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| Heritage > 1960s-1970s |
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With the Cold War well underway, in 1959 the Defense Department approved the development of a system to track both space objects and incoming Soviet missiles. In the early 1960s, this led to the construction of three Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) radars, based at Thule AB, Greenland; Clear AFS, Alaska; and RAF Fylingdales, England. Other radar systems were developed to track the growing number of space objects and debris orbiting the Earth.
The Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 heightened America's awareness of the growing nuclear threat. To blunt the Soviet's resolve during the crisis, President Kennedy placed the first group of Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) on alert at Malmstrom AFB, Montana. Some sources state that President Kennedy later called these missiles his "ace in the hole" against the Soviets.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the United States and Soviet Union began deploying Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM). The Air Force began construction on a new generation of radar networks to provide North America early warning against this new threat. By the late 1980s, Precision Acquisition Vehicle Entry Phased Array Warning System (PAVE PAWS) radars at Cape Cod AFS, Massachusetts, and Beale AFB, California, joined the ballistic missile early warning radar network. The US Army also transferred its Perimeter Acquisition Radar Characterization System at Cavalier AFS, North Dakota, to the Air Force to serve as an additional SLBM and ICBM early warning radar. These systems, augmented by other radars and optical sensors, provided the means to catalog and monitor the ever-increasing satellite population and space debris in orbit around the earth.
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