Post-Attack Command and Control System: Difference between revisions

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{{shortShort description|Former US network of ground and airborne communication sites for use before, during and after a nuclear attackcommunications on the United Statesnetwork}}

[[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|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==

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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===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==

{{Portal|United States Air Force}}

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

*[[Airborne Launch Control Center]]

*[[Airborne Launch Control System]]

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

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

*[[Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network]] (MEECN)

*[[AN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications System]] (ERCS)

*[[Alternate Reconstitution Base]] (ARB)

*[[Cold War]]

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==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]]