Falling Leaves was an improvised
ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...
early warning system
An early warning system is a warning system that can be implemented as a chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, event detection and decision subsystems for early identification of hazards. They work together to for ...
of the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air 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 of the United States Army Signal ...
. It was set up during the 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
, and networked 3 existing U.S. radars—2
Space Detection and Tracking System Space Detection and Tracking System, or SPADATS, was built in 1960 to integrate defense systems built by different branches of the United States Armed Forces and was placed under North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The Air Force had a ...
(SPADATS) radars and an
Aircraft Control and Warning general surveillance radar which was modified by
Sperry Corporation
Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...
to range, allowing detection in space near
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. The designation was assigned by the
9th Aerospace Defense Division
9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding .
Evolution of the Arabic digit
In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
, headquartered at
Ent AFB
Ent Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located in the Knob Hill neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A tent city, established in 1943 during construction of the base, was initially commanded by Major General Uzal Girar ...
, Colorado.
Soviet
R-12 Dvina
The R-12 Dvina was a theatre ballistic missile developed and deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Its GRAU designation was 8K63 (8K63U or 8K63У in Cyrillic for silo-launched version), and it was given the NATO reporting name of SS-4 ...
IRBM
An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,864–3,418 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying b ...
s arrived in Cuba on September 8. Intelligence sources in Cuba then reported lengthy missiles transported through towns, and three R-12 sites were photographed by
Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day ...
s by October 19. Afterwards, the "Cuban Missile Early Warning System (CMEWS)" radars were "realigned" to monitor for nuclear missile launches from the new Soviet launch sites.
The Falling Leaves system used the following:
*
RCA AN/FPS-49 Radar Set prototype of 1961
in New Jersey during development for the under-construction
BMEWS Site III which was to have 3 of the tracking radars. The prototype was "withdrawn from SPADATS and realigned to provide missile surveillance over Cuba" on 24 October.
*
AN/FPS-78 in Texas, to which was added "real time radar display equipment" from
an Alaska radar station. (realigned 26 October)
*Sperry
AN/FPS-35
The AN/FPS-35 frequency diversity radar was a long range search radar used in the early 1960s. It was one of the largest air defense radars ever produced, with its antenna and supporting structure mounted on one of the largest rolling-element bear ...
Frequency Diversity
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
Radar
in Alabama, operated by "
Task Force Able
Task may refer to:
* Task (computing), in computing, a program execution context
* Task (language instruction) refers to a certain type of activity used in language instruction
* Task (project management), an activity that needs to be accomplished ...
" and later awarded a Unit Citation for Falling Leaves (
698th commanded by Lt. Colonel Kenneth Gordon). (30 October)
Operations
Falling Leaves operations involved the closest radar in Alabama (newly deployed in 1962) sweeping at a lower ballistic missile altitude from Cuba first. "Then a beam from
he fartherTexas radar swept across the top of
he Alabama beam's altitude Finally, a radar in New Jersey was adjusted to sweep over the Texas beam." A "
Full Bird Colonel" of Task Force Able watched each "sweep go round and round … each of them had a headset, and an open to NORAD."
Information communicated to the
Ent AFB
Ent Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located in the Knob Hill neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A tent city, established in 1943 during construction of the base, was initially commanded by Major General Uzal Girar ...
BMEWS Central Computer and Display Facility
The RCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS, "474L System", Project 474L) was a United States Air Force Cold War early warning radar, computer, and communications system, for ballistic missile detection. The network of twelve ra ...
was synthesized to provide missile warning to display processors at the Pentagon and
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
.
The FPS-49 radar detected a
Cape Canaveral
, image = cape canaveral.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991
, map = Florida#USA
, map_width = 300
, type =Cape
, map_caption = Location in Florida
, location ...
Titan II ICBM
launch on October 26 (N-12
Mk 6 reentry vehicle test)—the trajectory was determined to be safely Southeastward over the
Atlantic Missile Range
The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The range ha ...
.
On October 28, a test tape inserted at the New Jersey radar site caused a false alarm indicating a missile would impact
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
and later the same day, an unidentified radar track over Georgia was recognized as a satellite. On November 28 the New Jersey and Texas radars returned to their SPADATS mission, and the Alabama radar continued coverage for Cuba launches until late December.
After the Cuban Missile Crisis, a contract to
Bendix Corporation
Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company which, during various times in its existence, made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft brakes, aeronautical hydraulics and electric power systems, av ...
was issued on April 2, 1962 to construct a long range radar at
Eglin AFB
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County.
The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The 9 ...
, FL. Thus a
AN/FPS-85 long-range phased-array radar was constructed beginning in October 1962.
transcription available
at the Federation of American Scientists
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists who wo ...
website)
In 1972, 20% of the FPS-85 "surveillance capability…became dedicated to search for SLBMs.
[Jane's Radar and Electronic Systems, 6th edition, Bernard Blake, ed. (1994), p. 31 (cited by Winkler)]
References
{{Reflist
Equipment of the United States Air Force
Cuban Missile Crisis
Air defence radar networks