A story of Canadian Military Communications 1903 2013 bgen William J. Patterson omm, cd (Ret’d)
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the DEW Line was more than $500 Million. By the time the Pinetree, the Mid Canada Line, and the DEW Line were operational, the Canadian and US governments had worked out not only the doctrine, policies, and proce- dures to control the air defence assets of each country to ensure a timely and effective re- Stoney Mountain,Alberta Mid-Canada Line radar, 1958. vided minimum sponse to an airborne threat but also to meet the vital requirement to preserve sovereignty.
* See Appendix 43 for a list of sites This effort resulted in the North American Air 
The DEW Line Site at Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Defence (NORAD) Agreement that was signed by both countries on 12 May 1958. The Com- mander-in-Chief (CINC) of the North Ameri- can Air Defence Command would be an American four-star general responsible to each country, and his Deputy CINC would be a Canadian three-star general officer. By the early 1960s, NORAD was employing 250,000 American and Canadian servicemen and women and civilians. Canadian participation in NATO and NORAD in the 1950s and beyond resulted in significant growth of RCAF communications personnel. In October 1950, the RCAF Signals Branch was renamed the Telecommunications Branch and throughout the 1950s its size steadily increased. In 1950, in addition to sen- ior signal officers: AVM R.E. McBurney, CBE, CD, A/Cs H.B. Godwin, CBE, CD, M.M. Hen- drick, OBE, CD, and W.A Orr, CBE, CD, the new Branch had two G/Cs G.M. Fawcett, MBE, CD, and E.A.D. Hutton, CD, and 153 other officers. By 1952, McBurney had retired and replaced by AVM Godwin with Hendrick and Orr still Air Commodores. The Branch had grown to a total of 223 officers, an increase of 45 per cent. In 1955, with Godwin, Hendrick and Orr still serving, the Branch continued to grow to a total of 316 officers, a further increase of 39 per cent. In 1957, AVM Godwin had been joined by Hendrick with Orr remaining as an Air Commodore. The Branch now had a total of 402 officers, an increase of 28 per cent over 1955. By 1960, Godwin had retired leaving Hendrick as the sole communications AVM; A/C Orr was still serving and he had been joined by A/C E.C. Poole, CD. The Branch had a total of 620 officers, an increase of 54 per cent over 1957. During the decade of the 1950s, the Telecommunications Branch had grown from 155 to 620 officers, an increase of 400 per cent. There would have been a corre- sponding growth in other ranks, especially technicians but statistics are not available. During these early days of the Cold War, RCAF Telecommunications officers and tech- nicians played key roles, not only maintaining radar and communications systems at the Pinetree sites, Data Centres, and fighter bases but also performing critical staff functions at Air Defence Command HQ. They assisted the Commander in the management of the sys- tem and in the development of strategies and plans for the ever-changing system configura- tions and modifications. Similarly at RCAF Air Material Command HQ in Ottawa, Telecom- munications officers and NCOs managed the life cycle support of the systems in the field and worked to develop follow-on programs. Given that many of the radar systems were owned by the US, a major effort was required to coordinate ongoing logistical support of these systems. While the US and Canada were developing the NORAD system with its three lines of radar defence, the world of technology was evolving rapidly. The Soviets launched Sputnik 1 in Oc- tober 1957, the first military use of space. The development of intercontinental ballistic mis- siles (ICBMs) and submarine launched ballis- tic missiles (SLBMs) over-shadowed the threat of the manned bomber. These new threats re- quired different defences but, as the USSR continued to upgrade its Long Range Aviation Fleet, defence against manned bombers re- mained a valid requirement. The technological breakthrough of the early 1960s was the development of the Semi- Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Sys- tem, the first automated command and control system in the world. By 1963, 22 AN/FSQ-7 systems with active and backup computers were deployed in North America, including one in a purpose-built under- ground complex (UGC) at RCAF Station
North Bay. It was a nuclear-hardened facil- ity located 600 feet under Canadian Shield granite and had 142,000 square feet of usable space on three levels. It was a self-sustaining complex with water, fuel, and food supplies for 400 personnel for up to 30 days in a closed-up configuration. A new technical sup- port organization was created for North Bay: the SAGE Maintenance Control Unit (SMCU) with a Tech/Tel lieutenant-colonel as CO. His staff consisted of about 10 Tech/Tel officers and 40 radar and communications techni- cians. Five years of service in the UGC and par- ticipation in a lock-down entitled a person to refer to the site as “The Hole” and to be a member of the “Brotherhood of Under- ground Mushrooms (BUM) Society.” In the USA, a similar but much larger command cen- tre was constructed inside Cheyenne Moun- tain at Colorado Springs, Colorado. The NORAD Regional Command Centre at St-Hubert was moved to North Bay on 13 May 1963 and the SAGE system became part of Air Defence Command (ADC) on 28 September 1963. The newly installed AN/FST-2 computer digitalized the analog radar data from each radar site and then transmitted it over tele- phone lines to the parent SAGE computer. It processed all radar data, flight plan data from the ATC and other inputs to present a consolidated air picture. Up to 150 as- signed controllers and operators were now able to track, identify, and control intercept opera- tions from their con- soles. There was a require- ment to provide the con- trollers at the SAGE locations with remote ac- cess to the ground-air- ground radios at the new Ground-Air-Transmit-Re- ceive (GATR) sites, co-lo- cated with the radar sites. This was accom- plished using commercial telephone circuits and new termination equipment at each end so that controllers could contact pilots using the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) AN/GRT-3 transmitters and AN/GRR-7 receivers. A mul- tichannel AN/GRC-27 radio was available as a back-up. The SAGE computer also had the ca- pability to transmit Time Division Data Link (TDDL) information to take control automat- ically of interceptor aircraft through newly in- stalled AN/GKA-5 and AN/FRT-49 radio transmitters at Pinetree GATR sites Not all Pinetree sites were tied to a SAGE computer. The remaining operational USAF sites in Newfoundland and along the coast of Labrador continued in manual mode. Their supporting communications systems could not operate in the new digital environment. In other areas, an investment was made to im- prove communications quality and to en- hance survivability with the development and deployment of the ADCOM 2 microwave sys- tem connecting North Bay with several of its Pinetree sites and fighter bases. On a broader scale, work was in progress to establish the Canadian Switched Network (CSN), an auto- mated, dedicated, survivable voice and data network to meet air defence and other mili-
The introduction of the SAGE System and its subsequent modifications had an effect on radar site organization given that most of the operations functions were transferred to a SAGE facility. Most Pinetree sites linked to the SAGE System were reduced to four Tech/Tel officers: a Chief Ground Environment Officer, a Telecommunications Maintenance Officer with a staff of about 30 radar technicians and 10 commu- nications technicians, a Sys- tem Standards and Training Officer with 4 technicians, and a Telecommunications Operations Officer with a staff of about 16 Fighter Control Operators, later Air Defence Technicians. The total staff requirement was approximately 125 all ranks. There were usually three Tech/Tel officers appointed as commanding officers of Pinetree sites at any given time, The SAGE System reduced the demand for telecom officers. In 1963, there were AVMs M.M. Hendrick and W.A. Orr, and A/C, E.C. Poole, together with G/Cs and 531 other offi- cers, a decrease of 81 from 1960. The de- crease continued in 1966, by then there were no telecommunications Air Vice Marshals and only two acting Air Commodores, D. Gooder- ham, OBE, CD and D.B. Biggs, CD and 460 other officers, a further loss of 79 officers. The introduction of the SAGE System and the assignment of areas of responsibility to the new NORAD Regions tied in all Canadian Pinetree radars west of North Bay to one of the three NORAD Regional HQs in the US lo- cated at Duluth, Great Falls, and Tacoma. Sim- ilarly, some of the USAF radars were tied to the NORAD Region HQ at North Bay. NORAD de- veloped a system of co-manning US and Cana- dian military for many of its locations. The usual balance would have approximately 35 Canadians at one of these US cross-border NORAD Regions including a general officer as deputy commander, several air weapons con- trol officers and air defence technicians, plus two telecommunications officers and two radar technicians. These personnel were re- sponsible for managing radar site quality through the Performance Analysis by Contin- uous Evaluation (PACE) program. Personnel from the Pinetree sites enjoyed occasional vis- its to their parent Regional HQ to escape the 
Tracking aircraft movements. isolation and to appreciate the “big picture.” In the 1960s, further improvements were made to joint US/Canada air defence. The USAF supplied 66 F-101 Voodoo fighters, armed with nuclear-tipped air to air missiles to be under joint control, to replace the CF 100s. Two squadrons of US nuclear capable BO- MARC-B surface to air missiles were deployed in North Bay and La Macaza, QC. Three of the original American Pinetree sites were closed and 12 of their Pinetree sites were taken over by the RCAF. In 1962- 1963, the RCAF opened seven new Pinetree sites: Penhold, AB; Alsask, Dana, and Yorkton, SK; Gypsumville, MB; Moosonee, ON; and Chibougamau, QC. Dur- ing the initial ten years of Pinetree operation, the original radars had been upgraded or re- placed. By 1963, there were four search radars in use: the newly installed frequency diversity AN/FPS-27, the AN/FPS-7 (later modified to the AN/FPS-107), the US AN/FPS-93, and the similar, Canadian modified AN/FPS-508. Each site had one search radar and two height- finder radars, one of which was normally the newly installed AN/FPS-26, and the other, ei- ther the AN/FPS-6 or the similar, Canadian- modified AN/FPS-507. During the 1960s, improvements in tech- nology allowed Canada to shut down the Mid Canada Line and for the US to close all 28 of the DEW Line “I” sites where the Doppler radars were situated. RCAF Pinetree Stations Edgar, Parent, St Sylvestre, Puntzi Mountain, Beaver Bank, and Pagwa River were closed. As always, command and control remained an issue, especially in the case of the failure of a command and control site. To counter such a problem, a Back-Up Intercept Control (BUIC) capability program was instituted. Each SAGE direction centre was assigned two radar sites with sufficient equipment and personnel to take over the tracking, identification and weapons control function in the event of a SAGE direction centre failure. To back up North Bay, the Pinetree sites at Senneterre, QC and St Margarets, NB were designated as BUIC III locations. In 1968, they each received a AN/GYK-19 BUIC computer and additional operations and technical personnel. Sen- neterre continued in this role until 1973 and St Margarets until 1984. In 1969, the move of ADC HQ to North Bay
was completed. This consolidated the air de- fence operations and management functions and freed up space in St Hubert for the newly created Force Mobile Command (FMC) HQ. The ADC HQ Deputy Chief of Staff for Com- munications and Electronics (DCOS C&E) was a Tech/Tel colonel who was responsible to the Chief of Staff and the Commander for the oversight and performance of all of the radar and communications equipment in ADC. His organization consisted of approximately 40 Telecommunications Officers and Senior NCOs. In 1970 - 71, the air defence system took its first major step into the world of solid state electronics when all the tube-driven AN/FST- 2 radar processing computers at Pinetree sites were replaced with the AN/FYQ-47/AN/GPA- 124 Common Digitizer/Aircraft Identifica- tion Mark XII (CD/AIMS) system. Reliability was dramatically improved and failures sel- dom occurred. Budget pressures that began in the late 1960s continued into the 1970s resulting in the closure of more sites. In Ontario four sites were closed: Armstrong, Ramore and Foy- mount in 1974, and Moosonee in 1975. All radar sites were ordered to de-activate one of two height-finder radars. The USAF closed 2 DEW Line auxiliary sites in 1970 and the two BOMARC squadrons were withdrawn in 1972. On 2 September 1975, Canadian Forces Air Command under the command of LGen W. Carr, CMM, DFC, CD was formed in Winnipeg and Air Defence Command became Air De- fence Group, and later Fighter Group. The senior Air Force telecommunications function (DCOS C&E) and supporting staff also moved at that time from North Bay to Winnipeg. At the same time, the Pinetree sites in Goose Bay and Gander were tied to the SAGE computers in North Bay, which allowed a reduction in staff. In 1975, Air Command consisted of 36 bases and stations, 24 Pinetree sites, and 21 DEW Line sites with a total strength of 22,829 all ranks and 7,838 civilians. While the reduction of the Telecommuni- cations Branch continued as radar sites closed, a major activity for C&E officers began in 1973 with the creation of a NDHQ organi- zation, Director General Communications and Electronics Engineering Maintenance (DGCEEM). The division was located at Rock- cliffe and during its 21-year existence it had a staff of between 470 and 580 officers and men of the C&E Branch and civilians. The role of the division was to provide engineering, proj- ect management, and life-cycle material main- tenance of selected communications electronics systems and equipment in support of the operational objectives and functional priorities of NDHQ. It also provided technical and administrative support to two major Crown Projects Offices: Canadian Force Sup- ply System Upgrade Project and NORAD Mod- ernization Project Management. It also exercised functional control over seven test equipment calibration centres across Canada, and the Canadian Forces Cryptographic Main- tenance Unit located in Kingston. During its existence, DGCEEM undertook at least 18 major projects and more than 60 minor ones. At one time, in the early 1990s the division had projects valued at more than $1.5 Billion, as well as annual operations and maintenance contracts worth $200 Million. It was one of the four engineering divisions under the Chief of Engineering and Mainte- nance and it was organized into five direc- torates commanded by CELE colonels, land, sea, and air. DGCEEM was commanded by a succession of brigadiers-general: R.E. Mooney, R.M. Senior, M. Sugimoto, P.E. Woods, I. Alleslev, D. Battye, W.R. Oldford, and J.J.M. Charron. In 1994, with the establishment of the De- fence Information Services Organization (DISO), command and control of DGCEEM was a shared responsibility of ADM (Materiel) and ADM (DISO). In 1995, the Air Capability Component C&E Team was transferred out of DGCEEM to the Director General Aerospace Engineering and Maintenance. At the same time, DGCEEM was renamed Director General Information Services and Delivery and Sup- port and transferred from the Materiel Group to the ADM Defence Information Systems under the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff
In 1979, a Joint USA-Canada Air Defence Study examined evolving airborne threats to North America and appropriate responses. The Study led to the development of an Air Defence Master Plan (ADMP) that acknowl- edged that long-range bombers carrying air- launched cruise missiles (ALCM) represented a significant threat that had to be countered. Existing legacy systems, such as the DEW Line and the Pinetree Line, were not capable or not correctly positioned to deal with the threat. The ADMP concept of integrated attack warning and assessment called for a system of Over-the-Horizon Backscatter (OTH-B) radars covering approaches to North America out to 1,500 miles. The OTH-B used HF technology, which depended on the ionosphere for suc- cessful operation. The use of a north-looking OTH-B was ruled out because the severe and unpredictable disturbances to the ionosphere caused by the Aurora Borealis would have ren- dered such a system unreliable and opera- tionally useless. Using space-based radar to detect and track airborne vehicles was also ruled out based on technical feasibility and prohibitive cost. These two factors led to the decision to replace the DEW Line system with a modern, automated, microwave radar net- work that would be able to detect both aircraft and ALCMs down to a low level, and that would complement the coverage of the planned OTH-B systems on the East Coast of North America and in Alaska. The new radar network would be known as the North Warn- ing System (NWS). By 1984, the SAGE system computers had been replaced with the solid-state AN/FYQ-93 computers. The system was reorganized into regional and sector operations control cen- tres. At the same time, the NORAD areas of re- 
Four CELE (Air) Colonels exchange positions at Cambridge Bay, NWT, 1991. L-r _, _, Col Sandy Taylor, _, Col Pep Fraser, Col Larry Saunders, _, _, Col Merv Sywyk, _. Col Saunders was taking over the position of Project Manager NAADM from Col Merv Sywyk; Col Pep Fraser was handing over the position of Director NWS Office to Col Sandy Taylor. sponsibility were redrawn to have four regions in continental USA, one in Alaska, and one in Canada at North Bay to cover both Canada East and Canada West. For the first time, all Pinetree radars were tied into North Bay and under Canadian command and control. The former Sage Maintenance Control Unit was replaced by the Wing Technical Services Offi- cer (WTSO) organization with 16 officers in- cluding 7 CELE Air, and 168 other ranks of the Radar and Radio Technician trades. Dur- ing this same time frame, the CF-101 Voodoo interceptors were phased out of service as the newly acquired CF-18 fleet took over the air defence role The NWS program began in 1981 as a USAF initiative with the establishment of a System Project Office at Hanscom AFB, Bedford, Mas- sachusetts. From the beginning, a Canadian officer was part of the team developing speci- fications, conducting field surveys for poten- tial radar sites, and planning for equipment procurement. The specifications called for 15 Long Range Radars (LRRs) at 11 Canadian and 3 Alaskan minimally attended sites, and for 39 Short Range Radars (SRRs) to be in- stalled at unattended sites. The LRR would be the AN/FPS-117 radar under development by General Electric, while the SRR would have to be developed by a successful industry bidder. The NWS was to be positioned from northern Alaska along the existing DEW Line latitude to the Davis Strait, and then south down the Baf- fin Island/Labrador coasts. The competition to design the entire system, including the development of the SRRs and the installation of 13 LRRs with a target Initial Op- erational Capability (IOC) of 1986, went to in- dustry in 1983. From the beginning it was evident that the US budget of US$775 Million was inadequate. The solution was to involve the Canadian government to absorb some of the cost. To that end, a Canada-US North American Air Defence Modernization (NAADM) agree- ment was signed in March 1985. The US was committed to provide the radars, ground-air- ground (G/A/G) radios and cryptographic equipment under the US budget of $775 Mil- lion. Canada undertook to provide a satellite communications system, construct new radar sites for 36 SSRs and 3 LRRs, and to provide lo- gistic support sites (LSS), including a depot/maintenance facility, the NWS Support Centre, in North Bay. When the NWS Support Centre was opened it was named the “Build- ing/Edifice William Edward Goodchild” in ho- nour of WO 1 W.E. Goodchild, an original member of the first group of RCAF radar me- chanics in the Second World War, and who died while a POW in Indonesia. The remaining 8 LRRs in Canada were to be deployed to USAF modified DEW Line sites. The total Canadian cost was estimated to be $829 Million. The re- sponsibility for operations and maintenance (O&M) was assigned to Canada with the annual costs to be shared: the US paid 60 per cent and Canada 40 per cent of the total. A Canadian Project Management Office (PMO NAADM) was set up in NDHQ under the leadership of BGen D. Battye, who later be- came DGCEEM. The initial task was a challeng- ing one: to have operational satellite communications in place by the fall of 1987 when the first LRRs were due to be installed. Three new LRR sites had to be constructed on Baffin Island and in Labrador to be ready for radar installation by the fall of 1988. The NWS Communications Segment (NWSCS) was a satellite-based, hub and spoke system where each LRR and SRR was to be linked using the Anik Satellite through the Re- gional Communications Centre (RCC) in North Bay to the Regional Operations Control Centre (ROCC). A Canadian contractor, CANAC/Microtel consortium, used off-the-shelf commercial technology that met the NWSCS challenge. In September 1987, the Minister of National Defence, Perrin Beatty, used the new NWSCS to issue a “scramble order” from the ROCC in North Bay which launched two CF-18s out of Inuvik, NT. The fighters successfully in- tercepted an aircraft that had been detected over the Beaufort Sea by NWS radar. The CF- 18s were directed by the ROCC controllers using the collocated G/A/G radio. Five LRRs were operational in 1987 and the remaining six in 1988-89. Unfortunately, the installation of the SSR radars was delayed but the construc- tion of the sites proceeded on schedule. The first sites were operational in 1992 and the en- tire system was in place by 1994, achieving full operational capability. The NWS Office was created in 1985 as a part of NDHQ/DGCEEM to meet Canada’s re- sponsibility for the Operations and Mainte- nance (O&M) of the sites, when the sites became operational. The planners decided to AN/FPS-70 transportable 3D radars, and 12e Es- cadron de radar was estab- lished near Bagotville, QC. These sites were also tied into the R/SOCC comput- ers at North Bay. In 1994, both squadrons were equipped with AN/TSC-
NWS Long Range Radar Sits, Labrador 2 (Saglek) copy the industry contractor model that the USAF had used to maintain the DEW Line. A civilian contract was developed with valuable assistance of the USAF, and a competitive pro- curement initiated. The successful bidder was a Canadian contractor, Frontec Logistics, a joint venture, which assumed responsibility in 1988 for the three newly built LRR sites: two in Labrador and one on Baffin Island. It also took over the NWS Control Centre in the un- derground complex in North Bay. In 1989 - 1990, Frontec took over the O&M of the up- graded Canadian NWS sites from the Ameri- can DEW Line contractor. Similarly, as the SRR sites were completed, Frontec assumed re- sponsibility for their O&M by staffing five LSSs across the NWS. Maintenance crews periodi- cally accessed the unattended SRR sites, prin- cipally by helicopter support, which was positioned at the LSS sites. As the NWS became operational, most of the Pinetree sites were closed during 1986 - 88, with only a few sites continuing to provide secondary radar data to Transport Canada. There was a significant reduction in C&E Branch personnel as 70 CELE Air officers and several hundred technician positions were eliminated. Four coastal sites Barrington and Sydney, NS, Gander, NL, and Holberg, BC, re- mained operational until 1990 - 91, when their radars were replaced by the modern, unat- tended AN/FPS-117 radars under the Canadian Coastal Radar (CCR) Program. The CCR radars were tied to the R/SOCC computers at North Bay. Two other sites, 42 Radar Squadron Cold Lake, AB and Mont Apica, QC, remained op- erational until 1990 - 91 to support fighter pi- lot training; they were designated Main Oper- ating Base (MOB)/ Training Radars. In 1991, the older fixed radar systems were replaced by Directory: 2016 2016 -> Senate, No. 627 State of new jersey 217th legislature 2016 -> 2017 afoCo Landmark Scholarship Program 2016 -> Instructions for the Preparation of Camera-Ready Contributions to the Conference Proceedings 2016 -> Strategic Plan South Sudan Country Office Context 2016 -> Original: English 2016 -> Step student Scholarships for Year 10-13 2016 -> Resolution 2016 -> American bar association adopted by the house of delegates Download 0.68 Mb. Share with your friends:
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