The FLORIDA Airspace Monitoring And Management System was an airspace monitoring and management system of the Swiss Air Force. It was built by Hughes Aircraft Company. It is located in Fullerton, California.

History

The system was put into operation in about 1970, replacing the previous SRF Airspace monitoring and management system. With the FLORIDA manufacturer continuous 24-hour/365-day air surveillance was possible. In contrast to the SRF system, the FLORIDA system was already partially automated; it could identify radar data mostly by itself, and was able to calculate interception lines to a specific radar track. The construction work, especially at

Mount Pilatus Pilatus, also often referred to as Mount Pilatus, is a mountain massif overlooking Lucerne in Central Switzerland. It is composed of several peaks, of which the highest () is named ''Tomlishorn''. Geography and transport The whole mountain ...

, were widely visible to tourists. The system's radar antennas enhance the prediction of meteorological conditions (strong winds and lightning) and military attacks. The system by 2001 reached its end of its life. Requirements after 9/11 increased and the system's capacity of around 400 simultaneous objects could not keep up with increasing air traffic. The FLORIDA system was replaced in 2003 by

FLORAKO FLORAKO is a Swiss radar system for military and civil aviation. The acronym stands for FLORIDA radar replacement air radar system capable communication system (in German: FLORIDA Radarersatz Radarluftlagesystem Kommunikationssystem) in the initia ...

Technology

The FLORIDA system included three main components:

Radar antennas

The four, elevated rotating radar antennas each consisted of a primary radar, and a

secondary radar Secondary surveillance radar (SSR)''Secondary Surveillance Radar'', Stevens M.C. Artech House, is a radar system used in air traffic control (ATC), that unlike primary radar systems that measure the bearing and distance of targets using the d ...

mounted over the primary radar. They could be fully retracted into the mountain peak which was automatically closed with a massive door. The sites were equipped with AAA in rotatable domes for self-defense.

Operational centers

Several wartime operational centers were located in mountain caverns. The operations center for peacetime use was sited at

Dübendorf Dübendorf is a municipality in the district of Uster in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is a suburb of Zürich in Switzerland with a population of about 30,000 (2021). It is the fourth largest city in the canton, after Zürich, Winter ...

, adjacent to the surveillance squadron building. It is now used by the civilian

Skyguide Skyguide (Swiss Air Navigation Services Ltd.) is an air navigation service provider which manages and monitors Swiss airspace. The company, which was formerly known as Swisscontrol, changed its name to skyguide (officially written lower-case) i ...

as a test center. The consoles were equipped with a

trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the o ...

and allowed to edit each radar track quickly, when the system could not identify it. Each console had several displays showing the best interception path (the path was shown in several numbers who stood for height, speed,..) for the allocated intercept aircraft flying under the control of the tactical fighter controller (TFC) on this console. The TFC transmit by radio to the Aircraft by using the

Bambini-Code The Bambini-Code was a brevity code used for tactical radio voice communications by the Swiss Air Force (SAF). It was developed by the SAF during World War II and was used until 1998. It is sometimes referred to as the "fifth national language" ...

(used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

by the Swiss Air Force-developed tactical code). Each operations center was equipped with a large status board which indicated the most important information of all the military airfields.

Computing center

The computer center consists primarily of the computing system with the corresponding peripheral devices (magnet tape, printer, punch cards and paper tape) and interface devices (interfaces) for communication with the local (on-screen consoles, status board, etc.) and external subsystems (redundant computing centers, radar stations, Bl-64 positions, direction finders, eg.). The computer can process data from up to 400 aircraft simultaneously.Jürg Lindecker: ''Florida und Flinte, die informationstechnisch Revolution''. In: ''Erinnerungen an die Armee 61'', Verlag Huber Frauenfeld, 2014

Tasks

*Formation of an adjusted, identified overall air situation based on the local air situation. Continuous updating *Data communication across all integrated FLORIDA systems and with internal and external subsystems *Provision of data to show the air situation on the consoles, and state of force readiness on the status board *Computation of solutions for use of fighter aircraft, or missiles to attack an enemy aircraft at the request of the operator (air defense) *Calculation and presentation of data management continuously updated according to the selected operating procedures *Maintenance of operational software and the ability to test software and simulate selective air situations for personnel training (Swiss soldiers usually serve 2–4 weeks every year).

Gallery

A FLORIDA radar antenna, statusboard, 2 consoles and a complete computer center are today in the

Flieger-Flab-Museum The Flieger Flab Museum (English: Swiss Air Force Museum) is located in the Canton of Zurich in Dübendorf on the grounds of Dübendorf Air Base. In the museum, 40 airplanes and helicopters are displayed, with the collection divided into dist ...

. Image:Florida Eingabe.JPG , Input station of the FLORIDA computing center Image:FLORIDA Rechner3.JPG, FLORIDA Computer File:FLORIDA Rechner2.JPG, FLORIDA Computer File:FLORIDA Rechner.JPG, FLORIDA Computer File:FLORIDA EZ2.JPG, FLORIDA operational center File:FLORIDA Radar back.JPG , FLORIDA RADAR File:Ehemalige Luftwaffen EZ, Skyguide.jpg, EX- FLORIDA operational center at Dübendorf

References

External links

Dübendorf * Alber Wüst: ''Die Schweizerische Fliegerabwehr.'' 2011, * Uno Zero Zero – Ein Jahrhundert Schweizer Luftwaffe. Aeropublications, Teufen/ZH 2013, * Louis Geiger,

Franz Betschon Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...

, Erinnerungen an die Armee 61. Huber Frauenfeld 2014, * Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Hubacher und der Maulwurf''Flinte, das Internet der Luftwaffe''. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift ASMZ, Heft 6, Band 163, 1997

Militärische Denkmäler im Bereich der Luftwaffe (PDF)
German only)

German only) * Florida Radar System bei 5:35 auf YouTub

(German only) *The Florida Radar System at 4:20 on YouTube (German only
The Aerospace Year Book, Volume 48 American Aviation Publications., 1970Jane's Weapon Systems F. Watts, 1987Jane's C3I Systems Jane's Information Group, 1990
{{Air forces in Europe Swiss Air Force Military of Switzerland Ground radars Radar networks