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Coordinates: 38°42′N 104°48′W / 38.7°N 104.8°W / 38.7; -104.8 (NORAD Headquarters)
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=== Alaska NORAD Region===
=== Alaska NORAD Region===
The Alaska NORAD Region (ANR) maintains 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week capability to detect, validate and warn of any atmospheric threat in its area of operations from its ROCC at [[Elmendorf AFB]], Alaska.

ANR also maintains the readiness to conduct a continuum of aerospace control missions. These include daily air sovereignty in peacetime, contingency and/or deterrence in time of tension, and active air defense against manned and unmanned air-breathing atmospheric vehicles in times of crisis.

ANR is supported by both active duty and reserve units. Active duty forces are provided by Eleventh Air Force and the Canadian Forces, and reserve forces provided by the Alaska Air National Guard. Both 11 AF and the CF provide active duty Region Air Operation Center personnel to maintain continuous surveillance of Alaskan airspace.


=== Canadian NORAD Region===
=== Canadian NORAD Region===

Revision as of 21:09, 18 February 2011

"NORAD" redirects here. For other uses, see NORAD (disambiguation).
North American Aerospace Defense Command
Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
NORAD emblem
Coordinates38°42′N 104°48′W / 38.7°N 104.8°W / 38.7; -104.8 (NORAD Headquarters)
TypAerospace warning and aerospace control
Site information
OwnerCanada / United States
Controlled byJoint operations of
Canadian Forces Air Command and United States Air Force and co-location with USNORTHCOM
Site history
Built1961 (Directorate)[1]
In use1958 - present
EventsMay 2006 NORAD Agreement Renewal
Garrison information
Past
commanders		Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., USN
GarrisonHeadquarters:Peterson Air Force Base
Directorate: Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station[2]
(west of Colorado Springs, CO)

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD, Template:Pron-en NORR-ad) is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries.[3] It was founded on May 12, 1958 (an effect of the Cold War) as a joint command between the governments of Canada and the United States, as the North American Air Defense Command. Its main technical facility has been the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, formerly Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, of the Cheyenne Mtn. Air Force Station, Colorado; and for this reason NORAD is sometimes referred to as Cheyenne Mountain. Similar to the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, but on a smaller scale, the Canada East and Canada West Sector Air Operations Control Centres were located in an underground complex 600 feet below the surface at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) North Bay in Ontario, Canada. On October 12, 2006, NORAD operations at CFB North Bay have officially moved above ground into the newly-constructed Sergeant David L. Pitcher Building, and the underground complex has been "mothballed" but can be returned to operation if it should be needed again.

NORAD's headquarters facilities in Colorado are administered by the U.S. Air Force under the command of the 721st Mission Support Group, part of the 21st Space Wing, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base. NORAD's forces consist of the Alaskan NORAD Region/Eleventh Air Force, Canadian NORAD Region, and Continental NORAD Region.

Organization

Map of NORAD Regions and Sectors

Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado. NORAD command and control is exercised through the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, located a short distance away. Cheyenne Mountain serves as a central collection and coordination facility for a worldwide system of sensors designed to provide NORAD with an accurate picture of any aerospace threat.

NORAD has administratively divided the North American landmass into three regions, the Continental U.S. (CONR) Region; Alaska NORAD (ANR) Region, and the Canadian NORAD (CANR) Region. Both the CONR and CANR regions are divided into eastern and western sectors.

Continental United States Region

see also: Eastern Air Defense Sector
see also: Western Air Defense Sector

With the transfer of responsibility for continental air defense from the active duty component of the United States Air Force to the Air National Guard, the First Air Force became responsible for the air defense mission on 30 September 1990. Headquartered at Tyndall AFB, Florida, First Air Force (AFNORTH) is the CONUS geographical component of NORAD. It plans, conducts, controls, coordinates and ensures air sovereignty and provides for the unilateral defense of the United States. It is comprised of State Air National Guard Fighter Wings assigned an air defense mission to AFNORTH, made up primarily of citizen Airmen. It is organized with a combined First Air Force command post (SOCC) at Tyndall AFB and two Sector Operations Control Centers (SOCC) at Rome, New York for the US East ROCC and McChord Field, Washington for the US West ROCC. The primary weapons systems consist of the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. In its role as the CONUS NORAD Region, First Air Force also performs counter-drug surveillance operations.

Alaska NORAD Region

The Alaska NORAD Region (ANR) maintains 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week capability to detect, validate and warn of any atmospheric threat in its area of operations from its ROCC at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

ANR also maintains the readiness to conduct a continuum of aerospace control missions. These include daily air sovereignty in peacetime, contingency and/or deterrence in time of tension, and active air defense against manned and unmanned air-breathing atmospheric vehicles in times of crisis.

ANR is supported by both active duty and reserve units. Active duty forces are provided by Eleventh Air Force and the Canadian Forces, and reserve forces provided by the Alaska Air National Guard. Both 11 AF and the CF provide active duty Region Air Operation Center personnel to maintain continuous surveillance of Alaskan airspace.

Canadian NORAD Region

History

Formation

NORAD Headquarters Building

The growing perception of the threat of long-range Soviet strategic bombers armed with nuclear weapons brought the U.S. and Canada into closer cooperation for air defense. While attacks from the Pacific or Atlantic would have been detected by Airborne Early Warning aircraft, Navy ships, or offshore radar platforms, the Arctic was underprotected. In the early 1950s the U.S. and Canada agreed to construct a series of radar stations across North America to detect a Soviet attack over the Arctic. The first series of radars was the Pinetree Line, completed in 1954 and consisting of 33 stations across southern Canada. However, technical defects in the system led to more radar networks being built. In 1957, the McGill Fence was completed; it consisted of Doppler radar for the detection of low-flying craft. This system was roughly 300 miles (480 km) north of the Pinetree Line along the 55th parallel north. The third joint system was the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), also completed in 1957. This was a network of 58 stations along the 69th parallel north. The systems gave around three hours' warning of a bomber attack before they could reach any major population center.

The command and control of the massive system then became a significant challenge. Discussions and studies of joint systems had been ongoing since the early 1950s and culminated on August 1, 1957, with the announcement by the U.S. and Canada to establish an integrated command, the North American Air Defense Command. On September 12, operations commenced in Colorado. A formal NORAD agreement between the two governments was signed on May 12, 1958.

On June 16, 1961, the official groundbreaking ceremony was held at the construction site of the NORAD Combat Operations Center (COC). Gen. Laurence S. Kuter, NORAD Commander, and Lt. Gen. Robert Merrill Lee, ADC Commander, simultaneously set off symbolic dynamite charges.

Cold War and false alarms

NORAD blast doors, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

By the early 1960s, about 250,000 personnel were involved in the operation of NORAD. The emergence of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) threat in the early 1960s was something of a blow. In response, a space surveillance and missile warning system was constructed to provide worldwide space detection, tracking and identification. The extension of NORAD's mission into space led to a name change, the North American Aerospace Defense Command in March 1981.

From 1963, the size of the U.S. Air Force was reduced, and obsolete sections of the radar system were shut down. However, there was increased effort to protect against an ICBM attack; two underground operations centers were set up, the main one inside Cheyenne Mountain and an alternate at North Bay, Ontario. By the early 1970s, the acceptance of mutual assured destruction doctrine led to a cut in the air defense budget and the repositioning of NORAD's mission to ensuring the integrity of airspace during peacetime. There followed significant reductions in the air defense system until the 1980s, when, following the 1979 Joint US-Canada Air Defense Study (JUSCADS) the need for the modernization of air defenses was accepted—the DEW Line was to be replaced with an improved Arctic radar line called the North Warning System (NWS); there was to be the deployment of Over-the-Horizon Backscatter (OTH-B) radar; the assignment of more advanced fighters to NORAD, and the greater use of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma or Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. These recommendations were accepted by the governments in 1985. The United States Space Command was formed in September 1985 as an adjunct but not a component of NORAD.

Even though all equipment in Cheyenne Mountain was put through a rigorous inspection, on at least three occasions, failure in its systems could have potentially caused nuclear war. On November 9, 1979, a technician in NORAD loaded a test tape but failed to switch the system status to "test", causing a stream of constant false warnings to spread to two "continuity of government" bunkers as well as command posts worldwide. On June 3, 1980, and again on June 6, 1980, a computer communications device failure caused warning messages to sporadically flash in U.S. Air Force command posts around the world that a nuclear attack was taking place.[4][5] During these incidents, Pacific Air Forces properly had their planes (loaded with nuclear bombs) in the air; Strategic Air Command did not and took criticism because they did not follow procedure, even though the SAC command knew these were almost certainly false alarms (as did PACAF).[citation needed] Both command posts had recently begun receiving and processing direct reports from the various radar, satellite, and other missile attack detection systems, and those direct reports simply didn't match anything about the erroneous data received from NORAD.[citation needed]

Post-Cold War

An F-22 Raptor escorting Tu-95 Bear.

At the end of the Cold War NORAD reassessed its mission. To avoid cutbacks, from 1989 NORAD operations expanded to cover counter-drug operations, especially the tracking of small aircraft entering and operating within America and Canada[6] (although commercial flights were not perceived to be threats). But the DEW line sites were still replaced, in a scaled-back fashion by the North Warning System radars between 1986 and 1995. The Cheyenne Mountain site was also upgraded. However, none of the proposed OTH-B radars are currently in operation.

Post-September 11, 2001 attacks

Command center of NORAD

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the NORAD mission evolved to include monitoring of all aircraft flying in the interior of the United States.[7] NORAD oversees Operation Noble Eagle using fighter aircraft Combat Air Patrols (CAP) under command of First Air Force and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) E-3 Sentry aircraft under command of the 552nd Air Control Wing. At U.S. request, NATO deployed five of its NATO AWACS aircraft to the U.S. to help NORAD in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

On July 28, 2006, military officials announced that NORAD's day-to-day operations would be consolidated, for purposes of efficiency, in an ordinary building at Peterson Air Force Base in nearby Colorado Springs.[8] The mountain will be kept only as a backup in "warm standby," though fully operational and staffed with support personnel should the need arise. NORAD officials stated that the same surveillance work can be continued without the security the facility provides. They emphasized that they are no longer concerned about a halt to their operations from an intercontinental nuclear attack.

NORAD commander Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr. said in 2010 that NORAD did not send interceptors to intercept every flight of Russian bombers near U.S. airspace because NORAD did not wish to feed Russia's propaganda about their illusion of power.[9]

Commanders and deputy commanders

The Commander of NORAD is always an United States Defense Department Officer confirmed by the US Senate and from 2002 has simultaneously headed USNORTHCOM, while the Deputy Commander is always Canadian. During the course of NORAD's history there have been four different U.S. combatant commands associated with NORAD:

Name of Command Abbreviation Emblem Association started Association ended Type of combatant command Notes
Continental Air Defense Command CONAD September 15, 1957 June 30, 1975 joint command 1954-1958
unified command 1958-1975		 created on September 1, 1954; functions assumed by Aerospace Defense Command
Aerospace Defense Command ADCOM July 1, 1975 December 19, 1986 specified command functions assumed by United States Space Command
United States Space Command USSPACECOM September 23, 1985 October 1, 2002 unified command merged with United States Strategic Command
United States Northern Command USNORTHCOM October 1, 2002 continuing unified command

Commanders

The NORAD commander is an American four-star General, or equivalent. Since 2004 commanders have included Admirals.

NORAD Commanders
Number Name Photo Start of term End of term Notable positions held before or after
1 General Earle E. Partridge, USAF 1957 1959
2 General Laurence S. Kuter, USAF 1959 1962
3 General John K. Gerhart, USAF 1962
4 General Dean C. Strother, USAF 1965 1966 U.S. Military Representative, NATO Military Committee, 1962–1965
5 General Raymond J. Reeves, USAF 1966 1969
6 General Seth J. McKee, USAF 1969 1973
7 General Lucius D. Clay, Jr., USAF 1973 1975
8 General Daniel James, Jr., USAF 1975 1977
9 General James E. Hill, USAF 1977 1979
10 General James V. Hartinger, USAF 1980 1984
11 General Robert T. Herres, USAF 1984 1987 1st Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1987–1990)
12 General John L. Piotrowski, USAF 1987 1990 22nd Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1985–1987)
13 General Donald J. Kutyna, USAF 1990 1992 Member of the Rogers Commission (1986–1988)
14 General Charles A. "Chuck" Horner, USAF June, 1992 September, 1994 Commander, 9th Air Force, and Commander, U.S. Central Command Air Forces (1987–1992), he led U.S. and allied air operations for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
15 General Joseph W. Ashy, USAF September, 1994 August, 1996
16 General Howell M. Estes III, USAF August, 1996 August 14, 1998
17 General Richard B. Myers, USAF August 14, 1998 February 22, 2000 5th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2000–2001)
15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2001–2005)
18 General Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart, USAF February 22, 2000 November 5, 2004 27th Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1997–1999)
19 Admiral Timothy J. Keating, USN November 5, 2004 March 23, 2007 Director of the Joint Staff (2003–2004)
Commander, U.S. Pacific Command (2007–2009)
20 General Victor E. Renuart Jr., USAF March 23, 2007 May 19, 2010 Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (2006–2007)
21 Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., USN May 19, 2010 Incumbent Director for Strategic Plans and Policy, The Joint Staff which he concurrently served as the Senior Member, U.S. Delegation to the U.N. Military Staff Committee (2008–2010)

Deputy commanders

In recent years deputy commanders have always been Canadian air force three-star generals. Prior to the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, the deputy commanders were RCAF Air Marshals.[10]

NORAD Deputy Commanders
Number Name Photo Start of term End of term Notable positions held before or after
1 Air Marshal Roy Slemon, CB, CBE, CD, RCAF File:Air Marshal Roy Slemon.jpg September 1957 August 1964 Chief of the Air Staff (1953–1957)
2 Air Marshal Clarence Rupert Dunlap, CBE, CD, RCAF August 1964 August 1967 Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (1958–1962), Chief of the Air Staff (1962–1964)
3 Air Marshal William R. MacBrien OBE, CD, RCAF August 1967 January 1969
4 Lieutenant-General Frederick Ralph Sharp CMM, DFC, CD January 1969 September 1969 Chief of the Defence Staff (1969–1972)
5 Lieutenant-General Edwin Reyno, CF September 1969 August 1972 Chief of Personnel of the Canadian Forces (1966–1969)
6 Lieutenant-General Reginald J. Lane, DSO, DFC and Bar, CD, LoM (USA) September 1972 October 1974 Deputy Commander of Mobile Command (1969–1972)[11]
7 Lieutenant-General Richard C . Stovel, AFC, CD, LoM (USA) October 1974 September 1976
8 Lieutenant-General David R. Adamson September 1976 August 1978
9 Lieutenant-General Kenneth E. Lewis 1978 1980
10 Lieutenant-General Kenneth J. Thorneycroft June 1980 May 1983
11 Lieutenant-General Donald C. MacKenzie, CF May 1983 August 1986
12 Lieutenant-General Donald M. McNaughton, CF August 1986 August 1989
13 Lieutenant-General Robert W. Morton, CMM, CD, BSc (RMC) August 1989 August 1992 [12]
14 Lieutenant-General Brian L. Smith August 1992 August 1994 [12]
15 Lieutenant-General J. D. O'Blenis, CF August 1994 August 1995
16 Lieutenant-General L. W. F. Cuppens, CF August 1995 April 1998
17 Lieutenant-General G C Macdonald, CF April 1998 August 2001
18 Lieutenant-General Ken R. Pennie, CF August 8, 2001 July 14, 2003 Chief of the Air Staff (2003–2005)
19 Lieutenant-General Rick Findley CF July 14, 2003 August 2, 2007 Chief of Staff for Personnel, Training, and Reserves; Chief of Staff for Operations at 1 Canadian Air Division; Director of Combat Operations at NORAD
20 Lieutenant-General Charlie Bouchard CF August 2, 2007 July 10, 2009 Deputy Commander for Continental NORAD Region
21 Lieutenant-General Marcel Duval CF July 10, 2009 present Canadian Contingent Commander Middle East; Commander of 1 Wing

NORAD comes to the public's attention during December and on Christmas Eve, when its NORAD Tracks Santa service follows Santa Claus on his journey around the world. This tradition started in 1955 when a local Sears store in Colorado misprinted the telephone number and children thought they were calling Santa, but actually were calling Air Defense Command (NORAD's predecessor) instead.[13]

Cheyenne Mountain was the central setting of the 1983 motion picture WarGames, starring Matthew Broderick as a teenager who hacked NORAD's main computer and almost started a global thermonuclear war.

Cheyenne Mountain is also the main earth setting of the Stargate universe, serving as the Command Center for all Stargate Operations in the Milky Way Galaxy.

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Cole, Ronald H.; Poole, Walter S.; Schnabel, James S.; Watson, Robert J.; Webb, Willard J. The History of the Unified Command Plan 1946-1993. Washington DC, Joint History Office, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1995.
  • Trask, Roger R.; Goldberg, Alfred; The Department of Defense, 1947-1997: organization and leaders. Washington DC, Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1997.

Notes

  1. ^ NORAD Official History
  2. ^ Cheyenne Mountain Directorate Official Page
  3. ^ NORAD Official Site
  4. ^ "NORAD's Missile Warning System: What Went Wrong? (MASAD-81-30)" (PDF). U.S. Government Accountability Office. U.S. GAO. May 15, 1981. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  5. ^ "Attack Warning: Better Management Required to Resolve NORAD Integration Deficiencies (IMTEC-89-26)" (PDF). U.S. Government Accountability Office. U.S. GAO. July 7, 1989. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  6. ^ FAS: Cheyenne Mtn Complex
  7. ^ "Cheyenne Mountain Division - Air Warning Center (AWC) by NORAD Public Affairs". NORAD. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  8. ^ "After 4 Decades, a Cold War Symbol Stands Down, July 29. 2006, by Kirk Johnson". New York Times. July 29, 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  9. ^ Russia's Air Defense 'Responds' To All Aircraft Near Its Airspace, July 16, 2010
  10. ^ Veale, Thomas F. (2008). Guarding What You Value Most: North American Aerospace Defense Command, Celebrating 50 Years. Government Printing Office. p. 49. ISBN 9780160804366.
  11. ^ http://www.aircrew.ca/RCAF%20Memorial%20Cairn.pdf
  12. ^ a b Royal Military Colleges Class of
  13. ^ "North American Aerospace Defense Command - NORAD Tracks Santa". NORAD. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
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