Material and support

The Ogden Air Materiel Area at Hill AFB, Utah was made the Systems Support Manager in August 1963.^[16]

Chronology

• 29 September 1961 – HQ USAF issues Specific Operational Requirement (SOR) 192, for ERCS (designated Program 279)
• 27 December 1961 – Interim configuration finalized of three rockets with 1 KW transmitters, stationed around Omaha, Nebraska; four sites with three rockets each
• 5 April 1962 – Amendment to SOR 192 to include two east coast ERCS complexes, based on CHROME DOME routes and SAC elements in Europe
• 21 September 1962 – SAC study recommends use of Minuteman missile, to eliminate Program 279 and its proposed expansion
• 7 June 1962 – SAC proposes changes to SOR 192, such as using six Minuteman missiles selected from among the flights of an operational wing; this was envisioned not to impair the alternative capability of substituting nuclear warheads should future circumstances warrant.
• 11 July 1962 – Program 279 attains Initial Operating Capability (IOC); UHF transmitter payloads attached to three MER-6A Blue Scout rockets at three sites near Wisner, West Point, and Tekamah, Nebraska
• 13 December 1966 – A Minuteman II launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. carried the first Minuteman ERCS payload into space for testing and evaluation^[17]
• 17 April 1967 – Third, and last, test of the ERCS using a Minuteman booster; Emergency Action Message was inserted into the transmitter from an ALCS aircraft.
• 15 August 1967 – First Program 494L payload arrives at Whiteman AFB, Missouri^[18]
• 10 October 1967 – First two Program 494L ERCS payloads put on alert at Whiteman AFB, Missouri; IOC obtained for Program 494L ERCS[

  The Ogden Air Materiel Area at Hill AFB, Utah was made the Systems Support Manager in August 1963.^[16]

  Chronology

  • 29 September 1961 – HQ USAF issues Specific Operational Requirement (SOR) 192, for ERCS (designated Program 279)
  • 27 December 1961 – Interim configuration finalized of three rockets with 1 KW transmitters, stationed around Omaha, Nebraska; four sites with three rockets each
  • 5 April 1962 – Amendment to SOR 192 to include two east coast ERCS complexes, based on CHROME DOME routes and SAC elements in Europe
  • 21 September 1962 – SAC study recommends use of Minuteman missile, to eliminate Program 279 and its proposed expansion
  • 7 June 1962 – SAC proposes changes to SOR 192, such as using six Minuteman missiles selected from among the flights of an operational wing; this was envisioned not to impair the alternative capability of substituting nuclear warheads should future circumstances warrant.
  • 11 July 1962 – Program 279 attains Initial Operating Capability (IOC); UHF transmitter payloads attached to three MER-6A Blue Scout rockets at three sites near Wisner, West Point, and Tekamah, [5]

    In popular culture

    ERCS is mentioned in The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman.^[20]

    ERCS is mentioned in Arc Light by Eric Harry.

    See also

    • Dead Hand – Russia's quasi-version of ERCS, relaying launch codes instead of messages
    • Post-Attack Command and Control System (PACCS)
    • Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS)
    • Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN)
    • Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network (MEECN)
    • Survivable Low Frequency Communications System (SLFCS)
    • Primary Alerting System (PAS)
    • SAC Automated Command and Control System (SACCS)

    References

    1. ^ "LtC Phillip K. Heacock: "The Viability of Centralized Command and Control (C2)", Air University Review, January–February 1979". Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2010.The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman.^[20]

       ERCS is mentioned in Arc Light by Eric Harry.

       See also