IBM 473L Command and Control System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:01, 29 December 2021

Revision as of 05:11, 27 January 2022

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==Background==

In early 1952, the Pentagon's [[Joint War Room|USAF Command Post]] (AFCP) "arranged" to receive [[Air Defense Command]] (ADC) exercise data{{r|Sturm1967}} such as for planned mock attacks into defense sectors by faker aircraft (e.g., in 1955 [[Fairchild Trophy|on Amarillo, Denver, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, San Antonio]]<ref>[http://www.7bwb-36assn.org/b36genhistpg4.html 7th WING OPERATIONS HISTORY, 1955-1958] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006083920/http://www.7bwb-36assn.org/b36genhistpg4.html |date=2012-10-06 }}. 7bwb-36assn.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-18.</ref> and Phoenix.)<ref name="google">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19550502&id=XPpXAAAAIBAJ&pg=4206,164978|title=Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search|access-date=2015-03-08}}</ref> An [[Experimental SAGE Subsector]]"<ref name="dtic">{{cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD0419183 |title=www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD0419183 |publisher=dtic.mil|access-date=2015-03-08}}</ref> for testing a [[Semi Automatic Ground Environment]] (SAGE) was created using a July 1955 [[IBM AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central#Development|prototype air defense computer]]<ref>{{Cite report |format=minutes |publisher=[[Lincoln Laboratory]] Division 6 |title=Biweekly Report for 29 July 1955 |url=http://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/45992/MC665_r14_6M-3797.pdf?sequence=1 |number=Memorandum 6M-3797 |access-date=2014-04-06 |quote=All [[IBM AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central#Development|XD-1]] frames have now been delivered. The LRI and output frames arrived 29 July.}}</ref> ADC's 1955 command post blockhouse was completed at Ent AFB, and "in September 1955, the Air Force…replace[d its] command post's outmoded telephone system with a modern switchboard with 100 long-distance lines and room for more, so that 20 people in various parts of the country could hold as many as four conferences at a time".{{r|Wainstein}} The [[Alternate Joint Communication Center]] in [[Raven Rock Mountain Complex|the Raven Rock nuclear bunker]] was equipped by the end of 1955,{{r|Sturm1967}} and ADC broke ground in 1957 for deploying the [[Burroughs 416L SAGE Air Defense System]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/sage.htm |work=Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) |publisher=GlobalSecurity.org |access-date=2013-03-04}}</ref> (the [[BMEWS]] 474L [[General Operational Requirement]] was specified in 1958.) After President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] expressed concern about nuclear command and control, a "1958 reorganization in [[National Command Authority (United States)|NCA]] relations with the joint commands" was implemented,{{r|Wainstein}} and the "[[General Electric AN/GPA-73 Air Weapons Control System|AWCS 512L" system]] was deployed by June 1958. The GOR for a computerized 465L [[SAC Automated Command and Control System]] was issued in 1958 for [[Strategic Air Command]]'s nuclear bunkers (1957 [[Offutt AFB]] bunker & 1958 at [[Post-Attack_Command_and_Control_System_FacilityAttack Command and Control System Facility,_Hadley Hadley|The Notch]]). A [[Joint War Room]] was activated at the Pentagon in 1960<!--Moriary p. 225, {{r|Ponturo}}{{rp|282}}--> and in December 1960, the AFCP reverted to a USAF-only mission when its "joint and national responsibilities" ended.<ref>{{Cite report |last=Sturm |first=Thomas A. | date=Summer 1969 |title=Emergence of the Air Force Command and Control System |journal=[[Aerospace Commentary]] |volume=Volume 1:3 |page=42 }} (cited by Wainstein ''Study S-467'' p. 119)</ref> After a "Quick Fix" program completed in the fall of 1960{{r|Sturm1967}} and [[NORAD]]'s [[Alert Network Number 1]] was providing data from the [[Ent AFB]] command post in Colorado Springs, the AFCP had several rear projection screens, DEFCON status boards, and a display with colored regional blocks for the [[Bomb Alarm System]]{{r|ANTACCS}} (work had started in May 1959 for transmitting BAS data to "six{{Where|date=April 2014}} command centers".)<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 7, 1960 |title=Nuclear Attack to Trigger Automatic AF Alarm System |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/60598553/ |newspaper=Bridgeport Post |access-date=2014-04-02 |quote=Brig.- Gen. J. B. Bestic, deputy for Air Force communications and electronics, disclosed details of the [[AN/GSQ-44 Atomic Strike Recording Set|[AN/GSQ-44] “atomic strike recording system]]” in testimony to a House Military Appropriations subcommittee}}</ref> In January 1962, the [[Deep Underground Command Center]] was planned as a nuclear bunker beneath the Pentagon (the Raven Rock bunker would be phased out.)

The [[Air Force Command Post Systems Division]] was activated in 1960 for handling AFCP equipment issues (cf. [[Air Force Systems Command|AFSC's]] [[Electronic Systems Division]] which had the SPO) and in October 1962, [[United States Department of Defense|DoD]] Directive S-5100.30 "designated 473L as the “Air Force service headquarters subsystem” of the [[Worldwide Military Command and Control System]] (WWMCCS) established the same month."{{r|Sturm1967}}