North American Aerospace Defense Command

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"NORAD" redirects here. For other uses, see NORAD (disambiguation).

North American Aerospace Defense Command

Crest of North American Aerospace Defense Command

Founded 12 May 1958

(61 years, 4 months)[1]

Country United States of America

Canada

Type Binational Command

Role The North American Aerospace Defense Command

conducts aerospace warning, aerospace control and

maritime warning in the defense of North America.[2]

Headquarters Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.

Commanders
 Commander General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, USAF[3]

Deputy Lieutenant-General Christopher J. Coats, RCAF

Commander

Chief of Staff Major General Richard J. Gallant, USA

Command Senior SgtMaj Paul McKenna, USMC

Enlisted Leader

NORAD Regions and Sectors

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD /ˈnɔːræd/), known until March 1981 as
the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United
States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection for Northern
America.[4] Headquarters for NORAD and the NORAD/United States Northern
Command (USNORTHCOM) center are located at Peterson Air Force Base in El Paso County,
near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The nearby Cheyenne Mountain Complex has the Alternate
Command Center. The NORAD commander and deputy commander (CINCNORAD) are,
respectively, a United States four-star general or equivalent and a Canadian three-star general or
equivalent.

Contents

 1Organization
o 1.1Alaskan NORAD Region
o 1.2Canadian NORAD Region
o 1.3Continental United States NORAD Region
 2United States outside of NORAD: Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific region
 3History
o 3.11968 reorganization
o 3.2False alarms
o 3.31980 reorganization
o 3.4Post–Cold War
 4In popular culture
o 4.1Movies and television
o 4.2NORAD Tracks Santa
 5See also
 6References
 7External links

Organization[edit]
CINCNORAD maintains the NORAD headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado
Springs, Colorado. The NORAD and USNORTHCOM Command Center at Peterson AFB serves as
a central collection and coordination facility for a worldwide system of sensors designed to provide
the commander and the leadership of Canada and the U.S. with an accurate picture of any
aerospace or maritime threat.[5] NORAD has administratively divided the North American landmass
into three regions:

 Alaska NORAD (ANR) Region - Eleventh Air Force (11 AF)

 Canadian NORAD (CANR) Region - 1 Canadian Air Division (1 Cdn Air Div)
 Continental U.S. (CONR) Region - First Air Force (1 AF/CONR-AFNORTH)
Both the CONR and CANR regions are divided into eastern and western sectors.
Alaskan NORAD Region[edit]
The Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR) maintains continuous capability to detect, validate and warn off
any atmospheric threat in its area of operations from its Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC)
at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.
ANR also maintains the readiness to conduct a continuum of aerospace control missions, which
include daily air sovereignty in peacetime, contingency and deterrence in time of tension, and active
air defense against manned and unmanned air-breathing atmospheric vehicles in times of crisis.
ANR is supported by both active duty and reserve units. Active duty forces are provided by 11 AF
and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and reserve forces provided by the Alaska Air National
Guard. Both 11 AF and the CAF provide active duty personnel to the ROCC to maintain continuous
surveillance of Alaskan airspace.
Canadian NORAD Region[edit]
Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters is at CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was established on 22
April 1983.[6] It is responsible for providing surveillance and control of Canadian airspace. The Royal
Canadian Air Force provides alert assets to NORAD. CANR is divided into two sectors, which are
designated as the Canada East Sector and Canada West Sector. Both Sector Operations Control
Centers (SOCCs) are co-located at CFB North Bay Ontario. The routine operation of the SOCCs
includes reporting track data, sensor status and aircraft alert status to NORAD headquarters. In
1996 CANR was renamed 1 Canadian Air Division and moved to CFB Winnipeg.
Canadian air defense forces assigned to NORAD include 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron at CFB
Cold Lake, Alberta and 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron at CFB Bagotville, Quebec. All squadrons fly
the McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft.[7]
To monitor for drug trafficking,[8] in cooperation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the
United States drug law enforcement agencies, the Canadian NORAD Region monitors all air traffic
approaching the coast of Canada. Any aircraft that has not filed a flight plan may be directed to land
and be inspected by RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency.
Continental United States NORAD Region[edit]
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The Continental NORAD Region (CONR) is the component of NORAD that provides airspace
surveillance and control and directs air sovereignty activities for the Contiguous United
States (CONUS).
CONR is the NORAD designation of the United States Air Force First Air Force/AFNORTH. Its
headquarters is located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. The First Air Force (1 AF) became
responsible for the USAF air defense mission on 30 September 1990. AFNORTH is the United
States Air Force component of United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM).
1 AF/CONR-AFNORTH comprises Air National Guard Fighter Wings assigned an air defense
mission to 1 AF/CONR-AFNORTH on federal orders, made up primarily of citizen Airmen. The
primary weapons systems are the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and General Dynamics F-16
Fighting Falcon aircraft.
It plans, conducts, controls, coordinates and ensures air sovereignty and provides for the unilateral
defense of the United States. It is organized with a combined First Air Force command post at
Tyndall Air Force Base and two Sector Operations Control Centers (SOCC) at Rome, New York for
the US East ROCC (Eastern Air Defense Sector) and McChord Field, Washington for the US West
ROCC (Western Air Defense Sector) manned by active duty personnel to maintain continuous
surveillance of CONUS airspace.
In its role as the CONUS NORAD Region, 1 AF/CONR-AFNORTH also performs counter-drug
surveillance operations.

United States outside of NORAD: Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific

region[edit]
The United States Pacific Command (PACOM) would make the determination that an inbound
missile is a threat to the United States in the Pacific Region. Hawaii is the only state in the United
States with a pre-programmed Wireless Emergency Alert that can be sent quickly to wireless
devices if a ballistic missile is heading toward Hawaii. If the missile is fired from North Korea, the
missile would take approximately 20 minutes to reach Hawaii. PACOM would take less than 5
minutes to make a determination that the missile could strike Hawaii and would then notify
the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA). HI-EMA would issue the Civil
Defense Warning (CDW) that an inbound missile could strike Hawaii and that people should Shelter-
in-Place: Get Inside, Stay Inside, and Stay Tuned. People in Hawaii would have 12 to 15 minutes
before impact. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not required to be notified for
approval to cancel an alert. Signal carriers allow people to block alerts from state and law
enforcement agencies, but not those issued by the President. FEMA can send alerts to targeted
audiences but has not implemented this as of January 2018. Other states can take as long as 30
minutes to create, enter and distribute a missile alert.[9][10] The nationwide system for Wireless
Emergency Alerts to mobile devices was tested for the first time on October 3, 2018.

History[edit]
The North American Air Defense Command was recommended by the Joint Canadian–U.S.
Military Group in late 1956, approved by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in February 1957, and
announced on 1 August 1957.[11] NORAD's command headquarters was established on 12
September 1957 at Ent Air Force Base's 1954 blockhouse.[12] In 1958, Canada and the United States
agreed that the NORAD commander would always be a United States officer, with a Canadian vice
commander, and Canada "agreed the command's primary purpose would be…early warning and
defense for SAC's retaliatory forces."[13]:252 In late 1958, Canada and the United States started
the Continental Air Defense Integration North (CADIN) for the Semi-Automatic Ground
Environment air defense network.[13]:253 The initial CADIN cost-sharing agreement between the two
countries was signed off on 5 January 1959. Two December 1958 plans submitted by NORAD had
"average yearly expenditure of around five and one half billions", including "cost of the accelerated
Nike Zeus program" and three Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) sites.[14]

The 25-ton North blast door in the Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker is the main entrance to another blast
door (background) beyond which the side tunnel branches into access tunnels to the main chambers.

Canada's NORAD bunker at CFB North Bay with a SAGE AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction
Central computer was constructed from 1959 to 1963, and each of the USAF's eight
smaller AN/FSQ-8 Combat Control Central systems provided NORAD with data and could command
the entire United States air defense. The RCAF's 1950 "ground observer system, the Long Range
Air Raid Warning System",[15] was discontinued and on 31 January 1959, the United States Ground
Observer Corps was deactivated.[13]:222 The Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker's planned mission
was expanded in August 1960 to "a hardened center from which CINCNORAD would supervise and
direct operations against space attack as well as air attack"[16] The Secretary of Defense assigned on
7 October 1960, "operational command of all space surveillance to Continental Air Defense
Command (CONAD) and operational control to North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)".[17]
The JCS placed the Ent Air Force Base Space Detection and Tracking System (496L System
with Philco 2000 Model 212 computer)[18] "under the operational control of CINCNORAD on
December 1, 1960";[19] during Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker excavation, and the joint SAC-
NORAD exercise "Sky Shield II"—and on 2 September 1962—"Sky Shield III" were conducted for
mock penetration of NORAD sectors.[20]
NORAD command center operations moved from Ent Air Force Base to the 1963 partially
underground "Combined Operations Center" for Aerospace Defense Command and NORAD[21] at
the Chidlaw Building. President John F. Kennedy visited "NORAD headquarters" after the 5 June
1963 United States Air Force Academy graduation and on 30 October 1964, "NORAD began
manning" the Combat Operations Center in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.[19] By 1965, about
250,000 United States and Canadian personnel were involved in the operation of NORAD,[failed
verification][22]
On 1 January 1966, Air Force Systems Command turned the COC over to NORAD[23] The
NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex was accepted on 8 February 1966.[19]:319
1968 reorganization[edit]
United States Department of Defense realignments for the NORAD command organization began by
15 November 1968 (e.g., Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM))[24] and by 1972, there were
eight NORAD "regional areas ... for all air defense",[25] and the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain
Complex Improvements Program (427M System)[23] became operational in 1979.[26]
False alarms[edit]
On at least three occasions, NORAD systems failed, such as on 9 November 1979, when a
technician in NORAD loaded a test tape, but failed to switch the system status to "test", causing a
stream of constant false warnings to spread to two "continuity of government" bunkers as well as
command posts worldwide.[27] On 3 June 1980, and again on 6 June 1980, a computer
communications device failure caused warning messages to sporadically flash in U.S. Air Force
command posts around the world that a nuclear attack was taking place.[28] During these
incidents, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) properly had their planes (loaded with nuclear bombs) in the
air; Strategic Air Command (SAC) did not and received criticism[by whom?], because they did not follow
procedure, even though the SAC command knew these were almost certainly false alarms, as did
PACAF.[citation needed] Both command posts had recently begun receiving and processing direct reports
from the various radar, satellite, and other missile attack detection systems, and those direct reports
simply did not match the erroneous data received from NORAD.[citation needed]
1980 reorganization[edit]

The North Warning System as envisioned by Canada and the US in 1987.

NORAD/USNORTHCOM Alternate Command Center prior to the Cheyenne Mountain Realignment.[29]

Following the 1979 Joint US-Canada Air Defense Study, the command structure for aerospace
defense was changed, e.g., "SAC assumed control of ballistic missile warning and space
surveillance facilities" on 1 December 1979 from ADCOM.[30]:48 The Aerospace Defense Command
major command ended 31 March 1980. and its organizations in Cheyenne Mountain became the
"ADCOM" specified command under the same commander as NORAD,[21] e.g., HQ NORAD/ADCOM
J31 manned the Space Surveillance Center. By 1982, a NORAD Off-site Test Facility[31] was located
at Peterson AFB.[32] The DEW Line was to be replaced with the North Warning System (NWS);
the Over-the-Horizon Backscatter (OTH-B) radar was to be deployed; more advanced fighters were
deployed, and E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft were planned for greater use. These recommendations
were accepted by the governments in 1985. The United States Space Command was formed in
September 1985 as an adjunct, but not a component of NORAD.
NORAD was renamed North American Aerospace Defense Command in March 1981.
Post–Cold War[edit]
In 1989 NORAD operations expanded to cover counter-drug operations, for example, tracking of
small aircraft entering and operating within the United States and Canada.[33] DEW line sites were
replaced between 1986 and 1995 by the North Warning System. The Cheyenne Mountain site was
also upgraded, but none of the proposed OTH-B radars are currently in operation.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the NORAD Air Warning Center's mission "expanded to
include the interior airspace of North America."[34]
The Cheyenne Mountain Realignment[35] was announced on 28 July 2006, to consolidate NORAD's
day-to-day operations at Peterson Air Force Base[36] with Cheyenne Mountain in "warm standby"
staffed with support personnel.