NORAD USAF COMMAND AND CONTROL OPERATIONS Call Sign "HUNTRESS"

NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE DEFENSE COMMAND USAF

 NORAD CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ICBM EARLY WARNING AND NUCLEAR WAR OPERATIONS COMMAND CENTER

CODE NAME "HUNTRESS"
FRONT ENTRANCE 1960's

Air Defense Doctrine and Procedures



All services--Army, Navy, and Air Force--are involved in air defense operations.
ARMY AIR DEFENSE OPERATIONS AUTHORITY
Specific authorization for the Army to engage in air defense operations is derived from the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Pub. 2, United Action Armed Forces (UNAAF), November 1959. These directives assign the Army primary functions as follows: "To organize, train, and equip Army forces for the conduct of prompt and sustained combat operations on land--specifically, forces to defeat enemy land forces and to seize, occupy, and defend land area." UNAAF assigns the Army the following air defense missions: "To organize, train, and equip Army air defense units, including provision of Army forces as required for defense of the United States against air attack, in accordance with doctrines established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
CONCEPT OF AIR DEFENSE OPERATIONS
The broad principles of Army air defense doctrine are stated in FM 44-1, U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Employment. The provisions in FM 44-1 apply to US Army air defense artillery units with a unified command or serving in a combined force. The policies and procedures prescribed by the joint air defense commander will prevail when they conflict with doctrine and procedures described in FM 44-1.

NORTH AMERICAN AIR DEFENSE COMMAND
The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) is a combined command exercising operational control of forces allocated for air defense of Canada, Alaska, and the continental United States. Its mission is "to defend the North American Continent against an attack. " Headquarters NORAD, located at Colorado Springs, Colorado, prepares operational plans, conducts tactical exercises and readiness tests, and coordinates plans and requirements for new air defense weapons. It is the supreme headquarters for directing the air defense of North America in the event of war.

NORAD AIR DEFENSE SECTOR MAP 1960-1975

EVOLUTION                                                              




NORAD was formed in September 1957 following an agreement between the governments of Canada and the United States which, in effect, was official recognition of the fact that air defense of the two countries is an mdlvisible task. A high-level Canadian-United States committee (Military Cooperation Committee) drew up an emergency plan far the common defense of North America and directed that air defense organizations of the two countries prepare detailed emergency air defense plans. The first of these was issued in 1950.
Early in 1954, the same committee authorized a combined planning group of representatives from the Royal Canadian Air Force and the US Air Force Air Defense Command. Studies conducted by this group indicated that the best air defense of North America was an integrated defense, with forces of both countries operating under a single command, responsible to both governments. Following the completion of another study 2 years later which had the same conclusions, integration of operational control of the two forces was recommended .
In the meantime, the two countries had gone ahead with the development of a joint radar warning network. Together, they built the Pine Tree line of radars across southern Canada. Canada started constructingthe mid-Canada line, and the United States began the distant early warning (DEW) line across the northern rim of the continent. Conditions for operating and manning these lines were mutually agreed upon.
Thus, by 1957, there had been a considerable history of joint planning, coordinating, and sharing, and the need for further integration had been recognized. In August of that year, the United States Secretary of Defense and the Canadian Minister of National Defence announced that the two governments had agreed to establish a system of integrated operational control of air defense forces for North America and an integrated headquarters. On 12 September 1957, NORAD was established, followed by the signing of an official agreement by both countries on 12 May 1958.
The Commander in Chief, North American Air Defense Command (CINCNORAD), was to be responsible to the Chief, Defence Staff of Canada, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States. The agreement further stipulated that the appointment of CINCNORAD and his deputy had to be approved by both governments and that both would not be from the same country.
NORAD FORCES
NORAD has no organic fighting elements of its own, but is furnished combat-ready forces, including Reserve and National Guard forces, by three component commands (fig 1): US Army Air Defense Command(ARADCOM), US Air Force Aerospace Defense Command (USAF ADC), and Canadian Forces Air Defence Command (CF ADC), plus the air defense forces of the Alaskan Command. CINCNORAD exercises operational control over all air defense forces attached or otherwise made available by component commanders and the Alaskan Command.
ARADCOM furnishes Nike Hercules missiles (high-altitude, surface-to-air) and Hawk missiles (low- and medium-altitude, surface to-air). Under this command are the US Army missile units protecting the key population and industrial centers of the United States.









NORAD OPERATIONS CONTROL ROOM AND CURRENT NATIONAL DEFENSE CONDITION INFORMATION (DEFense CONdition)

Most of NORAD's fighter-interceptor squadrons are provided by the USAF ADC. This component also contributes Bomarc surface-to-air missiles, CONUS radar squadrons, and early warning airborne radars. USAF ADC is responsible for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) and SPACETRACK (a part of the Space Detection and Tracking System(SPADATS)), providing NORAD important information about ballistic missiles and orbiting space objects. The Air National Guard provides interceptor squadrons on full-time assignment to NORAD through USAF ADC. The CF ADC provides fighter-interceptor squadrons and long-range radars which contribute heavily to performance of surveillance, detection, and identification functions.
Alaskan air defense forces are made available to CINCNORAD for operational control. This force is not a component of NORAD. The force, consisting of Army and Air Force AD weapons, are part of the Alaskan Command (a unified command). Commander in Chief, Alaska (CINCAL), has a dual role. He is the commander of the Alaskan Command and also the commander of the Alaskan NORAD region. The geographical boundaries of the Alaskan Command and Alaskan NORAD region are the same.
The US Navy's space surveillance system (NAVSPASUR) furnishes information to NORAD on orbiting space objects. The US Navy would also provide augmentation forces upon direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) is a unified command made up of US personnel within the NORAD structure. This organization gives the US a capability of unilateral action where strictly United States interests are involved. Accordingly, the mission of CONAD is aerospace defense of Alaska, Greenland, and the continental United States (CONUS), and Mexico if requested by the Mexican Government. The senior American officer in NORAD is the Commander in Chief, Continental Air Defense (CWCONAD). If CINCNORAD is an American, he also is CINCONAD. If CINCNORAD is a Canadian, then the Deputy CINCNORAD is CINCONAD.

OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES
To accomplish its mission, NORAD is guided by these air defense principles: hit the enemy as far out as possible; increase the pressure as he continues; complicate his tactical problem be mpl,ying a family of weapons to perform low, medium, high, close-in, and distant missions; and realize optimum economy and efficiency of effort through centralized direction and decentralized execution of the air battle.
NORAD must guard against manned bomber attack as well as ballistic missile attack. It must watch over the North American Continent from treetops to beyond the atmosphere. Currently, the North American Continent is divided into eight regional areas (fig 2) of air defense responsibility· Each region commander is responsible to CINCNORAD for all air defense activity within his designated area.

1960s NORAD AND AIR DEFENSE OPERATION CHART OF CONUS (CONtinental United States)

 Each NORAD region is the basic unit for decentralized fighting of the air battle. Regions that cross the international boundary are manned jointly by United States and Canadian personnel. The sizes of regions vary depending generally on the amount of air traffic and number of vital target areas located within each region.
To perform its mission, NORAD must accomplish four basic actions: detect the presence of airborne objects, aircraft, or missiles; identiiy them as friendly or hostile; intercept and examine those not identified as friendly; and destroy those identified as hostile, using interceptor aircraft or air defense missiles.
NORAD employs several detection and warning systems, each designed to detect one of the three possible threats. The northernmost detection system is BMEWS. The three BMEWS stations(Thule, Greenland(fig 3), Clear, Alaska(fig 4) and Flyingdales Moor in Northern England) employ electronic systems providing detection and early warning of attack from enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM)
BMEWS was made possible by scientific developments in the electronics field. The system uses huge radars, approximately the size of a football field, which can detect a missile at a distance of 3,000 miles. The power required for a single station would meet the electrical needs of a small city.
The heart of the BMEWS detection system is a combination transmitter-receiver which transmits an extremely brief burst of energy many times each second in narrow fans of radiofrequency energy at two different degrees of elevation. As a missile passes through these fans, it reflects energy to the station, enabling the coordinates of flight to be recorded. From a set of coordinates, the trajectory can be plotted and the impact point, time, and point of launch calculated. Data processing equipment at the site rapidly computes the data and flashes a warning to NORAD.



EARLY WARNING RADAR COVERAGE OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE BALLISTIC MISSILE EARLY WARNING STATIONS (BMEWS) AND USAF RADAR INSTALLATIONS 1958-1990 NORAD LOCATED IN MIDDLE OF DIAGRAM

Another detection system is the manned bomber sunreillance network, composed of land-based radar networks (fig 5) and Air Force planes. The first line of radars begins in the far north with the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line (fig 6). This radar fence, which stretches from the eastern shores of Greenland across the Canadian Arctic to Western Alaska, provides initial warning of attack by manned bombers. A ground-based radar system, called contiguous coverage, is extended out to sea off the southeast coast by Air Force radar planes (fig 7). All of these systems are joined together by a communications network terminating in the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Colorado Springs, Colorad
Another part of the NORAD detection and warning system is the Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS) which keeps track of all manmade objects in space. Through a global system of radar, radio, and optical sensors, the system brings under NORAD operational control space detection and tracking resources available to the military. Civilian and government scientific agencies throughout the free world contribute to the system on a cooperative basis.
Primary military members of the SPADATS are the USAF SPACETRACK system and US Navy's NAVSPASUR. SPACETRACK provides tracking information through a series of USAF sensors (radar, optical, and electronic). The CF ADC provides inputs from an optical sunreillance device, the Baker-Nunn camera (fig 8). NAVSPASUR is composed of three powerful transmitter stations and six receiver stations alternately spaced across the southern United States from California to Georgia. Data from this network are furnished to NORAD Space Defense Center(SDC) computers through the system's headquarters and opei-ations center at Dahlgren, Virginia.

Space tracking information from this widespread system flows into the SDC (fig 9) at Colorado Springs wnere giant digital computers digest reams of complex orbital data on space objects.
The wide variety of data received from the numerous sources enables the SDC to provide complete and timely cracking information on manmade objects in space. SDC also maintains a running catalog, constantly revised and updated, on space traffic. Thousands of observations are received daily and are used to refine existing orbital characteristics of hundreds of objects. This includes not only payloads but space junk, such as burned-out boosters and wires the size of a lead pencil.


THE RADAR PICTURED AND SITE WAS THE LOCATION OF USAF GAT TRACKING , IDENTIFICATION FRIEND OR FOE ,SAGE AND WAS BUILT FOR THE USAF BOMARC INSTALLATION SOUTH OF IT. THE OTHER RADARS IN CONJUCTION WIH MONTAUK ALLOWED FOR PRECISE TARGET TRACKING AND DATA FOR COMMAND AND CONTROL FACILITIES. UNIDENTIFIED BOGEYS THAT WERE  IN US AIRSPACE WOULD BE DETECTED  THE  SUFFOLK AFB  WOULD SCRAMBLE ALERT INTERCEPTORS  THAT WOULD HIT THE AFTERBURNERS AND GO SCREAMING  IN TO THE SKY TO CONFRONT AND IDENTIFY THE APPROACHING OBJECT AND IF NEED BE SPLASH THE BOGEY INTO THE ATLANTIC OCEA

Once the computers have digested all the tracking data and produced their findings, the information can be transmitted to the battle staff area in the adjacent NORAD combat operations center by closed-circuit television.
Identification is one of NORAD's most difficult problems, caused chiefly by the large amount of air traffic in the United States and Canada. On the average, there are approximately 1,200 overwater flights daily and an estimated 200,000 internal flights .
Aircraft penetrating the North American Continent enter air defense identification zones (ADIZ) established around and throughout the continent to assist in identification processing. Any aircraft originating from an oversea area must enter an ADIZ within 20 miles of a predetermined point and within 5 minutes of an estimated time, based on the pilot's flight plan filed at his takeoff point and sent ahead to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inthe United States and Department of Transport (DOT) in Canada. This information is relayed to appropriate NORAD region control centers (NRCC) and used for correlation when the track is acquired.
If an aircraft enters an ADIZ, but is not within prescribed limits, it is declared an unknown and interceptors may be scrambled to make positive visual identification. The ADIZ system is part of the NORAD identification process known as flight plan correlation.
Under combat conditions, the identification process would be somewhat simplified when provisions of emergency plans and security control of air traffic and air navigational aids (SCATANA) are placed in effect. SCATANA provides for orderly grounding of nonessential aircraft and establishing military control over radio navigational aids.
In view of the large number of aircraft flights taking place within NORAD airspace in any given 24-hour period, it is a rare day when none of these appear at the NORAD combat operations center as unknown. The average number of unknowns in the system has steadily declined over the years untir now the number isapproximately 40 per month. Of these, it is common to find two or three instances where interceptors are scrambled recalled before intercept because of the identity being established by further communication checks.
The regular fighter-interceptor squadrons (fig 10) of the NORAD system, in an emergency, would be augmented by available fighter aircraft of the US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Air Forces, Air National Guard, and interceptor training units of the CF ADC. All of these forces are highly mobile and constantly practice dispersal and forward base deployment.

NORAD COMBAT OPERATIONS CENTER
Nerve center of the North American Air Defense Command is the Combat Operations Center (COG) situated in Cheyenne Mountain, south of Colorado Springs (fig 11). The COC is housed in steel buildings beneath more than a thousand feet of solid granite. The main part of the COC is a three-story building complex (fig 12) constructed within the intersecting chambers. It includes 200,000 square feet of floorspace to accommodate a maximum of 1,800 people. The COC is virtually safe from thermonuclear attack (fig 13). It is from the COC that the first warning of an attack on North America would come. If such an attack should come, the air battle for survival of the United States and Canada would be directed from the operations room in norad.
Data are received in the COC from the huge complex of radar stations, interceptor squadrons, missile sites, space tracking and ballistic missile warning units, and NORAD regions and are stored in a large digital computer. Here, too, information is received from other sources, such as the Strategic Air Command (SAC), naval forces off both coasts, the Pentagon, and the Department of National Defence in Canada. This information is displayed on an electronic wall display system (fig 14). The system permits almost instantaneous observation of the positions of aerospace and seaborne objects thousands of miles away and over any part of the continent covered by radar networks. It flashes surveillance information on large, theater-like screens for easy observation.

Included is a map of North America, the surrounding oceans, Greenland, Iceland, parts of Siberia, and the Caribbean islands. Symbols show the location and direction of travel of all aircraft of special interest to NORAD. These may be strategic friendly elements or a commercial or military aircraft that for one reason or another is classed as an unknown until positive identification is made. NORAD is interested in unidentified submarines, friendly aircraft carriers, Soviet fishing trawlers, and air activity over Cuba and Siberia. All this is presented on the main display with special coded symbols that provide a variety of information about the subject.
To the right of the main display is the weapon status hoard. This is associated with the main display, and information on the board is received, processed, and displayed automatically. The top part of this board, referred to as the "commander's box score, " shows at a glance the number of hostile aircraft in the NORAD system, the number of unla~owns, the weapons committedto these tracks, the kills made, and NORAD losses. Below is a listingof worldwide major military commands and their defense readiness conditions. The bottom part of the status board shows the number of weapons available to NORAD on a 5-minute alert, including fighter-interceptors and surface-to-air missiles

Other types and sources of information are available on call. The weather forecast office in the COC is manned with trained meteorologists who are always on duty and ready to provide the latest weather information, either in person or through the closed-circuit television network, to monitors in front of each member of the battle staff. SDC is located in the COC (fig 15) and can provide information (fig 16) to the battle staff either by a per sonal briefing or through the television system.

SEMIAUTOMATIC GROUND ENVIRONMENT
Conduct of an area air defense battle requires a vast amount of information, dependable communications, and coordination among many organizations. Receiving this information, processing it, and using the necessary instructions in the limited time available proved impossible for unaided human beings, and an electronic air surveillance and weapon control system was devised to do the job. This system, called semiautomatic ground environment (SAGE), receives information, processesit, and communicates instructions to those control and command
 the flow of data to and from the NORAD region control center (NRCC) in the air defense organization. Data are transmitted automatically to the NRCC from ground-based search radars and, on demand, from height-finder radars. Information on weapon status, weather, and airborne early warning is received by telephone, radio, and teletype and is programed into the computer. Similarly, data from the NRCC are transmitted automatically to direct Bomarc missiles and aircraft equipped with data link receivers to hostile aircraft. Digital data transmission is used to pass hostile track information to Missile Mentor (AN/TSQ-51) or battery integration and radar display equipment (BIRDIE) command, control, and coordination systems for action by Nike Hercules and Hawk fire units. Selected data are automatically sent to adjacent NRCC's. Manned interceptors, not equipped with data link, are directed to the hostile aircraft by voice (ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radio). Telephone, teletype, and radio are used to pass information to civil defense agencies, SAG, and other headquarters.





UNITED STATES ARMY AIR DEFENSE COMMAND

The US Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM) is both a major combat command of the US Army and a component of NORAD. As a member of the two-nation air defense organi zation, ARADCOM is assigned the mission of providing combat-ready Army forces to the Commander in Chief, NORAD, for the air defense of designated strategic and metropolitan target complexes. The mainstay of ARADCOM's weapon inventory is nuclear-capable Nike Hercules surface-to-air missiles. Nike Hercules missiles are augmented by nonnuclear Hawk missiles, currently deployed in defense of the Homestead-Miami and Key West areas in southern Florida. Nike Hercules is effective even at altitudes up to 150,000 feet and the Hawk from treetop level to 38,000 feet.




This is the story of the United States Army Air Defense Command! Project Nike was a U.S. Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft missile system, the Nike Ajax, in 1953. A great number of the technologies and rocket systems used for developing the Nike Ajax were re-used for a number of functions, many of which were given the "Nike" name (after Nike, the goddess of victory from Greek mythology). The missile's first-stage solid rocket booster became the basis for many types of rocket including the Nike Hercules missile and NASA's Nike Smoke rocket, used for upper-atmosphere research.