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The Missile Warning Center (MWC) is a center that provides missile warning and defense for
United States Space Command United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and grea ...
's
Combined Force Space Component Command The Combined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC) is a U.S.-led multinational subordinate command of United States Space Command. It is responsible for tactical control of American and multinational space forces. The CFSCC's mission is to "plan, ...
, incorporating both space-based and terrestrial sensors. The MWC is located at
Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station (CMSFS) is located in Cheyenne Mountain on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, next to Colorado Springs, The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, an underground facili ...
.


Mission

The Missile Warning Center coordinates, plans, and executes worldwide missile, nuclear detonation, and space re-entry event detection to provide timely, accurate, and unambiguous strategic warning in support of the United States and Canada.


History

During deployment of the computerized air defense network for the United States, the Soviet Union announced that they had successfully tested an
ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ...
.
BMEWS 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 ...
General Operational Requirement 156 was issued on November 7, 1957 (BMEWS was "designed to go with the active portion of the WIZARD system") and on February 4, 1958; the USAF informed
Air 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 inac ...
(ADC) that BMEWS was an "all-out program" and the "system has been directed by the President, has the same national priority as the ballistic missile and satellite programs and is being placed on the Department of Defense master urgency list." The subsequent plan by June 1958 for a US
Zone of the Interior The American Theater was a theater of operations during World War II including all continental American territory, and extending into the ocean. Owing to North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of ...
facility for anti-ICBM fire control by
Air 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 inac ...
(ADC) was for it to be "the heart of the entire ballistic missile defense system" with
Nike Zeus Nike Zeus was an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system developed by the US Army during the late 1950s and early 1960s that was designed to destroy incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile warheads before they could hit their targets. It ...
SAMs. On 19 October 1959, HQ USAF assigned ADC the "planning responsibility" for eventual operation of the
Missile Defense Alarm System The Missile Defense Alarm System, or MIDAS, was a United States Air Force Air Defense Command system of 12 early-warning satellites that provided limited notice of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile launches between 1960 and 1966. Original ...
to detect ICBM launches with infrared sensors in space.


1960 Ent AFB CC&DF

The BMEWS Central Computer and Display Facility (CC&DF) built as an austere facility instead of the planned AICBM control center became operational on September 30, 1960, 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 ...
when
BMEWS 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 ...
' Thule Site J became operational. Site J's computers (e.g., in the Sylvania AN/FSQ-28 Missile Impact Predictor Set) processed 4 RCA AN/FPS-50 Radar Sets' data, and alerts transferred via the BMEWS Rearward Communications System to the CC&DF for
NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...
attack assessment and warning to RCA Display Information Processors (DIPs) at the NORAD/CONAD command center (also on Ent AFB), SAC's Offutt AFB nuclear bunker, and
The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
's new
National Military Command Center The National Military Command Center (NMCC) is a Pentagon command and communications center for the National Command Authority (i.e., the President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Defense). Maintained by the Department ...
. DIPs presented impact ellipses and drove a "threat summary display" with a count of incoming missiles and a countdown of "Minutes Until First Impact" (
cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...
later large screen displays such as the
Iconorama Iconorama was a Cold War electronic projection system for graphic presentation ("stylized display using an etched plate to produce symbols") developed by the firm Fenske, Fedrick and Miller. The Iconorama was ordered by the United States Air For ...
.) In July 1961 separate from the CC&DF, the surveillance center in New Hampshire "was discontinued as the new SPADATS Center became operational at Ent AFB" with the 496L
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 ...
(i.e., NORAD began aerospace operations). In 1962 the Army's
LIM-49 Nike Zeus Nike Zeus was an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system developed by the US Army during the late 1950s and early 1960s that was designed to destroy incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile warheads before they could hit their targets. It ...
program was assigned the ''satellite'' intercept mission ( Program 505's "Operation Mudflap" conducted a test), and the 1962 SECDEF assigned the USAF to develop the Satellite Intercept System which would use orbit data from a
Space Defense Center The Space Defense Center (SDC) was a space operation center of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. It was successively housed at two Colorado locations, Ent Air Force Base, followed by Cheyenne Mountain's Group III Space Defense Center ...
. By December 15, 1964, NORAD had an implementation plan for a "Single Integrated Space Defense Center" for NORAD/CONAD to centralize both missile warning and space surveillance.


1967 Space Defense Center

The 1st Aero on February 6, 1967, moved operations to the Group III Space Defense Center, the integrated missile warning/space surveillance facility (496L Spacetrack system with Philco 212 primary processor) at the
Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a Space Force installation and defensive bunker located in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, next to the city of Colorado Springs, at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, which hosts the activities of ...
( FOC of the new bunker's command center—a portion of the Burroughs 425L Command/Control and Missile Warning System—had been on July 1, 1966.) Interim operations of the Avco 474N SLBM Detection and Warning System began in July 1970 (IOC was 5 May 1972), and in 1972 20% of the Bendix AN/FPS-85 Phased Array Radar's surveillance capability "became dedicated to search for SLBMs" (the FPS-85 relayed SLBM data via the 474N network for SLBM warning to " SAC, the
National Military Command Center The National Military Command Center (NMCC) is a Pentagon command and communications center for the National Command Authority (i.e., the President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Defense). Maintained by the Department ...
, and the Alternate NMCC over BMEWS circuits").


1975 NORAD/ADCOM center

The NORAD/CONAD Missile Warning Center came under NORAD/ADCOM control in 1975 when the unified
Continental Air Defense Command Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) was a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense, tasked with air defense for the Continental United States. It comprised Army, Air Force, and Navy components. It included Army P ...
ended and in early 1972, the 427M improvement program was planned; e.g., ( NORAD Computer System to replace the 425L System.) After SAC assumed control of ballistic missile warning and space surveillance facilities on December 1, 1979, the MWC was in the same room as HQ NORAD/ADCOM J31's Space Surveillance Center (separated by partitions.) The "NORAD Missile Warning and Space Surveillance System" was the general term for the entire network applied by the House's 1981 Armed Services Committee—the Core Processing Segment (CPS) handled missile warning/space surveillance with three Honeywell H6080 computers, e.g., a NORAD Computer System (NCS) H6080 for command and control and for missile warning functions (2nd for space surveillance and 3rd as backup for both). Circa 1986, the "missile and space surveillance and warning system" consisted of a
space computational center Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
and 5 sensor systems: (the GAO report says July 1.) *
Ballistic Missile Early Warning System 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 ...
*
Defense Support Program The Defense Support Program (DSP) is a program of the United States Space Force that operated the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the ''Satellite Early Warning System'' used by the United States. DSP satellite ...
( DSP satellites, ground systems, etc. of Project 647) * "OTH Forward Scatter Missile Detection System" (440L System of
Program 673A Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Programm ...
with internationa
AN/FRT-80 transmitters & AN/FSQ-76 receivers
Aviano AB Aviano Air Base ( it, Base aerea di Aviano) is a base in northeastern Italy, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. It is located in the Aviano municipality, at the foot of the Carnic Pre-Alps or Southern Carnic Alps, about from Pordenone ...
Correlation Center, and Rome Laboratory processing center) * "Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile Warning System" (remaining 474N Fuzzy-7 radar(s), AN/FPS-85, and 2
PAVE PAWS PAVE PAWS ( PAVE Phased Array Warning System) is a complex Cold War early warning radar and computer system developed in 1980 to "detect and characterize a sea-launched ballistic missile attack against the United States". With the first solid-s ...
stations) * Space Detection and Warning System By 1981 Cheyenne Mountain was providing 6,700 messages per hour compiled via sensor inputs from the
Joint Surveillance System The Joint Surveillance System (JSS) is a joint United States Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It replaced the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1983. Overvi ...
, BMEWS, the SLBM "Detection and Warning System, COBRA DANE, and PARCS as well as SEWS and
PAVE PAWS PAVE PAWS ( PAVE Phased Array Warning System) is a complex Cold War early warning radar and computer system developed in 1980 to "detect and characterize a sea-launched ballistic missile attack against the United States". With the first solid-s ...
". During the 1991
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, the missile operations section that supported the MWC processed
SCUD missile A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the m ...
detections and interceptions for theater warning units. The Space and Warning Systems Center maintained "26 stovepipe systems" for
USSPACECOM United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and grea ...
, NORAD, and
AFSPC Space Operations Command (SpOC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado and serves as the U.S. Space Force's service com ...
, and the Space Computational Center was replaced in 1992. In February 1995, "the missile warning center at Cheyenne Mountain AS asundergoing a $450 million upgrade program as part of Cheyenne Mountain's $1.7 billion renovation package." At Cheyenne Mountain on September 11, 2001, Major Richard J. Hughes was the Missile Warning Center Commander and the Chief of the J7 Exercise Branch. In 2003, construction began for a new command center at Cheyenne Mountain to include
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) is the United States' anti-ballistic missile system for intercepting incoming warheads in space, during the midcourse phase of ballistic trajectory flight. It is a major component of the American missile de ...
—the "new Missile Correlation Center" (MCC) was to have new consoles, mission system connectivity and communications capabilities.


Missile Correlation Center

The Missile Correlation Center (MCC) and Space Control Center were in Cheyenne Mountain by March 4, 2005 when Patrick Mullin was the commander of the MCC, which by 2006 was receiving input from five Joint Tactical Ground Stations.


Missile Warning Operations Center

The 2006–8 Cheyenne Mountain Realignment divided MCC operations into NORAD/ NORTHCOM's Missile and Space Domain at Peterson AFB and STRATCOM's facility in Cheyenne Mountain ("Missile Warning Operations Center" in 2007.) USSTRATCOM announced a 2007 plan to relocate the MWOC from Cheyenne Mountain to Schriever AFB (
cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...
the Space Control Center which
AFSPC Space Operations Command (SpOC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado and serves as the U.S. Space Force's service com ...
was moving from Cheyenne Mountain to Vandenberg.) In May 2010, USSTRATCOM decided to keep its missile warning center at Cheyenne Mountain, which had begun a $2.9 million renovation in January 2010 (a temporary MWOC facility had to be set up.)


References

{{United States Space Command Military units and formations in Colorado Cheyenne Mountain Complex Space units and formations of the United States United States warning systems Centers of the U.S. Department of Defense