Post-Attack Command and Control System: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Former US nuclear communications network}}

[[File:PACCS peacetime orbit areas 1972.PNG|thumb|rightupright=1.35|Peacetime orbits of PACCS aircraft (c. {{ca|1972}})]]

The '''Post Attack Command and Control System''' ('''PACCS''') was a network of communication sites (both ground and airborne) for use before, during and after a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear attack]] on the United States. PACCS was designed to ensure that [[National Command Authority (United States)|National Command Authority]] would retain exclusive and complete control over US [[nuclear weapon]]s. Among other components, it included [[Strategic Air Command]] assets such as the [[Operation Looking Glass|Looking Glass]] aircraft and mission, and various hardened [[command and control]] facilities.<ref name=PACCShistory>{{cite web |url=http://www.sac-acca.org/paccs.htm |last1=Ogletree|first1=Greg|title=A History of the Post Attack Command and Control System (PACCS)|date=n.d.|publisher= |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120910090836/http://www.sac-acca.org/paccs.htm |archivedate=September 10, 2012 |accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>

The belief by the [[Soviet Union]] in the reliability of PACCS was a crucial component of the US [[mutual assured destruction]] doctrine, ensuring a long-term [[stalemate]].

[[File:PACCS peacetime orbit areas 1972.PNG|thumb|right|Peacetime orbits of PACCS aircraft (c. 1972)]]

==History==

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===Ground===

* Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana ([[Second Air Force]] (later Eighth Air Force) Command Post)

* Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts ([[Eighth Air Force]] Combat Operations Center, aka [[Post Attack Command and Control System Facility, Hadley|"The Notch"]])<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.westoveryesterday.com/TheNotch.html |title=Westover Yesterday: "The Notch and Grayson: Eighth Air Force's alternative command posts", no date |access-date=2010-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115201511/http://www.westoveryesterday.com/TheNotch.html |archive-date=2017-11-15 |url-status=deadusurped }}</ref>

* March Air Force Base, California ([[Fifteenth Air Force]] Command Post)

*[[Grissom Air Force Base]], Indiana