NORAD Control Center

Not to be confused with the combined NORAD/ADC command centers in the Colorado Springs area from 1957: Ent AFB; the Chidlaw Building; Cheyenne Mountain Complex; or for NORAD/NORTHCOM, Peterson AFB.
NORAD Control Center
Alternative names
  • Joint Manual Direction Center
  • Joint Fire Direction Center
  • NORAD sector direction center
General information
StatusDefunct
TypeMilitary installation
CountryUnited States
OwnerNorth American Air Defense Command

NORAD Control Centers (NCCs) were Cold War "joint direction centers"[2] for command, control, and coordination of ground-controlled interception by both USAF Air Defense Command (ADC) and Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM). The Joint Manual Steering Group was "formed by the Army and Air Force in July 1957 to support…collocation"[3] of USAF Air Defense Direction Centers and Army Air Defense Command Posts, which began after a January 28, 1958, ADC/ARADCOM meeting with NORAD to "collocate the Fairchild-Geiger facilities" (operations began[specify] on May 15, 1958.)[2] Army contracts for 5 NCCs had been let by August 17, 1958, after 1956 DoD approval for collocation of interim "pre-SAGE semiautomatic intercept systems" and radar squadrons at 10 planned Army Missile Master AADCPs[2] (the remaining 5 Missile Master bunkers of the Joint Use Site System (JUSS) were delayed until the Missile Master Plan[4] resolved the BOMARC/NIKE surface-to-air missile dispute.)[5]

  1. ^ Missile Master… (field manual), vol. FM44-1, United States Army, February 1963
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference NORAD1958B was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference NORAD1959 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "The Windsor Daily Star - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved Feb 12, 2023.
  5. ^ "To Congress Today: Missile Master Plan is Readied" (Google News Archive). Sarasota Herald Tribune. June 12, 1959. Retrieved 2011-09-20. (Windsor Daily Star article: Peek Slated At Missile Master Plan Retrieved 2011-09-28)