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94-630: The system was originally developed as part of the "Seek Igloo/Seek Frost" effort to replace the older radar systems of the DEW line with designs that could be operated remotely and require much less maintenance as part of DEW's replacement, the American-Canadian North Warning System (NWS). Implementation of the NWS resulted in a reduction in operations and maintenance spending by up to 50% compared to previous systems. GE made

188-557: A WWII USAAF airfield in New York on 4 Nov 1942. World War II technical squadrons included the "600 Engrg Sq" (10 Oct 44-30 Oct 44) and the "1 Acft Assembly Sq" (21 Aug 45-6 Nov 45). Renamed Griffiss Air Force Base on 23 Jan 1948 , the World War II installation's buildings were used as post-war offices and laboratories, e.g., for testing units that arrived beginning in 1948 from Pennsylvania's Middletown Air Depot (Griffiss had

282-753: A bilateral agreement between the Canadian and United States governments, and by collaboration between the United States Department of Defense and the Bell System of communication companies. The DEW Line grew out of a detailed study made by a group of the nation's foremost scientists in 1952, the Summer Study Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . The subject of the study was the vulnerability of

376-745: A few years earlier on the Mid-Canada Line. The stations were interconnected by White Alice , a series of radio communications systems that used tropospheric scatter technology. For stations at the western end of the line, buildings at the deactivated Pet-4 United States Navy camp at Point Barrow were converted into workshops where prefabricated panels, fully insulated, were assembled to form modular building units 28 ft (8.5 m) long, 16 ft (4.9 m) wide, and 10 ft (3.0 m) high. These modules were put on sleds and drawn to station sites hundreds of miles away by powerful tractors. Each main station had its own airstrip – as close to

470-418: A large number of small antennas work together to produce a single output beam. By introducing small delays, using devices known as phase shifters , the output of the beam could be steered electronically. This offered the possibility of rapid scanning without mechanical movement, which made the systems much easier to produce in a mobile form. The original Marconi Martello offered the same detection capability as

564-875: A more military role began with a transition of authority, shifting responsibility of Arctic defence in Canada from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to the Canadian Armed Forces. This "active defence" had three key elements: minimizing the extent of the American presence in the Canadian Arctic, Canadian government input into the management of the DEW Line, and full Canadian participation in Arctic defence. Funding problems for

658-517: A more sophisticated radar system was constructed, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS). The DEW Line was a significant achievement among Cold War initiatives in the Arctic. A successful combination of scientific design and logistical planning of the late 1950s, the DEW Line consisted of a string of continental defence radar installations, ultimately stretching from Alaska to Greenland. In addition to

752-472: A number of modifications to the basic design to better tailor it to different roles. To fill a need for the US Marine Corps , GE developed the transportable AN/TPS-59 , and later combined design elements to produce the smaller AN/TPS-77 which is even more mobile, requiring only one prime mover in some deployment scenarios. FPS-117s, modified with input from Siemens for German service are known as

846-633: A second antenna on top. The Air Force and the FAA also operate a limited number of AN/FPS-117 radars within the continental United States. The AN/FPS-117 radar is capable of randomly hopping among 18 channels in the 1215-1400 MHz band. Originally selected for the Alaskan Air Command 's SEEK IGLOO project, the radar was also picked to replace the United States Air Force's AN/FPS-67 radar at Berlin 's Tempelhof Airport and

940-466: A single custom prime mover vehicle. This system has replaced most radars in the UK's network. The system is a long range (up to 250 nautical miles or 460 kilometres), L-band pencil beam search radar with solid-state transmitters. The AESA principle uses active transmitters in each individual antenna in the 44-by-32 antenna array . The combined power of the entire array is about 25 kW, much lower than

1034-459: A station chief, a cook, and a mechanic; and larger stations that had a variable number of employees and may have had libraries, forms of entertainment, and other accommodations. The stations used a number of long-range L band – emitting systems known as the AN/FPS-19. The "gaps" between the stations were watched by the directional AN/FPS-23 doppler radar systems, similar to those pioneered only

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1128-404: A surface naval force of 12 radar picket destroyer escorts and 16 Guardian-class radar picket ships , and an air wing of Lockheed WV-2 Warning Star aircraft that patrolled the picket lines at an altitude of 1,000–2,000 m (3,300–6,600 ft) in 12- to 14-hour missions. Their objective was to extend early warning coverage against surprise Soviet bomber and missile attack as an extension of

1222-564: A third line of radar stations (Distant Early Warning), this time running across the high Arctic. The line would run roughly along the 69th parallel north , about 320 km (200 mi) north of the Arctic Circle . Before this project was completed, men and women with the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience were drawn from Bell Telephone companies in every state in the United States, and many Canadian provinces. Much of

1316-530: A three-letter code. Thus, the AN/FPS-117 represents the 117th design of an Army-Navy “Fixed, Radar, Search” electronic device. A key problem for radar systems of the 1950s was the introduction of the carcinotron , a microwave -producing tube that could be rapidly tuned across a wide bandwidth. Scanning rapidly, it appeared to be a constant radiator across an entire band, creating a powerful form of barrage jamming . To overcome this form of jamming, radars of

1410-557: A very successful first season hauling freight to the DEW Line. Later, military and civilian airlifts, huge sealifts during the short summers, barges contributed to the distribution of vast cargoes along the length of the Line to build the permanent settlements needed at each site. Much of the job of carrying mountains of supplies to the northern sites fell to military and naval units. More than 3,000 United States Army Transportation Corps soldiers were given special training to prepare them for

1504-519: A year, the 7th and 12th Radar Calibration Units. The entire Watson Laboratories , which was acquiring the "state-of-the-art" Bendix AN/FPS-3 Radar for Air Defense Command , transferred to Griffiss from Camp Coles NJ , from 6 November 1950 until 2 April 1951, the date Griffiss AFB transferred to Air Research and Development Command . During the move the 3151st Electronics Group was activated on 14 March 1951. The "Rome Air Development Center" headquarters officially opened on June 12, 1951, with

1598-638: Is a U.S. Air Force research laboratory for " command, control , and communications" research and development and is responsible for planning and executing the USAF science and technology program. Rome Lab includes or included the following entities: Divisions and laboratories of the former Rome Air Development Center (RADC) included the Electronic Warfare Laboratory, High Power Laboratory, Photonics Laboratory, 1968 Electronics Laboratory (dedicated 25 October), RADC Systems Division, and

1692-469: Is in the dome, flanked by two AN/FRC-45 lateral communications dishes (or AN/FRC-102, depending on the date). To the left are the much larger southbound AN/FRC-101 communications dishes. Not visible is the AN/FPS-23 "gap filler" doppler antenna. The DEW Line was upgraded with fifteen new AN/FPS-117 passive electronically scanned array radar systems between 1985 and 1994, and the line was then renamed

1786-510: The AN/MPQ-2 ; RADC integrated AN/MPS-9 radars with RBS plotting to create the AN/MSQ-1 (with OA-132 plotting computer/board)) and AN/MSQ-2 (OA-215) —RADC also developed SAC's "AN/GSA-19 Blanking System" for safety at RBS radar stations . RADC began using a new intelligence and reconnaissance laboratory building on 27 May 1954, and an AN/GPA-37 "developed by RADC [and] installed at

1880-532: The Aleutian Island chain) and back, non-stop. Its orbits overlapped the radar picket stations of the ships of Escort Squadron Seven (CORTRON SEVEN), from roughly Kodiak Island to the Midway Atoll and Escort Squadron Five (CORTRON FIVE), from Pearl Harbor to northern Pacific waters. Normally four or five WV-2s were required at any single time to provide coverage over the entire line. This coverage

1974-702: The Cheyenne Mountain Complex . RADC developed a 1960s machine translation for Russian language documents and in the late 1960s, RADC coordinated the Ling-Temco-Vought AN/TRN-26 deployable TACAN development for the Vietnam War (1st units went to Israel and Camp David 's "DVD" site.) In the 1970s War On Drugs , RADC COMPASS TRIP research investigated "multispectral reconnaissance techniques to locate opium poppy fields". By December 1977 RADC had developed

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2068-492: The Cold War to give early warning of a Soviet nuclear strike , to allow time for United States bombers to get off the ground and land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBMs) to be launched, to reduce the chances that a preemptive strike could destroy the United States' strategic nuclear forces. The original DEW line was designed to detect bombers and was unable to detect ICBMs. To give warning of this threat, in 1958

2162-649: The DEW Line or Early Warning Line , was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see Project Stretchout and Project Bluegrass ), in addition to the Faroe Islands , Greenland , and Iceland . It was set up to detect incoming bombers of the Soviet Union during the Cold War , and provide early warning of any sea-and-land invasion. The DEW Line

2256-791: The RRP-117 , while the TPS-77s in service with the Royal Air Force are known as the AMES Type 92 . An even smaller version was introduced by Lockheed Martin as the TPS-77 MRR . Under the Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), all U.S. military radar and tracking systems are assigned a unique identifying alphanumeric designation. The letters “AN” (for Army-Navy) are placed ahead of

2350-545: The Rome Air Development Center (RADC) began the "Seek Igloo" project to find a replacement for the FPS-19 that would require less power and would run for extended times without maintenance. In 1980, General Electric won the contest with their GE-592 design, and the final design was accepted by RADC on 30 September 1983 and passed acceptance tests that year. Seek Igloo was officially concerned only with

2444-764: The United States Federal Government authorized construction of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), at a reported cost of $ 28 billion. In 1985, it was decided that the more capable of the DEW Line stations were to be upgraded with the GE AN/FPS-117 radar systems and merged with newly built stations into the North Warning System. Their automation was increased and a number of additional stations were closed. This upgrading

2538-738: The Verona Test Site " conducted a 28 December 1955 ground-controlled interception test "on an F-86D fighter interceptor aircraft". Also in 1955 RADC developed phased array radar technology, and the center contracted Bendix's Radio Division in 1958 to build the Bendix AN/FPS-46 Electronically Steerable Array Radar (ESAR) for demonstration (1st "powered up" in November 1960.) A prototype AN/FPS-43 BMEWS radar completed at Trinidad in 1958 went operational on February 4, 1959,

2632-732: The caribou , as well as non-seasonal hunting. These aspects are claimed to have had a devastating impact on the local native subsistence economies and environment. The DEW line was supplemented by the Contiguous Radar Coverage System , which included two "barrier" forces in the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans which were operated by the United States Navy from 1956 to 1965. These barrier forces consisted of surface picket stations, dubbed " Texas Towers ",

2726-497: The mutual assured destruction (MAD) philosophy. However, the scenario of a coordinated airborne invasion coupled with a limited nuclear strike was the real threat that this line protected against. It did so by providing Distant Early Warning of an inbound aerial invasion force, which would have to appear at the far north hours ahead of any warhead launches in order to be coordinated well enough to prevent MAD. A number of intermediate stations were decommissioned, since their effectiveness

2820-521: The "2 Msl Trpt Sq" 26 Jan 48-3 Sep 48.) The 3171st Electronics Research Group activated on 12 January 1949 under the 2751st Experimental Wing formed during World War II, and the 3180th Weapon Equipment Flight Test organization activated on 4 April 1949. On September 26, 1950, the Griffiss AFB Air Force Electronics Center was established —2 Griffiss radar units were established on 12 Oct 50 for less than

2914-531: The 1,205 ft (367 m) Forestport Tower in 1951 for low-frequency communications experiments. On 1 January 1953, RADC reorganized into the Engineering Support Division, Electronic Warfare and Techniques Division, Equipment Development Division, and Systems Division (a Plans and Operations Office at the HQ provided guidance.) For ATC and SAC to score bombing accuracy, and based on

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3008-413: The 322 watt "solid state transmitter and receiver module" while "responsible for [ PAVE PAWS ] design, fabrication installation, integration test, and evaluation" (through 1980). On 1 September 1975, RADC was reassigned to AFSC's Electronic Systems Division (ESD). At Hanscom AFB on 1 January 1976, RADC's Detachment 1 was activated for "Electronic Technology" with the personnel and equipment of

3102-525: The Air Force purchased another FPS-117 to replace the aging AN/FPS-67 radar at Berlin Tempelhof Airport . During this time, the Royal Air Force had grown concerned about the vulnerability of their Linesman/Mediator radar network. Designed in the era of the hydrogen bomb , the system was entirely unhardened as it was believed such efforts would be futile against multi-megaton attacks. As

3196-636: The Communications and Control Division which moved from building 106 to building 3 in March 1976. (RADC computer facilities were in bldg 3, which in August 1974 had "a new $ 2.8 million communications research laboratory".) The Rome Air Depot established 5 February 1942 built USAAF versions of the Norden bombsights and tested/rebuilt large airplane engines, and Army Air Field, Rome , was established as

3290-633: The DEW Line also played a role in perception of the project. American investment in building and operating the DEW Line system declined as the ICBM threat refocused priorities, but Canada did not fill the void with commensurate additional funding. In 1968 a Canadian Department of National Defence Paper (27 November 1968) stated no further funding for research on the DEW Line or air space would be allocated due in part to lack of commercial activity The Canadian Government also limited United States air activity, base activity, soldier numbers, and contractor numbers; and

3384-509: The DEW Line provided some economic development for the Arctic region. This provided momentum for further development through research, new communications, and new studies of the area. Although the construction of the DEW line itself was placed in American hands, much of the later development was under direct Canadian direction. Resource protection of historical DEW Line sites is currently under discussion in Canada and Alaska. The discussion stems from

3478-547: The DEW Line. The Atlantic Barrier (BarLant) consisted of two rotating squadrons, one based at Naval Station Argentia , Newfoundland , to fly orbits to the Lajes Field in the Azores and back; and the other at Naval Air Station Patuxent River , Maryland. BarLant began operations on 1 July 1956, and flew continuous coverage until early 1965, when the barrier was shifted to cover the approaches between Greenland, Iceland, and

3572-546: The ECHO satellite and Philco terminals for reflecting voice transmissions through space from the Trinidad Space Communication Facility (with " BMEWS type radar tracker " using "AN/FRC-56 type" transmitter and "84FT DISH") to the "RADC Floyd Site". In August 1962, RADC established the "AFLC Communications-Electronics Field Office" to monitor missile tests. A "60-foot-diameter" antenna at

3666-638: The FPS-117 split up into several components. The main antenna was mounted on a custom trailer and offloaded at the operational site and then raised and leveled using hydraulic jacks. The remainder of the system was packed into a series of ISO containers that could be carried by any semi-trailer . The first example entered service in 1985. In the 1990s, the Marines sent out another contract for upgrades to their MIM-23 Hawk missile systems to allow them to attack short-range ballistic missiles. The TPS-59(V)3 modified

3760-615: The Floyd site built by RADC "particularly to communicate with ECHO II " was dedicated on 30 August 1963. In 1965 based on the USMC AN/MPQ-14 , the " SKYSPOT RADC developmental program" designed the AN/MSQ-77 with ballistic computer for Vietnam War high-altitude, low-visibility (e.g., nighttime, inclement weather) strategic bombing missions , and which was also used as a " Close Air Support Bombing System". By June 1965, RADC

3854-438: The North Warning System. Average power output 400 watts Modifications to each operating radar station occurred during the construction phase of the DEW Line system. This was due to the extreme winds, frigid temperatures, and the ground conditions due to permafrost and ice. There were two significant electronic modifications that were also crucial to the functioning of these radar stations in an Arctic environment. One reduced

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3948-512: The Type 85 from a "transportable" design using six prime movers . Most early phased array systems used a single transmitter tube, but experiments where every antenna elements had their own transmitter, were underway. In these "active array" systems, one could use the individual transmitters to produce multiple beams pointing in different directions, which would allow, for instance, some beams to continually track targets while others continued to scan

4042-498: The United Kingdom ( GIUK barrier ). Aircraft from Argentia were staged through Naval Air Station Keflavik , Iceland, to extend coverage times. The Pacific Barrier (BarPac) began operations with one squadron operating from Naval Air Station Barbers Point , Hawaii, and a forward refuelling base at Naval Air Facility Midway Island , on 1 July 1958. Planes flew from Midway Island to Naval Air Facility Adak on Adak Island (in

4136-454: The United States and Canada over the cleanup of deactivated Canadian DEW Line sites. The cleanup is now underway, site by site. In assessing the cleanup, new research suggests that off-road vehicles damaged vegetation and organic matter, resulting in the melting of the permafrost, a key component to the hydrological systems of the areas. The DEW Line has also been linked to depleted fish stocks and carelessness in agitating local animals such as

4230-643: The United States and Canada to aerial bombing attacks, and its concluding recommendation was that a distant early warning line of search radar stations be built across the Arctic region of the North American continent as rapidly as possible. Improvements in Soviet technology rendered the Pinetree Line and Mid-Canada Line inadequate to provide enough early warning and on 15 February 1954, the Canadian and United States governments agreed to jointly build

4324-438: The United States and southern Canada worked on the project. Concrete was poured in the middle of Arctic winters, buildings were constructed, electrical service, heating, and fresh water were provided, huge steel antenna towers were erected, airstrips and hangars were built, putting it all together in darkness, blizzards, and subzero temperatures. After the buildings came the installation of radar and communications equipment, then

4418-418: The area – first from the air and then on the ground – to locate by scientific means the best sites for the main, auxiliary, and intermediate stations. These crews lived and worked under primitive conditions. They covered vast distances by airplanes, snowmobiles , and dog sleds , working in blinding snowstorms with temperatures so low that ordinary thermometers could not measure them. They completed their part of

4512-495: The beginning of the development of the DEW Line idea, Canadian concerns over political perception grew enormously. Noted Canadian Arctic historian P. Whitney Lackenbauer argues that the Canadian Government saw little intrinsic value in the Arctic, but due to fear of Americanization and American penetration into the Canadian Arctic, brought significant changes and a more militaristic role to the north. This shift into

4606-422: The buildings as safety regulations and the terrain permitted. Service buildings, garages, connecting roads, storage tanks, and perhaps an aircraft hangar completed the community. Drifting snow was a constant menace. Siting engineers and advance parties learned this the hard way when their tents disappeared beneath the snow in a few hours. The permanent H-shaped buildings at the main stations were always pointed into

4700-400: The bulk of this work under the direction of Western Electric engineers. Huge quantities of gravel were produced and moved. The construction work needed to build housing, airstrips, aircraft hangars , outdoor and covered antennas , and antenna towers was done by subcontractors. In all, over 7,000 bulldozer operators, carpenters, masons, plumbers, welders, electricians, and other tradesmen from

4794-417: The construction was carried out in a massive logistical operation that took place mostly during the summer months when the sites could be reached by ships. The 63-base line reached operational status in 1957. The MCL was shut down in the early 1960s, and much of the Pinetree Line was given over to civilian use. In 1985, as part of the " Shamrock Summit ", the United States and Canada agreed to transition DEW to

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4888-689: The date of an Atlas II B firing from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 11 (lunar reflection was tested January–June 1960.) On 20 January 1960 RADC accepted the Avco AN/FPS-26 Frequency Diversity Radar from Avco for use at SAGE radar stations (later modified into the 474N "Fuzzy-7" SLBM Detection Radar .) On 1 July 1960, RADC was assigned to the Air Force Command and Control Development Division and c.  November 1960 , RADC conducted an "Experimental Passive-Satellite Communication Link" using

4982-436: The deactivation aspect of the sites and arguments over what to do with leftover equipment and leftover intact sites. Many Canadian historians encourage the preservation of DEW Line sites through heritage designations. The DEW Line is a setting for the 1957 film The Deadly Mantis . The film begins with a short documentary on the three RADAR lines, focusing on the DEW Line's construction. A controversy also developed between

5076-433: The effects of vibration in correlation to temperature change, the other increased the pulse duration from two to six microseconds. It also began using a crystal oscillator for more stable readings and accurate accounts of movement within the air. There were three types of stations: small unstaffed "gap filler stations" that were checked by ground crews only every few months during the summer; intermediate stations with only

5170-482: The era were extremely powerful; the AMES Type 85 of the Royal Air Force sent out pulses of at least 8 MW in an effort to overcome the jammer's signal. Systems of such power have a number of practical downsides; cooling such a system is not a small endeavour, and the physical size of the transmitter tubes precludes it from being even partially mobile. During the 1950s, variations on the array antenna were being actively explored by many designers. In these systems,

5264-526: The existing TPS-59 radar sets to provide much higher altitude coverage, up to 500,000 ft (150,000 m). All U.S. TPS-59 radars were decommissioned in September 2020. A further version of the series was introduced as the TPS-117 , soon renamed TPS-77 . This is a further cut-down of the original design, producing a smaller antenna. Combined with modern electronics, the system is now transportable by

5358-671: The final improved designs of all facilities and final plans for manpower, transportation, and supply. With the experimental phase completed successfully, the Air Forces asked the Western Electric Company to proceed as rapidly as possible with the construction of the entire DEW Line. That was in December 1954, before the route to be followed in the eastern section had even been determined. The locations were surveyed out by John Anderson-Thompson . Siting crews covered

5452-467: The first FPS-117 systems were being tested, the US Marine Corps sent out a tender for an air-warning radar with long range and good jamming rejection. In contrast to the Air Force, the Marines required that the system be "transportable", that is, capable of being moved between locations. GE won the contract with a modified version of the FPS-117, the TPS-59. The TPS-59 was essentially a cut-down version of

5546-443: The first time. The DEW line system across northern Canada and Alaska was built in the 1950s using 1950s-era AN/FPS-19 radars. These used two 500 kW magnetrons on huge always-turning parabolic antenna systems and rooms filled with tube-based electronics to drive them. The systems required constant maintenance by on-site staff and was enormously expensive to operate. Desiring a much simpler, and less-costly, system, in 1977

5640-479: The information on to the DEW Line. If an unknown flight was detected, the DEW Line station would contact AMIS to see if a flight plan might have been missed; if not, NORAD was notified. Military flights, including B-52 bombers, frequently operated in the polar regions and used identification friend or foe (IFF) systems to authenticate the flight. The early warning provided was useless against ICBMs and submarine -launched attacks. These were countered and tempered by

5734-525: The job of unloading ships in the Arctic . They went with the convoys of United States Navy ships and they raced time during the few weeks the ice was open to land supplies at dozens of spots on the shores of the Arctic Ocean during the summers of 1955, 1956, and 1957. Scores of military and commercial pilots, flying everything from small bush planes to four-engined turboprops , were the backbone of

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5828-593: The job on schedule and set the stage for the crews and machines that followed. The line consisted of 63 stations stretching from Alaska to Baffin Island , covering nearly 10,000 km (6,200 mi). The United States agreed to pay for and construct the line, and to employ Canadian labour as much as possible. A target date for completing the DEW Line and having it in operation was set for 31 July 1957. This provided only two short Arctic summers adding up to about six months in which to work under passable conditions. Much of

5922-707: The most hostile and isolated environments in North America. The construction project employed about 25,000 people. Western Electric and Alaska Freightlines, with the help of the United States Army Transportation Research and Development Command (TRADCOM), contracted to have a pair of off-road overland trains , the TC-264 Sno-Buggy, designed specifically for Arctic conditions, to be built by LeTourneau Technologies , owned by R. G. LeTourneau . The TC-264 Sno-Buggy

6016-437: The multi-megawatt transmitters found in earlier radar designs. To compensate for the lower power, longer pulses are used. To extract accurate range information, the receivers employ pulse compression . The system design includes a redundant architecture with computer software remote controlled and monitored operations to minimize manning requirements. It is typically also equipped with an identification friend or foe system using

6110-411: The new North Warning System (NWS). Beginning in 1988, most of the original DEW stations were deactivated, while a small number were upgraded with all-new equipment. The official handover from DEW to NWS took place on 15 July 1993. The shortest, or great circle , route for a Soviet air attack on North America was through the Arctic, across the area around the North Pole . The DEW Line was built during

6204-409: The north where they would offer hours of advance warning. This would not only provide ample time for the defences to prepare, but also allow the Strategic Air Command to get its active aircraft airborne long before Soviet bombers could reach their targets. The need was considered critical and the construction was given the highest national priorities. Advance site preparation began in December 1954, and

6298-412: The only means of access to many of the stations during the wintertime. In all, 460,000 short tons (420,000 t; 410,000 long tons) of materials were moved from the United States and southern Canada to the Arctic by air, land, and sea. As the stacks of materials at the station sites mounted, construction went ahead rapidly. Subcontractors with a flair for tackling difficult construction projects handled

6392-410: The operation. The Lockheed LC-130 , a ski-equipped version of the C-130 Hercules , owned by the United States Air Force and operated by the 139th Airlift Squadron , provided a significant amount of airlift to sites that were out on ice caps such as Dye 3 in Greenland. Transport planes such as the C-124 Globemaster and the C-119 Flying Boxcar also supported the project. Together, these provided

6486-423: The operations were automated as much as was possible at the time. All of the installations flew both the Canadian and United States flags until they were deactivated as DEW sites and sole jurisdiction was given to the Government of Canada as part of the North Warning System in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Point Lay, Alaska DEW line station has a typical suite of systems. The main AN/FPS-19 search radar

6580-406: The overall operation would be considered and called in all formalities a "joint operation". The cultural impact of the DEW Line System is immense and significant to the heritage of Canada and Alaska. In Canada, the DEW line increased connections between the populous south and the remote High Arctic, helping to bring Inuit more thoroughly into the Canadian polity. The construction and operating of

6674-567: The personnel of the headquarters for the 2751st Wing and 3171st & 3151st groups, which were "discontinued" —the 6530th Air Base Wing with subordinate units, e.g., Maintenance and Support Group, activated on the same date for support through August/November 1952. RADC was for USAF "applied research, development and test of electronic air-ground systems such as detection, control, identification and countermeasures, navigation, communications, and data transmission systems, associated components, and related automatic flight equipment". RADC constructed

6768-487: The plans to convert to the new radars. As part of the 24-hour whirlwind Shamrock Summit in 1984, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and US President Ronald Reagan signed an agreement to create the North Warning System to replace DEW. Implementation of the North Warning System has resulted in a reduction in operations and maintenance (O&M) spending by up to 50% compared to DEW. Shortly thereafter,

6862-555: The prevailing winds and their bridges built high off the ground. The Arctic region was frequently transited by commercial aircraft on polar routes , either flying between Europe and western North America, or between Europe and Asia using Alaska as a stopover. These flights would penetrate the DEW Line. To differentiate these commercial flights from Soviet bombers, the flight crews had to transmit their flight plan to an Air Movement Identification System (AMIS) centre at either Goose Bay , Edmonton , or Anchorage . These stations then passed

6956-541: The radars in the Alaska area, while Seek Frost addressed the rest of the DEW line. However, the term is widely used to describe the entire development project. Seek Frost also included the shorter-ranged AN/FPS-124 as a gap filler, which was not needed in the Alaska area. Conversations among NORAD commands about the DEW line had been ongoing for some time, and the Royal Canadian Air Force was aware of

7050-590: The responsibility was delegated under close supervision to a vast number of subcontractors, suppliers, and United States military units. The initial contract with the United States Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force provided for the design and construction of a small experimental system to determine at the beginning whether the idea was practicable. The designs of communication and radar detection equipment available at

7144-498: The secondary Mid-Canada Line and the tertiary Pinetree Line , the DEW Line marked the edge of an electronic grid controlled by the new Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) computer system and was ultimately centred at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex , Colorado , command hub of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The construction of the DEW Line was made possible by

7238-439: The sky. However, such systems were extremely expensive until the introduction of solid-state transmitter modules. While solid-state systems reduced the price of an antenna array, they did not offer nearly the same power output, even in aggregate. In previous designs, radars typically sent out extremely powerful but very short pulses of signal. The signals were short in time in order to provide reasonable range resolution. Given that

7332-400: The solid-state systems could not reach these power levels, longer pulses would have to be used so the total energy reflected from the target was similar. To regain range resolution, the relatively new technique of pulse compression was widely introduced. By the late 1970s all of these technologies were maturing, and the possibility of fully active radars at reasonable price points emerged for

7426-575: The strategic balanced changed and conventional attacks became more likely, Linesman appeared trivially easy to defeat. The RAF planned to replace Linesman with the IUKADGE network using the Marconi Martello radars, but as this system dragged on they eventually purchased two AN/FPS-117 as well. Further sales soon followed, and the system remains in production as of 2020. Over 120 examples have been produced and are operated by 15 countries. As

7520-513: The surplus included sixty equipped wannigans - enough to permit setup of field camps at all construction sites. (A "wannigan" is a building on sleds, about 12 x 20 feet in size. These were completely equipped for camp operations and were of various types - Cook, Mess, Bunk, Power Plant, Water, Shop, Storage, Utility, Steam Point, etc. ) Prototypes of several stations were designed and built in Alaska in 1953. A prototype built for training purposes

7614-525: The system coverage was expanded even further: see Project Stretchout and Project Bluegrass . The majority of Canadian DEW Line stations were the joint responsibility of the Royal Canadian Air Force (the Canadian Armed Forces ) and the United States Air Force. The USAF component was the 64th Air Division , Air Defense Command . The 4601st Support Squadron, based in Paramus, New Jersey ,

7708-505: The thorough and time-consuming testing of each unit individually and of the system as an integrated whole. Finally all was ready, and on 15 April 1957 – just two years and eight months after the decision to build the Distant Early Warning Line was made – Western Electric turned over to the Air Force on schedule a complete, operating radar system across the top of North America, with its own communications network. Later,

7802-599: The time were known to be unsuited to the weather and atmospheric conditions to be encountered in the Arctic. Early efforts were aided when, by happenstance, the US Navy terminated its oil exploration activities in Alaska. The associated infrastructure that had been established in the arctic was quickly repurposed to serve early development of the DEW line. Material converted from Navy use included 1,200 tons of supplies, with many Caterpillar D8 tractors, heavy duty cranes, diesel generators, and radio equipment. Most fortunately,

7896-420: The work would have to be completed in the long, dark, cold, Arctic winters, including over a month of polar night . From a standing start in December 1954, many thousands of skilled workers were recruited, transported to the polar regions, housed, fed, and supplied with tools, machines, and materials to construct physical facilities – buildings, roads, tanks, towers, antennas, airfields, and hangars – in some of

7990-510: Was activated by ADC to provide logistical and contractual support for DEW Line operations. In 1958, the line became a cornerstone of the new North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) organization of joint continental air defence . USAF personnel were limited to the main stations for each sector and they performed annual inspections of auxiliary and intermediate stations as part of the contract administration. Most operations were performed by Canadian and United States civilian personnel, and

8084-668: Was assigned to AFSC's Research and Technology Division and had a Communications Research Branch (an early 1960s plan to rename RADC to the Air Force Electromagnetics Laboratory was not implemented.) RADC's Program 673A research resulted in the 440L System Program Office for the Forward Scatter Over-the-Horizon network ( AN/FRT-80 transmitters & AN/FSQ-76 receivers) being established on 1 July 1965 (RADC's "Data Reduction Center" processed 440L data transmitted to

8178-464: Was chosen to be located in Streator, Illinois in 1952. The Streator DEW-Line Training Center became operational in 1956 and closed when operations were moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1975. While few of the original designs for either buildings or equipment were retained, the trial installations did prove that the DEW Line was feasible, and they furnished a background of information that led to

8272-566: Was commissioned at Tempelhof in July 1984. The AN/TPS-77 is a version of the same radar mounted on a transportable platform. This is currently the main radar used by the Royal Air Force . The RRP-117 version is a model which is being supplied to Germany with an offset input from Siemens in fixed-site applications. In 2011, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to upgrade the radars to extend their operational lives through 2025. DEW line The Distant Early Warning Line , also known as

8366-648: Was completed in 1990, and with the end of the Cold War and dissolution of the Soviet Union , the United States withdrew all of its personnel and relinquished full operation of the Canadian stations to Canada. Costs for the Canadian sector were still subsidized by the United States. However, the American flags were lowered at the Canadian stations and only the Canadian flag remained. The United States retained responsibility and all operational costs for North Warning System stations located in Alaska and Greenland. From

8460-403: Was judged to be less than desired and required. The staffed stations were retained to monitor potential Soviet air activities and to allow Canada to assert sovereignty in the Arctic. International law requires a country that claims territory to actively occupy and defend such territory . Because the advent of ICBMs created another attack scenario that the DEW Line could not defend against, in 1958

8554-534: Was later augmented, and modified/replaced by Project Stretchout and Project Bluegrass). The Guardian -class radar picket ships were based in Rhode Island and San Francisco , and covered picket stations 400–500 mi (640–800 km) off each coast. Barrier Force operations were discontinued by September 1965 and their EC-121K (WV-2 before 1962) aircraft placed in storage. Rome Laboratory Rome Laboratory ( Rome Air Development Center until 1991)

8648-538: Was proposed as an inexpensive solution using bistatic radar . This provided a "trip wire" warning located roughly at the 55th parallel , giving commanders ample warning time, but little information on the targets or their exact location. The MCL proved largely useless in practice, as the radar return of flocks of birds overwhelmed signals from aircraft. The DEW Line was proposed as a solution to both of these problems, using conventional radar systems that could both detect and characterise an attack, while being located far to

8742-446: Was the longest off-road vehicle ever built at the time, with its six cars (including the locomotive) measuring a total of 274 ft (84 m). Each car was driven by four 7.3 ft (2.2 m) tall wheels and tires. The 24-wheel-drive was powered by two 400 horsepower Cummins diesel engines connected to a hub motor. It had a payload capacity of 150 short tons (140 t; 130 long tons), and could traverse nearly any terrain. It had

8836-482: Was the northernmost and most capable of three radar lines in Canada and Alaska. The first of these was the joint Canadian-United States Pinetree Line , which ran from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island just north of the Canada–United States border , but even while it was being built there were concerns that it would not provide enough warning time to launch an effective counterattack. The Mid-Canada Line (MCL)

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