Post-Attack Command and Control System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:11, 15 September 2011

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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 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>[http://www.sac-acca.org/paccs.htm Ogletree, Greg. "A History of the Post Attack Command and Control System"]</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]] conducted 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 insure delivery of command directives to [[Strategic Air Command|SAC]] strike forces in the event ground-based headquarters were destroyed.

The original plan envisioned aan 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 and 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 of execution messages to get 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 [[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>

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**[[913th Air Refueling Squadron]] - [[Barksdale AFB]], [[Louisiana]]; Central Auxiliary Command Post (Central AUX)

*[[B-47 Stratojet#B-47|EB-47L]]

**4362d Post Attack Command and Control Squadron - [[Lincoln AFB]], [[Nebraska]]<ref name="Lloyd">{{cite book |last1=Lloyd |first1=Alwyn T. |title=A Cold War Legacy: A Tribute to Strategic Air Command 1946-1992 |date=January 15, 2000 |publisher=Pictorial Histories Publishing |___location=[[Missoula, Montana|Missoula]], [[Montana]] |isbn=1-57510-052-5 |oclc=44672618}}</ref>

**4363d Post Attack Command and Control Squadron - [[Lockborne AFB]], [[Ohio]]<ref name="Lloyd" />

**4364th Post Attack Command and Control Squadron - [[Mountain Home AFB]], [[Idaho]]<ref name="Lloyd" />