NORAD Flashcards
NORTHCOM MISSION
conduct homeland defense, civil support and security cooperation to defend and secure the United States and its interests.
USNORTHCOM’s AOR includes air, land and sea approaches and encompasses the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the surrounding water out to approximately 500 nautical miles. It also includes the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida, portions of the Caribbean region to include The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The commander of USNORTHCOM is responsible for theater security cooperation with Canada, Mexico, and The Bahamas.
US NORTHCOM HQ
USNORTHCOM’s headquarters located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.
NORAD
The commander of USNORTHCOM also commands the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a bi-national command responsible for air & space warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning for Canada (CANR) , Alaska (ANR) and the continental United States (CONR).
CONR
HQ at Tyndall AFB
CONR is divided into two sectors; the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) is located at McChord AFB, Washington, and the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) is located at Rome, New York (the former Griffiss AFB).
The commander of CONR is also the commander of 1st Air Force.
The F-16 is the primary fighter used by CONR
Lead Agency for ONE
ANR
11th Air Forces / Royal Canadian AF / AF Res
Alaskan Region Air Operations Center (RAOC) at Elmendorf AFB near Anchorage, Alaska.
The RAOC controls F-15 and F-22 fighters based at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
CANR
HQ - CFB Winnipeg
Canada East Sector and the Canada West Sector. Both Sector Operations Control Centers (SOCCs) are co-located at CFB North Bay, Ontario.
CF - 18s
NORAD Crews
BATTLE STAFF (BC and MCC)
WEAPONS (SD and AWO / WD)
SURVEILLANCE (ASO AST / TT) TT performs the most fundamental job accomplished by NORAD: detecting aircraft within the air defense identification zone (ADIZ)
IDENTIFICARION (IDT)
INTERACE CONTROL (ICO - optasklink / ICT - LINK MX)
NORAD Sensors
the ARSR-4 in the continental United States (CONUS) and the AN/FPS-117 in Alaska & Canada
NORAD Sensor Design Requirements
Air Force was chiefly concerned with detecting cruise missiles in a jamming environment
FAA wanted an easy-to-use system that would keep airliners from flying into each other
both organizations wanted to extend the radar display from the traditional 200 nm to 250 nm
AUTONOMOUS - radar would have to function 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without on-site support
NORAD Sensor AF Design
reduced sidelobes, enhanced sensitivity, and height accuracy
NORAD Sensor FAA Design
azimuth accuracy and resolution, reduced false alarms, and detection of civil traffic even in heavy precipitation
ARSR - 4 Bid
retrofitted to the existing FPS-6 towers; the unit price was just $7 million
AN/FPS-117 Bid
too expensive at $29 million each. A big part of the cost came from the mass of the FPS-117; each would require the construction of a new tower to support the heavy planar array antenna.
ARSR-4 Antenna
hybrid antenna consists of a conventional parabolic reflector, fed by an array of transistors instead of the traditional feed horn. It combines the virtues of the orthodox reflector (light weight, low cost) with those of the planar array (flexible beam shaping and low sidelobes) while eliminating most of their vices. It is called an array-fed aperture.
BW - 1.4°
Antenna polarity can be vertical (DFLT) or circular radar detects rain above a fixed threshold, circular polarity is automatically chosen in sectors of 11.25º. Additionally, the polarity can be manually selected in order to counter some forms of jamming.
5 rpm for a 12-second sweep
High Beam / Low Beam / Look Down Beam (A/R)
ARSR-4 X-MIT
600 microwave transistors operating in the L-band
two different pulses in every cycle. The ARSR-4 transmits an 88 μsec pulse followed by a 58 μsec pulse 2 μsec later
FREQ AGILE fixed, batch-to-batch JATS-agile, batch-to-batch pseudorandom agile, pulse-to-pulse JATS, or pulse-to-pulse pseudorandom
JATS (DFLT)
Pseudorandom can be chosen for the harshest jamming environments.
Pulse-to-pulse frequency agility inhibits Doppler processing, resulting in a clutter-laden display
ARSR-4 Receiver
The ARSR-4 can detect a 0.1 target (cruise missile or 1st generation stealth aircraft) at 92 miles, and a 1.0 target at 165 miles.
The receiver uses advanced pulse compression techniques to reduce the 88 and 58 μsec pulses to 1.4 μsec. This represents a range resolution of 1/8 mile.
Bird Flock Eval - range rate less than 12 knots (equally adept at eliminating sea clutter while still processing low aspect, low RCS targets such as cruise missiles)
Incoming target echoes are divided into nine channels based on their vertical angle of incidence +/- 3000 @ 175 miles
ARSR-4 WX Station
the ARSR-4 continuously calculates the refractive index based on inputs from an automated miniature weather station co-located with the radar
measures temperature, dew point, and barometric pressure for its own use, automatically updating target height calculations with real-time data
ARSR-4 IFF
ATCBI-6 is fully compatible with legacy Mark XII IFF systems, but adds a complete Mode S capability
USAF (MODES 2/3/C/(ADS M4))
FAA (MODES 3/C/S)
AN/FPS-117
PLANAR ARRAY / VERTICAl POLARITY / 5RPM / 12 OVERLAPPING PENCIL BEAMS indvidually steered in EL / +/- 3000 at 100NM / L-BAND / Receiver is Solid State MTBF 1500 hours / BW 1.1° / 1.0 m2target at 160 miles / Mark XII (Modes 1,2,3,C, & 4)
AN/FPS-124
unattended short range radar that fills in the gaps between certain FPS-117 radar sites in Alaska and far north Canada
L-Band
AESA
6 month MX cycle
SWR503 Mk2
Raytheon Canada Limited. This is a surface wave radar used to detect boats and ships at ranges out to 200 miles from shore. It is a vertically polarized system operating below 20MHz
DEFCONS
SET by NCAs of US and CAN
DEFCONS are directive in nature. They tell military commanders how to allocate their forces. (1 to 5 wartime to peacetime)
DEFCON 1 = Cocked Pistol
DEFCON 2 = Fast Pace
DEFCON 3 = Round House
DEFCON 4 = Double Take
DEFCON 5 = Fade Out
LERTCONS
Alert Conditions (LERTCONS) represent NORAD’s intelligence estimate of the likelihood of an attack
Air Defense Warning Red = Apple Jack (an attack is imminent or taking place)
Air Defense Warning Yellow = Lemon Juice (an attack on the US or Canada is likely)
Air Defense Warning White = Snowman (an attack on the US or Canada is not likely)
EMERCONS
Air Defense Emergency (BIG NOISE) is declared by CINC NORAD to inform the NCA, as well as subordinate commanders, that the US or Canada is under attack.
Defense Emergency (HOT BOX) is declared by certain overseas commanders (designated by the NCA), indicating that his or her forces are under attack
Weapons Readiness States
- Weapons Free: Air Defense Artillery (ADA) may fire at any target not positively identified as friendly.
- Weapons Tight: ADA may be fire only at target(s) recognized as hostile.
- Weapons Hold: ADA may fire only in self-defense or in response to a formal order.
Aircrew Alert States
Alert: Aircrews will be able to become airborne within the time specified by operational command directives.
Battle Stations: Aircrews will be in the aircraft, ready to start engines and take off in the minimum practical time.
Runway Alert: Aircrews will be on or near the runway with engines running, ready for immediate take off.
“Scramble” simply executes the alert
“Mandatory Scramble” requiring the aircrew to take off regardless of the hazard
**airborne orders **give the aircrew more warning and more control over their launch
flush. This tells all available aircrew to report to their aircraft immediately and take off as soon as possible. This is a survival effort to get jets off the runway and out of the way of an attack or natural disaster.
