unit … "Missile Master organic radars:" … SAGE SELECTOR two-position switch: Selects SAGE 1 or SAGE 2 (primary or secondary SAGE DC) as the source of SAGE data. … 45. Range-Height Subsystem a. Equipment. The range-height equipment consists of two RHI consoles (fig. 15) and two antenna control units
- Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (1 October 1958). North American Air Defense Command Historical Summary: January–June 1958 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services.
- Lincoln Laboratory memorandum 6M-3797 which cites "6M-3788, "Weapons Direction Requirements," R. Nelson) … SAGE designation of targets directly to AA batteries … CAPE COD DIRECTION CENTER … Memorandum 6M-2926-3, "Lighting Requirements for AN/FSQ-7 Direction Centers," … 6M-3772…Requirements for Separate Rani-Air Training Command Direction Center Facility"
- In Your Defense (digitized movie). Narrated by Colonel John Morton. Western Electric. 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
CS1 maint: others (link) - Schaffel, Kenneth (1991). Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense 1945-1960 (45MB pdf). General Histories (Report). Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-60-9. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
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 pp. 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). - Preface 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.
- Del Papa, Dr. E. Michael; Warner, Mary P. (October 1987). A Historical Chronology of the Electronic Systems Division 1947-1986 (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 2012-07-19.
so-called Semi-Automatic Direction Center System, later known as…Semi-Automatic Ground Environment System, in essence, the Lincoln Transition System.
- Lincoln Laboratory Memorandum 6M-3797: The operational specifications for the SAGE Direction Center (Schaffel p. 208 also identifies the term)
- Philips, Alan F. "20 Mishaps That Might Have Started Accidental Nuclear War". Issues (Accidents) webpage. NuclearFiles.org. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
At around midnight on October 25, a guard at the Duluth Sector Direction Center saw a figure climbing the security fence. He shot at it, and activated the "sabotage alarm." … and the Klaxon sounded which ordered nuclear armed F-106A interceptors to take off. … The original intruder was a bear.
- McMullen, R. F. (15 Feb 1980). History of Air Defense Weapons 1946–1962 (Report). ADC Historical Study No. 14. Historical Division, Office of information, HQ ADC. pp. 211, 306.
the GPA-37 electronic heart of an advanced system of ground controlled interception which immediately preceded SAGE, and with SAGE itself. … The AN/GPA-35 was a pre-SAGE control system that would be used until SAGE was ready.
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