The 678th Air Defense Group is a disbanded

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

organization. Its last assignment was with the

20th Air Division The 20th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida where it was inactivated on 1 March 1983. During most of the division's history it ...

of Air Defense Command (ADC) at

Tyndall Air Force Base Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt. Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing (325 ...

, Florida. The

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

was formed in 1970 when ADC expanded its

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

units that operated

Back-Up Interceptor Control Backup Interceptor Control (BUIC, ) was the Electronic Systems Division 416M System to backup the SAGE 416L System in the United States and Canada. BUIC deployed Cold War command, control, and coordination systems to SAGE radar stations to create ...

sites from

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

sized units to groups. From 1977 until it was inactivated in 1983 the 678th was responsible for operating the Southern Air Defense System.

History

The 678th Air Defense Group replaced the 678th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (formerly the 678th Aircraft Warning & Control Squadron) at

in 1970.Cornett & Johnson, p. 85 The group operated a

(BUIC) site with the mission to back up the centralized and vulnerable

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. S ...

(SAGE) operations center of the

at Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama. The BUIC III operated by the group gave the unit a semi-automatic control capability, unlike earlier BUIC systems that required manual operation. The group provided air defense mission command and control from 1970 to 1983. It was a component of

Aerospace Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly ina ...

(ADC) (later transferred to Tactical Air Command (TAC)) Air Defense Weapons Center from 1974 to 1981. The group earned an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for exceptionally meritorious service for the period 1 June 1970 through 1 June 1972.AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits, Vol II
Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC, 30 Sep 76 , p. 87 In 1969, the inadequacy of the radar coverage to the south of the United States had been dramatically illustrated whan a Cuban

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 ...

went undetected before it landed at

Homestead Air Force Base Homestead Air Reserve Base (Homestead ARB), previously known as Homestead Air Force Base (Homestead AFB) is located in Miami–Dade County, Florida to the northeast of the city of Homestead. It is home to the 482nd Fighter Wing (482 FW) of th ...

, south of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida.Leonard. Vol I, p. 172 and two years later, an

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Ir ...

similarly arrived unannounced at New Orleans International Airport. As a result, ADC established The Southern Air Defense System (SADS). Initially, the 630th Radar Squadron operated a manual control center at the

Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZHU) is located at George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 16600 JFK Boulevard, Houston, Texas, United States 77032. The Houston ARTCC is one of 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in the United States. H ...

and the USAF added radars to supplement the existing

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

coverage in the Caribbean area. In 1977, responsibility for operating the SADS control center was transferred to the group, which was operating the last BUIC III site in ADC. The previous year the group also assumed responsibility to operate the Tyndall NORAD Control Center. The group continued to act as a control center until it was inactivated in 1983 when the Tyndall radar site became part of the Joint Surveillance System.

Lineage

* Constituted as 678th Air Defense Group on 13 February 1970 : Activated on 1 March 1970 : Inactivated on 1 March 1983 : Disbanded on 27 September 1984Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 575q, 27 September 1984, Subject: Disbandment of Units

Assignments

, 1 March 1970 – 1 March 1983

Components

None

Stations

* Tyndall AFB, Florida, 1 March 1970 – 1 March 1983

Awards

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *
AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits, Vol II
Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC, 30 Sep 76

External links

* {{Aerospace Defense Command, state=autocollapse Aerospace Defense Command units Military units and formations established in 1970 0678 Military units and formations in Florida Military units and formations disestablished in 1984