Post-Attack Command and Control System: Difference between revisions

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

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]] would retain sole, exclusive, and complete control over US [[nuclear weapon]]s. Among other components, it included [[Strategic Air Command]] assets such as the [[Looking Glass (airplane)|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= http://web.archive.org/web/20120910090836/http://www.sac-acca.org/paccs.htm |archivedate=October 30, 2012|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>

[[File:PACCS peacetime orbit areas 1972.PNG|thumb|rightupright=1.35|Peacetime Orbitsorbits 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 sole, exclusive, and complete control over US [[nuclear weapon]]s. Among other components, it included [[Strategic Air Command]] assets such as the [[Operation Looking Glass (airplane)|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= httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20120910090836/http://www.sac-acca.org/paccs.htm |archivedate=OctoberSeptember 3010, 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==

The [[Strategic Air Command]] headquarters staff, under the direction of General [[Thomas S. Power]] conductedassessed the feasibility of placing a continuous command and control element in an airborne mode. The purpose of such a system would be to use the aircraft as a platform for specially installed communications equipment to insureensure delivery of command directives to [[Strategic Air Command|SAC]] strike forces in the event ground-based headquarters were destroyed.

The original plan envisioned an aircraft, crew, and command and control team on 15-minute ground alert. This was later changed to a continuous airborne alert posture. The functions of this PACCS Airborne Command Post kept expanding until it became a true alternate command and control system, complete with force status monitoring, initiation or relay of launch/execution directives, a battle staff, communications to support an alternate CINCSAC, and limited capabilities to reconstitute and replan residual resources.

PACCS, in later variants, included an [[Airborne Launch Control System]] (ALCS) capability, which provided an alternate means for execution message delivery to [[missile combat crew]]s and a back-up [[Launch control center (ICBM)|launch control center]], forcing the [[Soviet Union]] to target each missile silo, rather than just the [[LaunchMissile launch control center (ICBM)|launch control centers]], to incapacitate the [[LGM-30 Minuteman|Minuteman]] force.<ref>Strategic Air Command: "Weapon Systems Acquisition 1964-1979", 28 Apr 1980</ref>

==Components==

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**[[4th Airborne Command and Control Squadron]] - [[Ellsworth Air Force Base]], South Dakota

**[[22d Air Refueling Squadron]] - [[March Air Force Base]], California; West Auxiliary Command Post (West AUXCP) <ref>[http://2accs.com/history.html 2d Airborne Command and Control Squadron history]</ref>

***Ground Entry Point - Lamar, Colorado<ref name="paccs">[httphttps://www.scribd.com/doc/115566349/Post-Attack-Command-and-Control-System-overview IRIS #010808041 - Post Attack Command and Control System overview]</ref>

**[[99th Air Refueling Squadron]] - [[Westover Air Force Base]], Massachusetts; East Auxiliary Command Post (East AUXCP) <ref>Strategic Air Command Regulation 100-24 Vol III: SAC Communications System Operations/EWO Support Requirements, 6 Jul 1979</ref>

***Ground Entry Point - Plano, Illinois<ref name="paccs" />

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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=usurped }}</ref>

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

*[[Grissom Air Force Base]], Indiana

* Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska ([[Strategic Air Command]] Headquarters)

**[[Headquarters Emergency Relocation Team]] (HERT) - [[Cornhusker Army AmmoAmmunition Plant]], [[Grand Island, Nebraska]]<ref>[https://archive.today/20130211082114/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coldwarcomms/message/17285?source=1&var=1 Yahoo! Groups: Cold War Comms Msg 17285, dated Jun 24, 2010]</ref>

===Communications===

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*Alpha and Bravo Nets - High Frequency<ref name="paccs" />

*[[Green Pine (communications)|Green Pine]]<ref name="paccs" />

*[[Emergency Rocket Communications System]] <ref name="paccs" />

==Gallery==

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==See also==

*[[Airborne Launch Control Center]]

{{Portal|United States Air Force}}

*[[Survivable Low Frequency Communications System]] ([[Survivable Low Frequency Communications System|SLFCS]])

*[[Headquarters Emergency Relocation Team]] ([[Headquarters Emergency Relocation Team|HERT]])

*[[AN/URC-117 Ground Wave Emergency Network]] (GWEN)

*[[Survivable Low Frequency Communications System]] ([[Survivable Low Frequency Communications System|SLFCS]])

*[[GroundMinimum WaveEssential Emergency Communications Network]] ([[Ground Wave Emergency Network|GWEN]]MEECN)

*[[Minimum EssentialAN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications NetworkSystem]] ([[Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network|MEECN]]ERCS)

*[[Alternate Reconstitution Base]] ([[Alternate Reconstitution Base|ARB]])

*[[Emergency Rocket Communications System]] ([[Emergency Rocket Communications System|ERCS]])

*[[The Cold War]]

*[[Alternate Reconstitution Base]] ([[Alternate Reconstitution Base|ARB]])

*[[The Cold War]]

*[[Game theory]]

*[[Continuity of government]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

<references/>

==External links==

*[httphttps://memberswww.aolforecastinternational.com/sacaccaarchive/paccspatchesdisp_old_pdf.htmlcfm?ARC_ID=286 WWABNCP/PACCS patches]

{{USAF system codes}}

{{coord missing|Nebraska}}

[[Category:Telecommunications equipment of the Cold War]]

[[Category:United States nuclear command and control]]

[[Category:Continuity of government in the United States]]

[[Category:NuclearEquipment bunkers inof the United States Air Force]]