Falling Leaves (radar network)

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Not to be confused with anti-aircraft surveillance radars deployed to Florida during the crisis or the SAC program that granted/rescinded temporary spot promotions for winning the bomb/nav competition.

Falling Leaves was an improvised ballistic missile early warning system of the United States Air Force. It was set up during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and networked 3 existing U.S. radars—2 Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS) radars and an Aircraft Control and Warning general surveillance radar which was modified by Sperry Corporation to 1,500 mi (1,300 nmi; 2,400 km) range, allowing detection in space near Cuba.[1] The designation was assigned by the 9th Aerospace Defense Division, headquartered at Ent AFB, Colorado.

Soviet R-12 Dvina IRBMs arrived in Cuba on 8 September 1962. U.S. intelligence sources in Cuba then reported lengthy missiles transported through towns, and three R-12 sites were subsequently photographed by Lockheed U-2s by 19 October. Afterwards, the Cuban Missile Early Warning System (CMEWS) radars were "realigned" to monitor for nuclear missile launches from the new Soviet launch sites.[2]

The Falling Leaves system used the following:[2]

Operations

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As Fred Dobbs writes of his experience as an airman at Thomasville Air Force Radar Base in Alabama (newly deployed in 1962).

In early October, 1962, we received word that a special team from Sperry was coming in to extend the range of our receiver by three to five times. This would make it possible for us to see objects up to 1500 miles away. At that range, our beam would be in space due the [sic] curvature of the earth. ... Our beam [from Alabama] was sweeping over Cuba first. Then a beam from a Texas radar swept across the top of ours. Finally, a radar in New Jersey was adjusted to sweep over the Texas beam. ... Now every scope had a "Full Bird Colonel" watching the sweep go round and round. ... Each of them had a headset, and an open mike to NORAD. If they saw a missile lift off from Cuba the word would be given to launch ours.[1][better source needed]

Information communicated to the BMEWS Central Computer and Display Facility located at Ent AFB in Boulder, Colorado was synthesized to provide missile warnings to display processors at the Pentagon and Strategic Air Command headquarters at Offutt AFB in Nebraska.

The FPS-49 radar detected a Cape Canaveral launched Titan II ICBM on 26 October (N-12 Mk 6 reentry vehicle test)[7]—the trajectory was determined to be safely southeastward over the Atlantic Missile Range.[5] On 28 October, a test tape inserted at the New Jersey radar site caused a false alarm indicating a missile would impact Tampa.[8] Later the same day, an unidentified radar track over Georgia was recognized as a satellite.[which?][9] On 28 November, the New Jersey and Texas radars returned to their SPADATS mission, and the Alabama radar continued coverage for Cuba launches until late December.[10]

After the Cuban Missile Crisis, a contract to Bendix Corporation was issued on 2 April 1962 to construct a long range radar at Eglin AFB, Florida.[11] Under that contract, an AN/FPS-85 long-range phased-array radar was constructed beginning in October 1962.[4][12]

In 1972, 20% of the FPS-85 surveillance capability became dedicated to search for SLBMs.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Dobbs, Fred C (31 August 2006). "Falling Leaves" (Anecdote). It's just Papa. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d North American Air Defense Command Historical Summary (Report).[specify]
  3. ^ Bate, Mueller, and White (1971) [origyear tbd]. Fundamentals of Astronautics (Google books). Courier Corporation. ISBN 9780486600611. Retrieved 5 March 2014. FPS-49 has an 85-foot mechanically-steered dish antenna weighing 106 tons … up to 10° per second.8 The prototype is located at Moorestown, New Jersey{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) ("prototype" is also identified by a webpage.)
  4. ^ a b Winkler, David F; Webster, Julie L (June 1997). Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program (Report). Champaign, IL: U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. LCCN 97020912. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013. (transcription available at the Federation of American Scientists website)
  5. ^ a b c d Sagan, Scott D (1993). "Chapter 4". The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691021010. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  6. ^ "AN/FPS-35 Radar - United States Nuclear Forces". fas.org. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  7. ^ "tbd". Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014. 2 October 26---17:05 GMT---Cape Canaveral LC15. LV Model: Titan 2. Titan II N-12 Mk 6 re-entry vehicle test launch Agency: USAF AFSC. Apogee: 1,300 km (800 mi).
  8. ^ Jeanes, I. (1996). Forecast and Solution: Grappling with the Nuclear, a Trilogy for Everyone. Pocahontas Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780936015620. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  9. ^ George, Alice L (2003). Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis. UNC Press Books. p. 57. ISBN 9780807861615. Retrieved 19 April 2014 – via Internet Archive. Falling Leaves cuba missile.
  10. ^ NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996)
  11. ^ North American Air Defense Command Historical Summary (Report).[specify]
  12. ^ "20th Space Control Squadron". Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  13. ^ Jane's Radar and Electronic Systems, 6th edition, Bernard Blake, ed. (1994), p. 31 (cited by Winkler)