Back-Up Interceptor Control

Prior to the SAGE Direction Centers becoming operational, the USAF deployed data link systems at NORAD Control Centers with ground computers for controlling crewed interceptors. After SAGE IBM AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Centrals became operational and the Super Combat Centers with improved (digital) computers were cancelled, a backup to SAGE was planned{{Cite report |type=minutes |url=http://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/45992/MC665_r14_6M-3797.pdf |publisher=Lincoln Laboratory Division 6 |title=Biweekly Report for 29 July 1955 |volume=Memorandum 6M-3797 |access-date=2013-07-25 |quote=The Systems Office has obtained more detailed information about the Radar Course Directing Group, AN/GPA-37, at a symposium held at RADC on 26 and 27 July. The GPA-37 is intended for backup air defense for SAGE and will be operated at the Heavy Radar P-sites in the Zone of Interior.}} in the event the above-ground SAGE Air Defense Direction Center failed.

BUIC began with deployment of General Electric AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Groups to several Long Range Radar stations. Units designated included the "U.S. Air Force 858th Air Defense Group (BUIC) [which became] a permanent operating facility" at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.{{Cite report |date=February 2002 |title=Archives Search Report Findings: Dixie Valley Bombing Target No. 21 }}

BUIC II was used to command and control sites using the Burroughs AN/GSA-51 Radar Course Directing Group. North Truro AFS became the first ADC installation configured for BUIC II.{{cite book|last=Winkler|first=David F.|author2=Webster, Julie L|title=Searching the skies: The legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program|url= http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bn/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 |year=1997|publisher=US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories|location=Champaign, IL|page=44|lccn=97020912}}{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

The AN/GYK-19{{cite web|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/buic.html |title=NORAD Back-Up Intercept Control (BUIC) Sites |publisher=Radomes.org |date=1981-09-02 |access-date=2013-03-02}} (initially AN/GSA-51A) was an upgraded version of the BUIC II system designated AN/GSA-51A{{cite journal|title=BUIC III at Tyndall|journal=Communications & Electronics Digest|date=August 1968|pages=19–21|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/TyndallAFBFLBUIC68.html|publisher=Air Defense Command}} and required a larger building than the AN/GSA-51. The first BUIC III site was Fort Fisher AFS, and Air Defense Command's was first installed at Fort Fisher Air Force Station, North Carolina.{{cite news|title=First BUIC Site Opens: Ft. Fisher first in ADC To Get New Defense System|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/FortFisherAFSNCTCSBUIC-IIIopens1969.html|newspaper=The Command Post|location=Stewart AFB, NY|date=January 1969}}

Although more advanced systems were contemplated, the final design of the BUIC III system was an upgraded version of the BUIC II with around twice the performance.{{cite book|title=Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program|publisher=CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING RESEARCH LAB (ARMY)|author1=Winkler, David F. |author2=Webster, Julie L |url=http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA331231|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201202922/http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA331231|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 1, 2012}}

File:North Truro AFS BUIC III c. 1973.jpg

In 1972, the USAF decided to shut down most of the BUIC sites; most of the sites mothballed by 1974, except for the BUIC III site at Tyndall Air Force Base.{{cite web|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/showsite.php?site=St+Margarets+AS,+NB,+CN&squadron=21+RCAF&country=CN |title=Air Defense Radar Stations |publisher=Radomes.org |access-date=2013-03-02}} In Canada the BUIC site at Senneterre was shut down, but St Margarets remained open. The remaining sites were closed between 1983-1984 when SAGE was replaced by the Joint Surveillance System.

The AN/FYQ-47 Common Digitizer for the Joint Surveillance System, and the Radar Video Data Processor (RVDP) was a combined system for the Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), it replaced the SAGE Burroughs AN/FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitting Sets.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/buic.htm AN/GSA-51 Back Up Interceptor Control System (BUIC)] at Federation of American Scientists
• [http://www.smecc.org/burroughs_buic_-__an_gsa-51__sage_backup.htm Burroughs BUIC - AN/GSA-51 SAGE Backup] at [http://www.smecc.org/ Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation]

{{USAF system codes}}

Category:Computer systems of the United States Air Force

Category:Computer networks