Air Defense Direction Center
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An Air Defense Direction Center (ADDC) was a type of United States command post for assessing
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
radar tracks, assigning height requests to available height-finder radars, and for "Weapons Direction": coordinating
command guidance Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept its ...
of aircraft from more than 1 site for
ground-controlled interception Ground-controlled interception (GCI) is an air defence tactic whereby one or more radar stations or other observational stations are linked to a command communications centre which guides interceptor aircraft to an airborne target. This tactic was p ...
("weapons assignment"). As with the
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 opposin ...
Aircraft Warning Service CONUS defense network, a " manual air defense system" was used through the 1950s (e.g.,
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 ...
/
ADC ADC may refer to: Science and medicine * ADC (gene), a human gene * AIDS dementia complex, neurological disorder associated with HIV and AIDS * Allyl diglycol carbonate or CR-39, a polymer * Antibody-drug conjugate, a type of anticancer treatm ...
used a " plotting board" at the Ent command center.) Along with 182
radar stations 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, weat ...
at "the end of 1957,
ADC ADC may refer to: Science and medicine * ADC (gene), a human gene * AIDS dementia complex, neurological disorder associated with HIV and AIDS * Allyl diglycol carbonate or CR-39, a polymer * Antibody-drug conjugate, a type of anticancer treatm ...
operated … 17 control centers", and the
Ground Observation Corps The Ground Observer Corps (GOC), sometimes erroneously referred to as the Ground ''Observation'' Corps, was the name of two American civil defense organizations during the middle 20th century. World War II organization The first Ground Observer ...
was TBD on TBD. With the formation of NORAD, several types of ADDCs were planned by
Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), 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 est ...
: *Joint Direction Center, a USAF ADDC collocated with an
Army Air Defense Command Post An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, AADCP (together designated a "
NORAD Control Center NORAD Control Centers (NCCs) were Cold War "joint direction centers" for command, control, and coordination of ground-controlled interception by both USAF Air Defense Command (ADC) and Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM). The Joint Manual Ste ...
"). **Alaskan Joint Direction Center, at 2 sites:
Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Long ...
and
Murphy Dome Air Force Station Murphy Dome Air Force Station (AAC ID: F-02, LRR ID: A-02) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station west-northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. The control center station was closed on 1 November 1983, and was re-designat ...
for the
Alaskan Air Command Alaskan Air Command (AAC) is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command originally established in 1942 under the United States Army Air Forces. Its mission was to organize and administer the air defense system of Alaska, exercise direct ...
Semi-Automatic Defense System (ALSADS) *Semi-Automatic Direction Center (SAGE Direction Center), an ADCC (e.g., the "
Duluth Sector Direction Center The Duluth Air Defense Sector (DUADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command 29th Air Division, being stationed at Duluth Airport, Minnesota. It was inactivated on 1 April 196 ...
") with a
command, control, and coordination system A command, control, and coordination system (CCCS) was a Cold War computer system for United States command posts (e.g., Army Air Defense Command Posts) to use a single location to coordinate multiple units' ground-controlled interception (e.g., USA ...
that provided the
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...
(SAGE), e.g., AN/FSQ-7 or AN/GSA-51 (in 1958, NORAD "forecast full SAGE direction center capability" by January 1963.) **Combined Direction-Combat Center, a USAF ADDC collocated with a SAGE Combat Center (e.g., DC-03 & CC-01 at Hancock Field for the
Syracuse Air Defense Sector The Syracuse Air Defense Sector (SADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command (ADC) 26th Air Division at Hancock Field, New York. SADS was established in October 1956 as the 46 ...
) **SCC Direction Center (SCC/DC), a USAF ADDC to be collocated with a planned Super Combat Center in a nuclear bunker (no SCCs, SCC/DCs, or above-ground DCs with
AN/FSQ-32 The AN/FSQ-32 SAGE Solid State Computer (AN/FSQ-7A before December 1958, colloq. "Q-32") was a planned military computer central for deployment to Super Combat Centers in nuclear bunkers and to some above-ground military installations. In 1958, ...
were ever completed) *Manual Direction Center, an ADCC without a SAGE CCCS, successors to the
Manual Air Defense Control Center The Permanent System ("P system") was a 1950s radar network ("P radar net") used for the CONUS "manual air defense system" and which had a USAF aircraft control and warning (AC&W) organization of personnel and military installations with radars ...
s of the
Permanent System Permanent may refer to: Art and entertainment *Permanent (film), ''Permanent'' (film), a 2017 American film *Permanent (Joy Division album), ''Permanent'' (Joy Division album) *Permanent (song), "Permanent" (song), by David Cook Other uses *Perm ...
(
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 ...
ADCCs with a " pre-SAGE semiautomatic intercept system") *NIKE direction center, Army
Project Nike Project Nike (Greek: Νίκη, "Victory") was a U.S. Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft mi ...
AADCPs for coordinating
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
fire from multiple batteries, e.g., W-13DC (at the
Fort Meade radar station The Fort Meade radar station was a Cold War military site with several sets of radar equipment in various Army and USAF radar networks. The site operated c. 1950 until 1979 and had a Project Nike command post and radar network. Lashup site L ...
) through LA-45DC (
Fort MacArthur Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California (now the port community of Los Angeles). A small section remains in military use by the United States Air Force as a housing and administrative annex ...
Direction Center), 9 of which were within
Missile Master Missile Master was a type of United States Army, US Army United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Missile Command military installation for the Cold War Project Nike, each which were a System of systems, complex of systems and facil ...
nuclear bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. ...
s. Most ADDCs were replaced by Regional Operations Control Centers of 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. Overvie ...
( FOC on December 23, 1980).


References

{{Reflist , refs= {{Cite report , last1=Del Papa , first1=Dr. E. Michael , last2=Warner , first2=Mary P. , date=October 1987 , title=A Historical Chronology of the Electronic Systems Division 1947-1986 , url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a201708.pdf , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224105532/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a201708.pdf , url-status=live , archive-date=December 24, 2013 , number=ESD-TR-88-276 (AD-A201 708) , accessdate=2012-07-19 , quote=''so-called Semi-Automatic Direction Center System, later known as…Semi-Automatic Ground Environment System, in essence, the Lincoln Transition System.'' {{Cite report , last=McMullen , first=R. F. , date=15 Feb 1980 , title=History of Air Defense Weapons 1946–1962 , volume=ADC Historical Study No. 14 , publisher=Historical Division, Office of information, HQ ADC , pages=211, 306 , quote=the GPA-37 electronic heart of an advanced system of ground controlled interception which immediately preceded SAGE, and with SAGE itself. … The AN/GPA-35 was a pre-SAGE control system that would be used until SAGE was ready. {{Cite report , last=Schaffel , first=Kenneth , year=1991 , title=Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense 1945-1960 , url=https://archive.org/details/TheEmergingShield , format=45MB
pdf Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
, work=General Histories , publisher=
Office of Air Force History An office is a space where an Organization, organization's employees perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize objects and Goals, plans, action theory, goals of the organizati ...
, isbn=0-912799-60-9 , accessdate=2011-09-26 , quote=A SAGE component, a 64 x 64 K">kilobyte.html" ;"title="kilobyte">Kmagnetic core memory … SAGE direction center. This installation is located at Stewart Air Force Base in New York state. …[Hancock Field] combined direction-combat center was located at Syracuse, New York. , url-access=registration [captions of pp. 198, 208, & 265 photos] NOTE: Schaffel's history uses the same name as "The Emerging Shield: The Air Defense Ground Environment," Air University Quarterly Review 8, no. 2 (spring 1956).
North American Aerospace Defense Command Military command and control installations Air defense