Upgrading the mountain/ Renovations aim to keep NORAD up-to-date

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 8, 2001 | by John Diedrich

Deep inside the granite walls of Cheyenne Mountain is the nerve center of the nation's early warning defense system. It stands as a tripwire against attack from anywhere in the world.

But that comfort comes at considerable cost. During the past two decades, the Air Force spent nearly $2 billion to upgrade the technology inside the mountain. Now, it's about to do it all over again.

The military is spending $1.5 billion to replace Cheyenne Mountain's computer and communications equipment to provide a clearer and more complete view of everything that flies in the world and in space.

As work begins, the pressure to succeed is huge. The Air Force wants to show Congress and others it has learned from costly missteps during the last overhaul, which has been criticized as poorly planned and carried out.

Known as Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade, that project was 10 years late and nearly double its original $968 million price tag. It began in 1982 and was completed just 21/2 years ago, resulting in a tangle of 40 cumbersome computer systems.

Last fall, the Air Force hired defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. for the new, 15-year project. The goal is to tie together all the early warning, surveillance and communication systems to meet new threats and challenges to the nation and its allies.

But this fix won't be the last. In fact, project planners say that computer technology and new defense needs are evolving so quickly that upgrading Cheyenne Mountain won't ever end.

As retired Col. Glen Doss, an officer in the mountain 10 years ago, put it, "You can't be wrong. The price of regret is very high."

North America's sentinel

At the height of the Cold War, U.S. and Canadian military leaders started looking at sites for a command center to police the skies over North America. They settled on Cheyenne Mountain - a 9,565-foot peak just off State Highway 115 and South Academy Boulevard in southwest Colorado Springs.

The idea was to carve out a bunker that would be impervious to attack by nuclear bombers. By the time it opened in 1966, however, the Soviets were developing long-range missiles with multiple nuclear warheads that could flatten the peak and everything around it.

Today, the mountain is the hub of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. Inside, crews track everything from space junk to small airplanes piloted by drug smugglers. But its most important role is to warn of missile attacks against the United States and its troops in hot spots around the world.

Information from a network of satellites, ground radar and sensors stretching from Greenland to the Indian Ocean is fed into computers in the mountain. There, a missile's path, target and estimated time of impact are calculated within seconds of its launch. During the Persian Gulf War, for example, Cheyenne Mountain detected Scud missiles fired at U.S. troops in the Saudi desert.

If a potential threat to North America is spotted, the information would be passed to the four-star general in charge of NORAD and Space Command, a post held by Air Force Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart. He, in turn, would have less than five minutes to confirm the threat and advise the president, who would quickly decide whether to retaliate.

"All of these systems must operate together flawlessly and produce an absolutely correct answer every time," said retired Col. Jim Jacoby, who oversaw the earlier upgrade from 1988 to 1992.

"The one thing you don't want to do is miss a nuclear war."

But in the 1970s, missteps in the mountain had the potential to start a war.

During one incident in 1979, a simulated attack was thought to be the real thing. Bombers were readied and civilian airspace was cleared for the military. Several tense minutes passed before the mistake was caught.

A report by the Air Force inspector general found the mountain's computers - huge mainframes that filled a room but with less computing power than many of today's desktops - needed to be replaced.

Overdue and over budget

The mountain's original surveillance and communications networks were expanded over the years to meet the need for more and different kinds of information. The add-ons kept pace but at a cost - computer programs didn't speak the same language, were expensive to maintain and didn't handle new work efficiently.

In the early 1980s, Air Force engineers began planning a major overhaul. The cost was pegged at $968 million, and the work was to be finished by 1988.

"They thought they would do a simple upgrade, with better display and better coordination. It was not magic," said retired Gen. Donald Kutyna, commander-in-chief of NORAD and Space Command from 1990 to 1992. "They found out they chewed on a bigger piece than they ever imagined."

The Pentagon report on the mountain's near-misses called for fixing all the systems at once. Instead, the Air Force took a piecemeal approach to save money and minimize the chance of a massive computer crash that could cripple the early warning system.

By the mid-1980s, the Air Force had six separate computer projects under way - each had different contractors who, in turn, hired subcontractors. At one point, more than 40 contracts were in play, making oversight a nightmare for the Air Force.