NORAD: Air National Guard manning stations across the country

National Guard, Sep 1997

As an equal partner in the Total Force, the Air Guard is embarking on a new frontier of computerized defense as the battle management and command centers that monitor America's sides are brought into the 21st century. It was the Founding Fathers wish that a military made up largely of citizen soldiers be trained to protect the homeland. Surely they never realized that mission would someday include radar surveillance systems, computer monitors and missile tracking devices.

The 1st Air Force air operation centers to be modernized are: the Southeast Air Defense Sector, Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB), Florida; the Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome, New York; and the Western Air Defense Sector, McChord AFB, Washington. lst Air Force is only one of four numbered Air Forces assigned to Air Combat Command. Its units are charged with protecting the borders of the continental United States. To protect our air space outside the 48 states there are three more battle management centers in North America being upgraded as well. They are Hickman AFB, Hawaii; and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. Canada's two centers will be combined into one and moved to Canadian Air Command, Winnipeg.

The six battle management and command centers, part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), have been in existence since the first years of the Cold War. The centers in North America are linked together to monitor the borders of the United States. and Canada. Aircraft flying over our air space are monitored seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Much of the identifying process is done by hand.

Flight plans from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are compiled in logs and have to be manually searched to identify aircraft. That technology, updated over the years, is past its prime. Last October, requests were sent out for proposals to update the centers and bring them into the next century. Litton Data Systems captured the $60 million contract in March.

Litton designed a software system, the Region/Sector Air Operations Centers (R/SAOC), from scratch. It is the first command center system designed under the Defense Department's new compliance standards, a test for the design of future Defense systems.

There will be a learning curve for Air Guard operators, but the system that Litton touts as faster and better will ultimately make their job easier. Unlike current operating procedures, the new system will mean fewer manual inquiries and phone contact with FAA officials about commercial aircraft. The FAA flight plan is now hooked up via computer with the new R/SAOCs so operators can easily track friendly aircraft through our air space without having to get someone on the phone or thumb through written log books of flight plans. Composite air pictures are now shown in real-time on the screen with no delay in transmission. Plans on the screen are shown as they are happening. Even the screens are more user friendly with a graphics interface.

The new systems can detect aircraft by radar and track, identify and, if necessary, destroy aircraft by guided missiles. With computerized simulations the system can perform, retraining also will be easier Operators can go through a situation at their terminals as if it were happening.

The system is also upgradable with capability to include national missile and cruise missile defense, providing a capability not available in the past.

"It will enhance our ability to do what many say is the most important job of the Air Force, and that is air sovereignty," said Col Dan Navin, special assistant to the commander of 1st Air Force.

The old system, last upgraded in 1983, cannot handle the information and tasks that just the center at Tyndall handles, much less the other centers, he said.

The new systems should be fully operating by 2003 in all of the seven centers. The initial phase of the new system installation should be complete by 1998 at Tyndall, the test ground for the project.