A NORAD TIMELINE

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), May 11, 2008

Sept. 1, 1954: Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), a joint or unified command, is established.

Sept. 12, 1957: NORAD begins, agreement is drafted.

May 12, 1958: First NORAD agreement is signed by Canada and the United States.

May 18, 1961: Excavation begins for NORAD Command Operations Center (COC) in Cheyenne Mountain.

February 1962: Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR) begins operations.

June 5, 1963: President John Kennedy visits NORAD and is briefed on mountain's status.

April 20, 1966: Operations of NORAD Command Operations Center transferred from Ent Air Force Base to Cheyenne Mountain Complex (CMC).

Feb. 6, 1967: Space Defense Center becomes operational, and the NORAD command center reaches full operational capability in mountain..

May 12, 1968: NORAD agreement renewed. Term changed to five years instead of 10. Canada affirms it won't participate in active ballistic missile defense.

December 1976: Ent Air Force Base is declared excess. People move to Peterson Air Force Base and the Chidlaw Building.

Jan. 29, 1979: First Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft is designated to support NORAD mission.

Oct. 1, 1979: Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC) begins operations at Cheyenne Mountain.

May 12, 1981: NORAD Agreement renewed for five years. Changes include elimination of the ballistic-missile defense condition and enhanced space defense and surveillance.

Nov. 16, 1982: NORAD command center backup facility at Peterson Air Force Base reaches full operational capability. It would assume command functions from Cheyenne Mountain if that facility was disabled or had a major failure.

Sept. 23, 1985: U.S. Space Command begins operations in Colorado Springs. One mission was to support NORAD by providing missile warning and space surveillance data.

March 19, 1986: NORAD Agreement is renewed.

Feb. 28, 1989: Phase I upgrades for Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC) reach interim operational capability.

Dec. 25, 1991: Presidents Bush and Gorbachev proclaim Cold War is over. April 17, 1995: Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center reorganization is completed with NORAD and Space Command Cheyenne Mountain centers combined into one organization.

May 12, 1996: NORAD Agreement is renewed, with missions redefined as aerospace warning and control for North America. Dec. 2, 1996: NORAD takes on detecting and monitoring aircraft attempting to smuggle drugs into North America.

June 16, 2000: NORAD Agreement is extended, effective May 12, 2001.

July 6, 2000: Groundbreaking for new combined NORAD and U.S. Space Command headquarters at Peterson. Sept. 11, 2001: Hijackers seize four U.S. airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon and one into a field in rural Pennsylvania. U.S. Joint Forces Command assigns Air Force and Navy aircraft to NORAD to protect against further attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Guided missile cruisers and destroyers deployed to assist Air Force and Air National Guard defending North American airspace.

Sept. 13, 2001: Operation Noble Eagle is launched, flying protective missions over the U.S.

Oct. 26, 2001: Military commanders receive additional authority to defend the U.S. homeland, its states, territories, trusts and commonwealths. Commander of NORAD is placed in charge of aerospace defense.

Jan. 16, 2003: Secretary of defense directs NORAD to participate in air defense of the National Capital Region using air and ground weapons systems, sensors and command and control assets.

Feb. 1, 2003: NORAD provides monitoring and air support during space shuttle Columbia's failed re-entry and subsequent search for debris.

March 3, 2005: Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center opens new command center at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. It expands operations space for homeland and missile defense.

May 12, 2006: NORAD Agreement is renewed, assigning missions of aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning.

July 28, 2006: NORAD Commander Adm. Timothy Keating announces decision to relocate and combine the NORAD Command Center with the Northern Command Center at Peterson. CMOC is redesignated Cheyenne Mountain Directorate (CMD).

Oct. 1, 2007: NORAD Commander Gen. Gene Renuart approves Vision 2020, which specifies NORAD's goals until 2020 with a theme of "We will be there when needed. We will respond not a minute too soon or stay a second too late."

Nov. 22, 2007: Alaska NORAD Region launches F-22 Raptors, tankers and aircraft to identify and monitor two Russian Bear H bombers off Alaska. (First mission F-22s used in Alaska.)

Source: North American Aerospace Defense Command