Space Defense Center
{{Short description|Former space operation center}}
{{Other uses}}
File:Space Defense Operations Computation Center, NORAD.jpg in 1983.]]
The Space Defense Center (SDC) was a space operation center of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. It was successively housed at two Colorado locations, Ent Air Force Base, followed by Cheyenne Mountain's Group III Space Defense Center{{Cite report |year=1966 |title=9th Aerospace Defense Division |url=http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/425/800.xml |format=abstract |location=Ent Air Force Base |access-date=2012-09-02 }} The 1st Aerospace Control Squadron manned the SDC at both locations, which used the Electronic Systems Division's 496L System for processing and displaying data combined from the U.S. "Air Force's Space Track and the Navy's Spasur" (NAVSPASUR).{{r|Conoley}}{{r|DelPapa}}
The photo is of a console introduced for the 427M system, the 496L inputs were only card readers and paper tape readers, the only output was from two large line printers.
History
The initial 496L System was at Hanscom Field's National Space Surveillance Control Center and the second was installed at Ent Air Force Base's Space Defense Center. The Ent SDC was one of several facilities providing data to the Cheyenne Mountain Combat Operation Center when the nuclear bunker achieved full operational capability on July 1, 1966.{{r|DelPapa}}
The SDC's approximately $5-million Delta I computer system at Cheyenne Mountain became operational on October 28, 1966, with about 53 individual computer programs totaling 345,000 instructions.{{r|DelPapa}} The Space Defense Center mission moved from Ent Air Force Base to "adjacent to the NORAD command center" in Cheyenne Mountain on February 6, 1967.{{Cite report |title=1961-1969 Historical reports{{Which|which report?|date=July 2012}} |location=located at "Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB AL, AFHRA Microfilm reel KO363" |publisher=1st Aerospace Surveillance and Control Squadron}}
The NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex Improvements Program (ESD program $427M{{r|DelPapa}} contracted in 1972,{{Cite web| title=Document Resume | url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/130/123974.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109021714/http://www.gao.gov/assets/130/123974.pdf | archive-date=2012-01-09}} operational in 1979){{r|CMU}} included the Space Computational Center (SCC)"{{Cite report |url=http://archive.gao.gov/f0102/115265.pdf |title=NORAD's Missile Warning System: What Went Wrong? |number=MASAD-81-30|date=May 15, 1981|publisher=U.S. Government Accountability Office |access-date=2012-08-06}} intended to{{cite web|url=http://aupress.au.af.mil/digital/pdf/book/b_0076_pearson_command_control_system.pdf | title=The Worldwide Command and Control System — Evolution and Effectiveness | access-date=October 2, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224045752/http://aupress.au.af.mil/digital/pdf/book/b_0076_pearson_command_control_system.pdf | archive-date=February 24, 2013 }} replace the Space Defense Center{{r|Conoley}} (the 1979 Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC){{cite web |url=http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Space_Command01.html |title=Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC) |format=TheLivingMoon.com mirror webpage of former "Official Site" |access-date=2012-08-09}} was for "replacing the {{sic|SDC}} in Cheyenne Mountain during October."){{Cite book |title=From satellite tracking to space situational awareness: the USAF and space surveillance, 1957-2007 |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/From+satellite+tracking+to+space+situational+awareness%3A+the+USAF+and…-a0191999627 |quote=Meanwhile, to improve command and control (C2) of space surveillance operations, the Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC) replaced the SDC in Cheyenne Mountain during October 1979 |access-date=2022-03-05}}
The Space Computational Center (using the 427M computer system) replaced the Space Defense Center (which used the 496L computer system) and the SDC was closed.
References
{{Reflist |refs=
{{Cite report |title=FY97 DOT&E Annual Report |url=http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/dote97/index.html |chapter=Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade (CMU) |chapter-url=http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/dote97/97cmu.html |format=webpage transcription |access-date=2012-09-09 |quote=CMU also upgrades and provides new capability to survivable communication and warning elements at the National Military Command Center (NMCC), United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), and other forward user locations. CMU additionally provides at Offutt, AFB an austere backup to Cheyenne Mountain ballistic missile warning.}}
{{Cite report |last=Conoley |first=Lt. Col. Ellis K. | date=May 1990 |title=Cheyenne Mountain System Acquisitions: Problems and Principles |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA241265 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408132310/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA241265 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 8, 2013 |publisher= Air War College |access-date=2012-08-06 |quote=The Space Computational Center (SCC) would replace the 496L system.}}
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Category:Command and control in the United States Department of Defense
Category:North American Aerospace Defense Command
Category:Cheyenne Mountain Complex
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