Status Defunct Country United States | Type Military installation | |
Alternative names Joint Manual Direction Center
Joint Fire Direction Center
NORAD sector direction center Owner North American Air Defense Command | ||
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 Steering Group was "formed by the Army and Air Force in July 1957 to support…collocation" of USAF Air Defense Direction Centers and Army Air Defense Command Posts, which began after a January 28, 1958, ADC/ARADCOM meeting with NORAD to "collocate the Fairchild-Geiger facilities" (operations began on May 15, 1958.) Army contracts for 5 NCCs had been let by August 17, 1958, after 1956 DoD approval for collocation of interim "pre-SAGE semiautomatic intercept systems" and radar squadrons at 10 planned Army Missile Master AADCPs (the remaining 5 Missile Master bunkers of the Joint Use Site System (JUSS) were delayed until the Missile Master Plan resolved the BOMARC/NIKE surface-to-air missile dispute.)
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Stations
Two NCCs were completed in Alaska ("Fire Island on 1 March 1959 and Murphy Dome on 10 May 1959"), and by the end of 1959 NCCs "with limited identification and control facilities [were at:]
Loring AFB, Fairchild AFB, [sic] Ellsworth AFB, Minneapolis, Malmstrom AFB, Glasgow AFB, Minot AFB, Mt. Home AFB, Davis-Monthan AFB, and Offutt AFB."USAF/Army collocation in Texas, Kansas, and Illinois was underway in 1959.
Several USAF AC&W squadrons during the SAGE Geographic Reorganization had begun moving to JUSS installations by May 15, 1960, e.g., 635th RADSQ to operate the RP-1 site radars at the 1st completed Missile Master bunker (Ft Lawton SE-90DC on January 21, 1960). Mill Valley Air Force Station was the "San Francisco Defense Area NORAD Control Center from 1961 to 1974" after the "40th Artillery Brigade Air Defense Command Post" was established in September 1961 with a BIRDIE command, control, and coordination. NCC tracking data was provided to the computer(s) at the "NORAD/ADC Combined Operations Center" which opened at the 1963 Chidlaw Building in Colorado Springs near Ent Air Force Base.
Computerized centrals
Military installations with hardened NCCs included 9 JUSS stations with partially underground Missile Master nuclear bunkers housing Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense Systems and over 20 bases with above ground SAGE Direction Centers built for 5 psi (34 kPa).overpressure and containing AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Centrals (the last completed "SAGE direction center became operational at Sioux City, Iowa, in December 1961)." Three SAGE DCs were collocated with SAGE Combat Centers that used AN/FSQ-8 Combat Control Centrals for managing the air battle. Solid-state Martin AN/GSG-5/6 BIRDIE systems were at Mill Valley AFS CA, Belleville AFS IL, and in Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas (2) by July 1, 1962. In 1968, 17 of the NORAD Control Centers received the new Bell 305 Switching System to use AUTOVON telecommunications for Back-Up Interceptor Control.
AADCPs at NORAD Control Centers were phased out as Nike Defense Areas were closed (e.g., by Project Concise in 1974) and on December 23, 1980, the USAF declared full operational capability for the first seven Joint Surveillance System ROCCs with Hughes AN/FYQ-93 systems.