Word: norad
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Developing such omnivision is the job of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), headquartered in the shadow of Pike's Peak at Colorado Springs. NORAD also must react defensively to what it sees, and give warning to U.S. and Canadian citizens to head for their shelters-if they have any. Established four years ago, NORAD has recently acquired new techniques to meet the growing threats. It can now detect almost anything bigger than a bird in the air over some 15 million sq. mi. from Iceland to Midway...
Each morning at 8 o'clock, three briefing officers, microphones about their necks, stand under a 31-ft. battle screen in a windowless concrete building and crisply summarize everything that has been projected on that screen in the past 24 hours. One recent morning report indicated that NORAD had spotted seven Soviet aircraft tracks over Siberia, 17 unidentified planes above North America (each was checked as friendly within five minutes), 121 satellites and pieces of satellite debris in orbit around the earth, and 20 Russian trawlers cruising off Newfoundland's Grand Banks and the Aleutians...
Open Secret. Two years ago, NORAD had no way to locate either missiles or satellites. Now, under the prodding of General Laurence Sherman Kuter, 56, commander in chief of the Pacific Air Forces from 1957 to 1959, NORAD can do both. At Thule, Greenland, two powerful beams fan northward over the Arctic from four antennas, each the size of a 3O-story building. While still ascending, an enemy missile would pass through the low-altitude beam, then the higher one, providing a fix for computers to crank out its speed, direction, probable point of impact. Fifteen minutes before the missile...
Some droned 30,000 ft. above Eastern population centers on fake bomb runs. Some roared in just 500 ft. above coastal waters. All radiated spurious electronic signals to confuse defense radar. In Colorado Springs, NORAD's commander, General Laurence S. Kuter, 56, sat in front of a giant battle screen in a windowless building, directing the simulated interceptor action that was taking place over 14 million square miles...
...obvious difference between Sky Shield II and the real thing was that no bombs exploded, no antiaircraft missiles were launched, no guns were fired. But there was another difference; it would take days and weeks of study to assess the effectiveness of NORAD's response to the make-believe attack. If that attack had been by someone else and in earnest, the results would be all too apparent all too soon...