AN/FSG-1

File:1965 Missile Master interfaces.png (large building) networked local radars and "up to 24 Nike Hercules AD missile batteries".]]

The AN/FSG-1 was an outgrowth of the July 1945 Signal Corps' Project 414A for an electronic Air Defense Fire Distribution System (ADFDS),{{Cite book |title=History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense: Volume I: 1945-1955 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV1.pdf |format=Army.mil PDF |access-date=2011-09-13 |quote=Signal Corps formally establishes Air Defense Fire Distribution System (ADFDS) Project 414A which will lead to development of AN/FSG1 (Missile Master |archive-date=2013-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110121813/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV1.pdf |url-status=dead }} a 1950 prototype computer and console system, and the 1954 experimental forerunner/"test system"{{Rp|55}} (AN/GSG-2) installed at Fort George G. Meade.{{Cite journal |last=Bender |first=Donald E |date=December 1999 |title=The Pedricktown Missile Master Site, 1960-1966 |url=http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/N-A-pedricktown.html |format=FDU.edu website |journal=Quarterly Newsletter |publisher=Salem County Historical Society |access-date=2011-09-06 |quote=A prototype system produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps during 1950 eventually led to the deployment of the experimental Antiaircraft Defense System (AN/GSG-2) at Fort George G. Meade |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806032853/http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/N-A-pedricktown.html |archive-date=2011-08-06 |url-status=dead }} The 1st AN/FSG-1 was contracted in August 1955, the program had been publicly announced by August 1956, Missile Master sites had been selected by June 1957,{{Cite news |date=May 2, 1957 |title='Missile Master' Survey Completed |url=http://209.212.22.88/DATA/RBR/1950-1959/1957/1957.05.02.pdf |location=Red Bank, New Jersey |newspaper=Red Bank Register |page=13 |access-date=2011-10-08}} and the "operational" AN/FSG-1 at the Fort Meade radar station was "put into action" on December 5, 1957.{{Cite news |date=December 5, 1957 |title=Missile Master News Release-1 |url=http://www.ftmeade.army.mil/museum/Missile_Master_News_1.html |publisher=(FTMeade.army.mil transcript) United States Army |access-date=2011-09-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323140458/http://www.ftmeade.army.mil/museum/Missile_Master_News_1.html |archive-date=March 23, 2012 }} A 13-minute AN/FSG-1 military film (MF 11-8923) was produced in 1958,{{cite AV media |year=1958 |title=AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System |url=http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/united-states-dept-of-the-army-from-old-catalo/index-of-army-motion-pictures-film-strips-slides-and-phono-recordings-hci/page-23-index-of-army-motion-pictures-film-strips-slides-and-phono-recordings-hci.shtml |publisher=USA Signal Air Defense Engineering |access-date=2011-09-20 |quote=Film explains the role and operation of the Army's Missile Master System     Designed to function as the communications and intelligence center of our AA defense system NIKE practice alert with and without Missile Master     Emphasizes that it is capable of operating independently and with other weapons as well as NIKE}} and Congressional funding for additional sites was initiated in 1959 after the "[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HzY_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=7VAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3193,5546728&dq=missile-master-plan&hl=en Missile Master Plan"] resolved the Army Project Nike and USAF CIM-10 Bomarc plans for SAM air defense.{{Cite news |date=June 12, 1959 |title=To Congress Today: Missile Master Plan is Readied |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19590612&id=tbkcAAAAIBAJ&pg=7467,1893666 |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=Sarasota Herald Tribune |access-date=2011-09-20 }} ([https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HzY_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=7VAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3193,5546728&dq=missile-master-plan&hl=en Windsor Daily Star article: Peek Slated At Missile Master Plan Retrieved 2011-09-28)]

During the October 1959-July 1960 study regarding the system's algorithm for Automatic Target and Battery Evaluation (ATABE), the "first production model AN/FSG-1" was dedicated in January 1960 at Fort Lawton Air Force Station (AFS), Washington.{{Rp|313}} Following installation, a checkout period, and AN/FSG-1 acceptance; a dedication ceremony was often held and open to media (e.g., May 1960 acceptance at Highlands AADS, New Jersey, with June 5 dedication). The "SAGE/Missile Master test program" conducted large-scale field testing of the AN/FSG-1 "mathematical model" using actual radar tracks of SAC and ADC aircraft sorties{{Clarify|were formations flown, and if so, were formations split while being tracked to complicate the algorithm's decision?|date=September 2011}} into the defense areas{{Cite report |date=December 1961 |title=A Survey and Summary of Mathematical and Simulation Models as Applied to Weapon System Evaluation |url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/4298/4/bab9742.0001.001.txt |publisher=Aeronautical Systems Division, USAF |access-date=2011-09-13 |quote=Future experiments and/or tests: Data from the Phase II and Phase III NORAD SAGE/ Missile Master test program is to be used to validate the mathematical model. These are large-scale system tests employing SAC and ADC aircraft. The field test program is the responsibility of the NORAD Joint Test Force stationed at Stewart Air Force Base. …the primary object under present study is the performance of the Missile Master system with SAGE-ATABE inputs and not the SAGE system per se}} (cites Miller 1961) (SAC-simulated bomb runs were planned after September 22, 1960).{{Rp|314}} The last (10th) AN/FSG-1 was dedicated in December 1960 at Fort MacArthur, California.[https://news.google.com/news/story?q=%22Missile+Master%22&hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1600&bih=727&wrapid=tlif131651551725810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=aqtpqESeTxzMgaM&ei=5W54TqMNtMSxAoiDufcD&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQqgIwADgU]

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With the availability of solid-state direction center (DC) equipment such as the Martin AN/GSG-6 BIRDIE deployed in 1961, the United States Department of Defense approved in December 1963 the replacement of the AN/FSG-1.{{Rp|317}} Six were replaced with Hughes AN/TSQ-51 Air Defense Command and Coordination Systems with the last replacement on February 8, 1967, at Oakdale AFS, Pennsylvania.{{Cite book |last=Leonard |first=Barry |year=2011 |title=History of Strategic and Ballistic Missile Defense: Volume II: 1956-1972 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HoxycYhoKZkC&pg=PA320 |format=Google Books |access-date=2011-09-29 |quote=1963…26 September…Two ARADCOM Missile Masters phased out, leaving eight in the system.|isbn=9781437921311 }}{{Rp|317}}{{Rp|317,320}} Ft Lawton,{{Cite web |last=Denfeld |first=Duane Colt |date=March 19, 2011 |title=Nike Missile Bases: Washington State Cold War Defenses |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9711 |format=HistoryLink.org Essay 9711 |access-date=2011-10-04 |quote=A BOMARC…missile installation at Paine Field, Everett, was planned but not completed.}} Fort Heath MA, and Lockport AFS NY{{Cite web |title=Nike Missile Niagara Falls-Buffalo Defense Area |work=Nike Air Defense Missile |url=http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/niagara-ny.php |access-date=2011-10-04}} were replaced with BIRDIEs while instead of replacement, the AN/FSG-1 at Pedricktown Army Air Defense Base was removed after its defense area was incorporated{{When|date=October 2011}} into the combined New York-Philadelphia Defense Area controlled by Highlands AADS{{Cite web|date=November 29, 2005 |title=Nike Site PH-64DC Army Air Defense Command Post Pedricktown, NJ |url=http://dracolich.livejournal.com/46636.html |work=Practice safe lunch…. |publisher=LiveJournal.com |access-date=2011-09-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402191417/http://dracolich.livejournal.com/46636.html |archive-date=April 2, 2012 }}—which later switched to a BIRDIE by July 1, 1972{{Rp|C-23}} (conversely, Ft Heath & Lockport subsequently switched from BIRDIE to AN/TSQ-51).{{Cite report|last=McMaster |first=B. N. |display-authors=etal |date=December 1984 |title=Historical Overview of the Nike Missile System |url=http://www5.hanford.gov/pdw/fsd/AR/FSD0001/FSD0037/D199049898/D199049898_19126_147.pdf |publisher=Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc. |access-date=2011-09-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402132428/http://www5.hanford.gov/pdw/fsd/AR/FSD0001/FSD0037/D199049898/D199049898_19126_147.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-02 }}

*NOTE: Estimates for AN/FSG-1 dates with asterisks are from the annual July 1 maps in McMaster's report, which don't show a symbol near the Pedricktown NJ site but instead mark a Missile Master north of Philadelphia near Allentown/Bethlehem PA). Also, although [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hedo3ZzK_t0C&pg=PA21 Berhow 2005] claims 7 of the 10 AN/FSG-1 systems were replaced with AN/TSQ-51 systems, the maps only show 6 AN/TSQ-51 Missile Mentors in 1966 at former Missile Master sites, with Ft Heath instead shown with an AN/FSG-1 Missile Master in 1964 (near a separate Massachusetts BIRDIE), then a Ft Heath BIRDIE in 1966 & 1967, a Ft Heath Missile Mentor in 1968 & 1969, and no Ft Heath AADCP in 1970 ([http://ed-thelen.org/loc-r.html a Rhode Island Missile Mentor] was depicted in 1970; but not in 1971.) Likewise, the report's maps show the replacement Lockport BIRDIE subsequently switched to a Missile Mentor between July 1, 1967 & July 1, 1968 (as did [http://www.nps.gov/ever/historyculture/army-air-defense-command-post-aadcp.htm Homestead-Miami.)]

The "semiautomatic"{{Rp|17}} AN/FSG-1 automatically plotted target tracks, evaluated missile sites for use against a target, and automated the communication with batteries.{{Cite web |date=June 29, 1999 |title=AN/FSG-1 Missile Master |url=http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/an-fsg-1.htm |work=Weapons of Mass Destruction |publisher=Federation of American Scientists |access-date=2011-09-27 |quote=By eliminating voice communications, this Martin-built system allowed an area commander to use all his batteries to engage up to 24 different targets.}} The automation reduced delay "by four or five times" over the previous command post method with manual plotting, review of hardcopy performance charts to estimate an intercept point, and telephone voice commands. Operators at the AADCP reviewed the {{Convert|19|in|cm|abbr=on}}{{Cite journal |last1=Debons |first1=Anthony |last2=Fried |first2=Charles |date=March 31 – April 1, 1958 |title=Effects of Rate and Prolonged Viewing of Radar Signal Flicker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVQrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA118 |format=Google books |location=Rome Air Development Center |publisher=National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council |journal=Illumination and Visibility of Radar and Sonar Displays: Proceedings of a Symposium |lccn=58-60044 |access-date=2011-10-23 |quote=The present problem arose in connection with the proposed integration of the Army Missile Master System with jointly used air defense radars. … I visited the Army center having the radar scopes in question… The experiment duplicated exactly the size of scope and flicker rate.}} (p. 124) orange interactive plan position indicator CRTs which displayed the AN/FSG-1 radar network's data, e.g., "14 pieces of information…height, level, priority, direction…",{{Cite web |date=c. 1998 |title=Tape 11: Theodore C. Viars |url=http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/oh-Theodore-C-Viars.html |format=text description of NTSC Video |work=Camp Evans Oral Histories |publisher=InfoAge.com |access-date=2011-09-14 |quote=Gene Sheftelman, who described target information that would be displayed on a CRT with 14 pieces of information to include height, level, priority, direction from velocity vector, etc. This capability was demonstrated to military and private people concerned with Air Defense. Ted presented a paper in 1955 at the October 3-5 (Vol. XI) National Electronics Conference in Chicago on this subject. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923200117/http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/oh-Theodore-C-Viars.html |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url-status=dead}} etc. in the tiered Antiaircraft Operations Center (AAOC). The "Blue Room" was recessed in a pit with a stage, blue walls, blue overhead fluorescent illumination, and more than 12 blue consoles. In the rear of the AAOC was the highest "third row [with] a "friendly protector" console, three tactical monitor consoles, and a tactical director's console. The defense commander's room…at the top rear" had a window for viewing into the AAOC.{{Cite journal |date=March 1958 |title=Missile Master Air Defense System |url=http://coldwar-c4i.net/Missile-Master/RTN0358-054.html |journal=Radio & TV News |pages=54–5 |access-date=2011-09-26}} ([http://coldwar-c4i.net/Missile-Master/RTN0358-055.html page 55)] The AAOC crew was typically 22 soldiers and 5 company grade officers.{{Cite web |last=Liebing |first=Ralph |title=Missile Master Detachment: 2d Artillery Group; Niagara-Buffalo Air Defense |work=Unit Histories |url=http://ed-thelen.org/unit-histories.html |access-date=2011-09-24}}

Via an automated data link (ADL) of digital information, the AN/FSG-1 communicated the identification friend or foe status from the AADCP to remote fire units where a "foe" symbol was placed "around{{Specify|clearly the letters f-o-e weren't used "around", so was it a ring or, as indicated by the promotion booklet, a box?|date=October 2011}} each radar return on the scope". The AN/FSG-1 assigned a Nike fire unit to a target using the same ATABE "programmed selection logic" as the USAF SAGE system, and the algorithm could be tested using a simulator (a "20-target raid…with maneuvering targets, takes approximately 1 1/4 minutes.") When the AN/FSG-1 had automatically assigned a battery to a foe, a technician used the "entry stick" to alert the battery to "prepare to engage" (e.g., lock the Target Tracking Radar on the target). The director's console was subsequently used to manually input the attack command, and the AN/FSG-1 transmitted{{Cite book |title=Missile Master |url=http://nikemissile.org/missilemaster/mm.pdf |format=promotion booklet |publisher=Martin Company |access-date=2011-09-13 |quote=Tactical Monitor operators assign a specific target to an individual battery}} a change{{Specify|how, with a number for the battery?|date=October 2011}} to the foe symbol at the designated fire unit{{Cite journal |last=Stephens |first=Gary |date=October 1999 |title=Three Hours from Armageddon: Life at a Cold War Nike Missile Site |url=http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=25&id=40634 |publisher=AuthorsDen.com |journal=ADA Magazine Online |access-date=2011-10-04 |quote=The EWPB operator starts calling out and plotting hostile inbound tracks. … An AADCP-generated "foe" symbol is around each radar return on the scope. One of these symbols indicates that our battery is to engage that target.}} where the Battery Control Officer reacted to the symbol and issued the firing order to a ready{{Specify|did the remote battery provide launcher status to the AN/FSG-1, e.g., so the decision logic could account for a battery's lower fire rate if a launcher was disabled?|date=September 2011}} missile.{{Cite manual |format=field manual |title=FM 44-1: U. S. Army Air Defense Employment |url=http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/docrepository/FM44_1_1965.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309181910/http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/docrepository/FM44_1_1965.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 March 2013 |publisher=Headquarters, Department of the Army |date=11 October 1965 |access-date=2011-09-06 |quote=The Missile Master includes…defense acquisition and height-finding radars… The Missile Master may receive automatic data link input from SAGE … FM 44-10…AN/FSG-1…FM 44-13 U.S. Army Air Defense Fire Direction System, AN/MSG-4 (Missile Monitor) }} The AN/FSG-1 also provided{{Clarify|Was this done by the AN/FSG-1, or was the link directly between batteries so it would work during autonomous operations?|date=October 2011}} a communication function previously performed{{Clarify|was the IBDL either of the 1950 or 1954 systems?|date=October 2011}} by the [https://books.google.com/books?id=UD3A4MKFjYIC&dq=%22Interim+Battery+Data+Link%22&pg=PA51 Interim Battery Data Link (IBDL) system] which had transmitted the "missile away" notification from the firing battery to other sites, allowing "battery commanders to see which targets were being engaged by other batteries".{{Cite web |date=October 16, 2005 |url=http://gulfwarcouncil.com/edgewood_test_veterans.htm |title=Edgewood Test Veterans |publisher=GulfWarCouncil.com |access-date=2011-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830234741/http://gulfwarcouncil.com/edgewood_test_veterans.htm |archive-date=2011-08-30 |url-status=dead }}

{{External media

|image1=[http://nikemissile.org/missile_master_photos.shtml console images]

|image2=[http://nikemissile.org/missilemaster/mm.pdf AN/FSG-1 promotion booklet]

|image3=[http://www.nikemissile.org/AADCAP/aadcaps.shtml Niagara console]

}}

{{Ambox | type = content

| image = 50x40px

| text = The primary AN/FSG-1 document, United States Army Field Manual 44-10 (e.g., at USAHEC), needs researched for, and cited as a source in, this wikiarticle.

| date = {{nowrap|box placed in September 2011}}}}

{{Reflist |refs=

{{Cite web |last=McGrath |first=John J. |year=1998–2002 |title=Continental Air Defense Collection |url=http://www.history.army.mil/reference/Finding%20Aids/contair.htm |format=Finding Aid |publisher=USAHEC |access-date=2011-09-28 |quote=Army Press Release 4 Feb 74, announcing end of CONUS Nike program with a site by site listing of sites to be closed … "When the Cold War Claimed 10 Lives in Monmouth;" "Cold War Remnant is Being Destroyed; "On Alert;" "Missile Master;" … Command Report, USARADCOM 1960, 1966; … |archive-date=2019-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609181601/https://history.army.mil/reference/Finding%20Aids/contair.htm |url-status=dead }} NOTE: The descriptions for the Fort Heath images (SC5999xx) identify the Missile Master as site ID "B-18" on August 18, 1962. The list also identifies Nike firings at Point Mugu, Fort Wainwright, Fort Richardson, Summit AK, & Fort Bliss; and has an article on the "Accidental Nike Launch at Fort Meade".

{{Cite book |date=January 1965 |chapter=Chapter 3: Army Air Defense Control Systems |chapter-url=http://ed-thelen.org/USAADSDigest1965chapter3.pdf |title=U. S. Army Air Defense Digest |url=http://ed-thelen.org/USAADSDigest1965chapter0-1.pdf |location=Hillman Hall, Fort Bliss, Texas |publisher=U. S. Army Air Defense School |quote=The term "radar netting" (fig 43) describes the process by which track data derived from several additional or remote radars are gathered at a single center to produce an integrated set of meaningful target information}}^{[http://ed-thelen.org/USAADSDigest1965chapter2.pdf Ch. 2, p. 17]} NOTE: The p. 36 image with scrub brush ("Figure 34") titled "Missile Master" is identified differently in the text as "SAGE (fig 34)" (Texas had 3 BIRDIE command posts: Austin, Duncanville, & Sweetwater.)

{{Cite court |litigants= Brown v. Jersey Central Power and Light Co. |date =October 24, 1978 |url= https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/appellate-division-published/1978/163-n-j-super-179-0.html |court=New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division |quote= The power building at Highlands was "in a 25' x 17' cinderblock building, designated on the plans as "Switch Gear Room Bldg. 118." The equipment in this small building permits the missile site to switch back and forth from external commercial power to its own internal power from diesel generators. …van housing the computer}}

{{Cite report |title=Selfridge Field, Building No. 1050… |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/MI0684/ |number=HAER No. MI-684 |location=Library of Congress |publisher=Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record |access-date=2011-09-27}} NOTE: The labels on one of the HAER floor plans are after the bunker was used for air traffic control (rooms for RAPCON, ATCALS, etc.)

{{Cite journal |date=August 1956|title=Magic in the Skies: The Missile Master |url=http://ed-thelen.org/Missile_Master_NG_mag_Aug_56%5B1%5D.pdf |journal=The National Guardsman |access-date=2011-09-14 |quote=A forerunner has been in experimental operation at Ft Geo G Meade, Md, for nearly two years}}

{{Cite news |last=McNamara |first=Jack |date=December 17, 1961 |title=24 Hours At A Nike Site |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-XkbAAAAIBAJ&pg=2488%2C678588 |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |access-date=2012-03-02 |quote=40-million-dollar Missile Master at Oakdale…18th Artillery Group, which protects Pittsburgh…rotates the "entry stick" on his console, designating a target to be tracked by radar…"prepare to engage}}

{{Cite news|date=June 7, 1960 |title=Base is Dedicated: 'Blue Room' at Missile Master Gives Eerie But Secure Feeling |url=http://209.212.22.88/DATA/RBR/1960-1969/1960/1960.06.07.pdf |location=Red Bank, New Jersey |newspaper=Red Bank Register |pages=1–2 |access-date=2011-09-30 |quote=RADAR SCANNER at Missile Master atop Highlands hills tells the height of aircraft or other flying objects. It is one of the smaller pieces of radar equipment. …replaces a {{sic|manuel}} operations center at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, where Gen.Hewitt's headquarters, the 52d Artillery Brigade Air Defense, also known as "the New York Defense… In addition to the New York area, Missile Master sites are now operational in the Baltimore-Washington area, Seattle and Boston. … A Detroit installation will open this week." |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323151514/http://209.212.22.88/DATA/RBR/1960-1969/1960/1960.06.07.pdf |archive-date=March 23, 2012 }} (photograph caption).

}}

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