North America Air Defense System (part of 4)
By the beginning of the 90s, the NORAD air defense system of North America, from a structure originally designed to counter Soviet long-range bombers, turned into a multifunctional organization with a wide range of responsibilities. The NORAD control system has a hierarchical structure and is a combination of functionally connected organs and control points, communication systems, systems and automation tools for collecting, processing, displaying, receiving and transmitting information about the aerospace situation. The United Air Defense Command includes the USAF Air Defense Command, Canada aviation Command (Canadian Air Command), Naval Forces (Naval Forces CONAD / NORAD) and Army Command Air Defense Forces (Army Air Defense Command).
The North American Air Defense Command is currently in the process of reorganization. Until recently, NORAD included:
- Operational Center for Monitoring the Situation in Airspace (Air Operation Center - AOC).
- Missile Warning Center - MWC.
- Space Monitoring Center (SCC).
- The NORAD and Space Command Integrated Center (NORAD / USSPACECOM Combined Command Center - CCC).
- Combined Intelligence Watch Center (CWIC).
- The National Center for Awareness of the Civilian Population (National Warning Facility).
Center for the development of software elements of the system (Space and Warning Systems Center).
- Weather Support Center (Weather Support Center).
The command posts of these structures were located in an underground shelter, inside Mount Cheyenne in the state of Colorado. However, approximately 10 years ago after the decommissioning of the AN / FYQ-93 BIUS, the Pentagon leadership revised its views on the role of the command center in Cheyenne Mountain. After decades of service, the underground complex requires huge investments. A significant part of the life support infrastructure needs to be repaired, and the equipment and communication facilities are considered obsolete. In this regard, the main part of the underground command complex in Colorado was put into the "hot reserve" with the ability to quickly enter service.
Flight control aviation and tracking of violators of air borders over the continental territory of the United States assigned to the three control centers of the air situation: Command Post Eastern Sector, Command Post Western Sector and the Central Headquarters of the Aviation Command. The AN / USQ-163 FALCONER hardware is used to communicate and exchange radar information in real time and control the actions of fighter aviation.
The headquarters of the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) is located in New York at Griffis Air Base. The Eastern Command has F-15C / D and F-16C / D 224 th air defense groups at the disposal of the Eastern Command.
The headquarters of the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) is located at Lewis-McCord Air Base, in Washington State. In the subordination of the Western sector are nine fighter squadrons of the National Guard, which operate the F-15C / D and F-16C / D fighters.
The 1 Air Force Command Headquarters (First Air Force - AF 1), which is part of the Air Force Combat Command with headquarters in Langley (Air Combat Command), is located at Tindall Air Force Base in Florida (601-th Center for Aerospace Operations). The command of the 1 Air Force, whose air defense zone of responsibility extends over the continental United States, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, has 8 fighter air regiments and wings. Protection of the airspace of the continental US is mainly assigned to the fighters of the National Guard, on duty at the airfields are a pair of duty personnel and links. For example, the cover of the US capital is provided by the F-16C / D fighters of the 121 squadron from the 113 th wing from the Andrews airbase in 24 km southeast of Washington DC.
Satellite image of Google earth: F-16 121 squadron fighters at Andrews air base near Washington
The main part of the aircraft, which is in service with the aviation units and units of the US National Guard, which is a combat-ready organized reserve of the Air Force, is not new machines. All types of aircraft are in service with the National Guard Air Force, with the exception of strategic bombers. The Fighter Park is near 50 F-15 and more than 200 F-16. The National Guard Air Force has two air bases at its disposal: Otis in Massachusetts and Selfridge in Michigan. Units and subunits are usually based at aerodromes belonging to other aviation commands, as well as at civil airports. In total, more than 100 airfields are used on a permanent or temporary basis to base the National Guard aircraft.
Google Earth satellite image: F-16 ADF fighters at the flight training center at Nellis airbase
In 90, more than 270 F-16А and F-16В were transferred from the Air Force, which were modernized and overhauled in order to improve combat performance and extend service life. It was originally planned to upgrade all the early F-16 with a residual glider resource of more than 1000 hours. However, the end of the Cold War buried these plans, and a significant part of the upgraded fighters was sold abroad.
Upgraded F-16ADF Fighter
Upgraded for use in the air defense units of the National Guard Air Force “Fighting Falcons” of the early series were designated as F-16ADF. The revision of the avionics avionics first of all concerned the modernization of the AN / APG-66 radar in terms of detecting targets with a small reflective surface and providing target illumination for aiming AIM-7 Sparrow missiles at them. In addition, a powerful searchlight was installed on the left side of the aircraft to visually identify the intercepted aircraft at night.
Less numerous heavy F-15C / D fighters were also being upgraded. Aircraft equipped with modern multifunctional indicators and automated information exchange system. This makes it possible for pilots of the “Needles” to interact effectively with ground command posts, AWACS aircraft, as well as among themselves.
F-35A "Lightning II"
The upgraded F-16 and F-15 are supposed to remain in service until the 2025 of the year, after which they will be replaced by the X-NUMX-generation F-5 "Lightning II" fighters, which have already begun to enter service. This decision in the USA is criticized, since Lightning, with a much higher cost in the air defense interceptor version, does not have advantages over a number of 35 fighter jets in terms of a number of characteristics. However, this does not mean that the protection of US airspace is carried out only by fighters built more than 4 years ago. For example, the 20 th fighter regiment of the United States Air Force, deployed at Tyndall air base, is armed with F-325A Raptor 5 generation fighters, which are also involved in air defense missions.
Currently, the F-22A is the most sophisticated American interceptor. The F-22A fighter is capable of making long flights at supersonic speeds (1960 km / h) without the use of an afterburner. Its radar AN / APG-77 with AFAR has an instrumental range of about 500 km, the range of detection of air targets with EPR 1 m² is 200 km. In the fighter version, the Raptor is armed with an 20-mm six-barreled M61A2 Vulcan and air-to-air UR: 6 AIM-120C AMRAAM and 2 AIM-9M Sidewinder. The combat radius in the interceptor version using the cruising supersonic mode is 760 km.
Google Earth satellite image: F-22A Raptor fighters at Nellis airbase
Serial production of the F-22A began in the 2001 year, in ten years it was possible to build the 187 production aircraft. The economic turmoil and the excessively high cost of the aircraft (the cost of producing one aircraft as of 2008 a year was estimated at $ 146,2 million) resulted in the US government refusing further purchases of Raptor and reorienting financial flows to the F-35 program.
A significant part of the "Raptors" in the United States is concentrated at the Nellis air base in Nevada, the first serial F-2003A arrived at the beginning of 22. One of the main functions of the air base is the training of fighter pilots for the USAF and allied countries. Here is the US Air Force Warfare Center. After retraining at Nellis airbase, the F-22A Raptor was the first in the National Guard Air Force to receive the pilots of the 192 Fighter Wing, based at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Satellite image of Google earth: F-22A fighter aircraft at Langley Air Base
During the stay of American aircraft carriers at the berths, the air defense of naval bases is carried out by the F / A-18 carrier-based fighter jets, redeployed to land airfields.
F / A-18
At the moment, the F / A-18E / F Super Hornet fighter-bomber is the most sophisticated US Navy aircraft capable of performing air defense tasks of carrier-based strike forces and naval bases. According to the characteristics of the payload weight and the flight range, the Super Hornet approaches the much heavier F-14 Tomcat, but is inferior to it in maximum speed and flight range. In the flight state, the US Navy's deck air wings have more than 400 F / A-18 fighters of various modifications.
Satellite image of Google earth: F / A-18 fighters at Miramar air base in the vicinity of San Diego
The operations of naval aviation fighters over the United States are controlled by the Navy Air and Missile Defense Command (Navy Air and Missile Defense Command) in cooperation with the Air Force Combat Command.
In addition to directing US air defense forces, the 1 Air Force Command Headquarters coordinates with the Canadian center NORAD. In the past, the Canadian Air Defense Command Center (CADS), known as Iron Mountain, was located at North Bay Air Base, Ontario. Here, in 1963, an underground three-storey command complex was built in granite rocks at a depth of 180 meters, comparable to the NORAD command post in the state of Colorado.
More than $ 51 million was spent on its construction. It is believed that the “Zheleznaya Gora” complex should survive during a ground nuclear explosion with a capacity of 4 Mt. However, at the end of 2006, the underground complex was mothballed, and the leadership of the Canadian NORAD segment was transferred to the surface.
The operations of the Canadian interceptor CF-18 after the closure of the command post in North Bay is carried out from the Winnipeg airbase. In total, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in the three wings has formally listed more than 70 CF-18 fighters, but in reality no more than 58 aircraft fly into the air.
In 1977, the Canadian government announced the launch of a competition for a new RCAF fighter to replace: CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. In addition to the F-18, F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, Panavia Tornado, Mirage 2000, F-16 Fighting Falcon participated in the competition. The finals were American F-16 and F-18. In 1979, an unexpected turn in the competition took place - Canada began negotiations on the possibility of acquiring Iranian F-14A fighter jets with long-range AIM-54A Phoenix missiles. The planes were new, but because of the lack of spare parts they flew little, so the Canadians hoped to get them at a reduced price. But the negotiations were interrupted in 1980, when it became aware of the participation of Canadian intelligence in the rescue of American diplomats captured during the storming of the embassy in Tehran.
In the course of the competition, the French company Dassault refused to further participation for political reasons, and F-14, F-15 and Tornado were rejected because of the high cost. The Canadian Air Force eventually chose the twin-engine fighter, and in addition, the F-18А had a more advanced radar than the F-16А. In 1980, the Hornet of McDonnell-Douglas Corporation was officially declared the winner.
After minor improvements F / A-18 Hornet production McDonnell Douglas was adopted by the Canadian Air Force under the name CF-188. But this name is used only in official military documents, usually use the factory designation - CF-18 Hornet. CF-18 Hornet’s RCAF operations began in 1983. From 1982 to 1988, Canada acquired a total of 138 aircraft: 98 single-seat CF-18A and 40 twin-seat CF-18В. The CF-18 acquisition cost significantly exceeded the original budget and amounted to $ 4 billion in mid-80 prices.
Start UR AIM-7 Sparrow from the board CF-18A
The CF-18 Hornet was the first RCAF fighter capable of carrying AIM-7 Sparrow besides medium-range missile. After upgrading, the aircraft received an AIM-120 AMRAAM SD.
Canadian CF-18А / В slightly differed from the American F / A-18А / В. Canadian fighters installed their own inertial navigation system and other lighting equipment. F / A-18 was originally created as a deck plane. The CF-18 also has a landing brake hook, reinforced chassis and folding wings. This is due to the fact that the Canadian "Hornet" has to operate from airfields located in polar regions of small length, with runways often covered with ice. After 2001, the remaining CF-18 fighters went through a phased upgrade. The aircraft received new communications and navigation equipment, more advanced radar and avionics.
Satellite image of Google earth: CF-18 fighters at Bagotville airfield
Canadian CF-18 on a rotational basis are located in different parts of the country, on the advanced aviation bases of Comox (British Columbia), Gander (Newfoundland), Greenwood (Nova Scotia), Trenton (Ontario) and on airfields in the polar regions of Canada. CF-18 is one of the key elements of the Canadian sector NORAD.
Only from 2001 to 2010 year, CF-18 flew about three thousand times to intercept suspicious aircraft. The Canadian Hornets provided airspace security during the GNUMX X G8 Summit, which was held in Keynanaskis 28-26 in June 27. And in November 2002, they were urgently transferred to Alaska to provide air defense of this northern American state, due to the two-week ban on flying F-2007С / D until the causes of the crash of the American F-15C were established.
In the next decade, CF-18 in the Canadian Air Force should be replaced with CF-35. This fighter will differ from the American F-35A by the presence of a braking parachute required for landing on icy runways and a refueling system similar to that installed on the F-35B / C - using a hose, rather than a barbell, adopted by the US Air Force.
Detection of air targets and guidance of Royal Canadian Air Force fighters is carried out on the basis of data received by four dozen AN / FPS-117 AN and / TPS-70 radars with a detection range of up to 450 km. As part of the modernization of the detection of airborne targets, the acquisition of new American radars - AN / TPS-78 and TPS-703 is envisaged. Currently, negotiations are underway on the preferential supply of new radar equipment, as the Canadian segment of NORAD largely ensures the safety of the United States.
Продолжение следует ...
Based on:
https://www.airforce.com/
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/usaf/acc.htm
http://www.casr.ca/doc-loi-tactical-control-radar.htm
http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-standard.page?doc=virtual-museum-exhibit-about-daily-life-at-canadian-radar-stations/im7ansaq
http://pentagonus.ru/publ/privjaznye_aehrostaty_i_ikh_primenenie/18-1-0-1313
http://www.bobfletcherinvestigations.com/underground-hideouts.html
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