United Kingdom Air Defence OVERVIEW OF UKASACS WHY DO WE NEED AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM? STAXTON ROMAN BEACON 376AD PROTECT AIR SPACE - MONITOR & CONTROL WHEN DID IT ALL START? A Brief History

Typical East Coast CH Site Air Ministry Experimental Station (AMES), Research in Microwave Radar, Initial Air Defence System a series Latticed Masts Known As CHAIN HOME 1937 Bawdsey - First Chain Home Station. Range was about 80 miles but had no bearing. Comprised of four masts about 350 feet high. Used the AMES type 1 1938 Five Stations - Using triangulation method now able to deduce bearing. One central control Station set up to co-ordinate air response. Provide Ground Controlled Interception. Radar - RAdio Detection and Ranging Chain Home Latticed Masts

Requirement for Development 1939/40 22 Stations – CHAIN HOME Many changes have taken place over the years. From the 1940’s Chain Home network to present day UK Air Defence. 1938 RAF exercises demonstrated that low-flying aircraft could escape detection completely. Significant gaps in its low level cover below about 2000ft Requirement for Development 1939/40 22 Stations – From the Isle of Wight along the south and east coast to the Orkneys spaced about 30 miles apart giving 150 mile range. UK now split into sectors, each controlling their own aircraft. in August 1939, on Watson-Watt's recommendation, the Air Ministry ordered 24 CD Costal Defence sets from Pye Radio with the intention of placing one at each CH site. These stations became known as Chain Home Low (CHL) stations and the equipment as AMSE Radar Type 2. The 1940’s Chain Home – look at all the stations we had then – Staxton Wold & Neatishead are the only ones still going

Ground Controlled Interception Operators could direct our aircraft to within 5 miles of an intercept which was OK on sunny days or clear nights but not when it was dark or bad weather. The only accurate way then was to point the radar at the target and guide the interceptor down its beam but this had the problem of tying up a radar (Type A Display) In the June of 1940 the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) built the first Plan Position Indicator (PPI). This had the advantage of allowing the operators to accurately guide the interceptors to their targets. Even if there was an offset in the display the offset was the same for all returns The PPI is the rotational screen that we all recognise from the war films there the returns are shown by a “bright up” however they do not go BING or BLEEP every sweep PPI Data relayed to Reporting Rooms in Bunker

There were also mobile radars to give further support ROTOR – Post WW2 During the early 50s under the code name ROTOR a new type of purpose built radar sites at Neatishead, Bawdsey, Patrington, Boulmer, and Buchan were re-engineered with amongst others type 14 EF band search, type 13 EF band height finders and American lease lend radars being fed into steel and concrete earth covered bunkers called R3s. These were built because the thinking was that any war would have a conventional build-up before nuclear weapons were used. Extending the area covered by the systems were Soft Rotor sites both between these sites and around the coastline of the UK There were also mobile radars to give further support Type 13 and 14 Radars

BERLIN AIRLIFT However during the Berlin airlift some were re-opened and it was discovered that most of the equipment required major refurbishment but also most of the C2 (Command & Control) abilities had been lost therefore it was decided to revamp this countries Air Defences

ROTOR ROTOR series Ops Room Once again data sent to central control centres Under Ground Ops Room in R3 Bunker Bunkers Were well disguised! ROTOR series Ops Room

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, war was averted. In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.

Protect the V Force for retaliation (Vulcan, Valiant and Victor). Tripwire Response We moved into the 60’s with what was known as the tripwire response Cuban missile crisis Nuclear pre-emptive strike. FYLINGDALES The principle radars of the linesman system were the type 84 and 85 with other units still using the type 80 Saxa Vord was one they were supplemented by the NATCS mediator system Master radar has one radar at a site with all others supplementing it. The idea was that the another radar could follow the master by 180 degrees thus a target would be detected twice per sweep. Protect the V Force for retaliation (Vulcan, Valiant and Victor). As mentioned previously all Command & Control was carried out at West Drayton. So most of what we last talked about was because of the changing threat that was now perceived to be from the Soviet Union and her allies and specifically from nuclear weapons. RAF and USAF operated American THOR missiles with all warheads targeting Warsaw pact countries The THOR system was controlled by RAF bomber command consisting of 4 wings each with 5 squadrons with each sqn having 3 ICBMs totalling 60 ICBM Early Warning Console Position

Air Defence Radar Stations (New RADARS;- T84, T85, HF 200, HSAPD, SSR 750) All 3 sites had exactly the same set up, and all of the data was sent to West Drayton via BT Microwave link Highly Centralised, Radar Data Processing System (RDPS), High level of redundancy, Automation, Anti-jamming. The idea behind plan ahead scheme was to utilise developments in computer and data processing, and even anticipated developments. The main points were. All control and processing carried out at one location. West Drayton system was called RDPS which consisted of 20 computers connected together, Two central control centres each able to take full control Intercept control automated fighters on direct line prior to take off then via high power G-A comms, only final stage was manual. All radars on same band but used different freq therefore any jamming would have to be over a wide spectrum. Type 84 Radar

Air Defence Radar Stations The recognised air picture was a digital picture display covering an area of 2048sq miles from the UK to the Faroe Islands This picture was sent to all the AD units and the name became the recognised air picture dissemination system All participating agencies were linked together on a ring system where all terminals had at least 2 routes they also had a system for manually inputting additional data. The system was then called Enhanced recognised air picture dissemination system ERAPDS Type 85 Radar

R3 Ops Rooms

UNI Consoles & Upgrades 1992 UKADR – UKADGE - ICCS (Uni Con DDN & DHS) BOXER & UNITER Comms Between sites IMPROVED IUKADGE - MID LIFE UP GRADE A Complete replacement for all systems EVENTUALLY Back to UKADGE - NO Longer Improved - Started to Contract out Servicing & Maintenance UKADGE Capability Maintenance Program (UCMP) Upgrading program to UKADGE Replace ICCS servicing costs of Consoles £1,000,000 ea 44 X 3 main site Buchan, Boulmer, Neatishead UKASACS _ Making ready for modernisation NOW UKASACS Command Control System UCCS VCS CCS etc…

UKADR The UK Air Defence Region is a region of air space, around the United Kingdom The region is 2048 square miles covering the United Kingdom and Faroe Islands. We said one of the functions was to identify intrusions into the UK Air Defence Air Space or UK Air Defence Region as we call it. During War or Conflict UKADR 1st Click – Map of UK 2nd Click – AD region around UK 3rd Click – Shows region around UK 4th Click – Gives size of region. The systems required to control this region will be covered during the next lesson.

Features of an Air Defence Radar 3 Dimensional Cover. Long Range Detection. Good Clutter Rejection. Secondary Surveillance Radar.

Features of an Air Defence Radar Display Facilities Communication Facilities Ground to Air Telephones Data Links Time & Position - Global Position System. Maintainability - Line Replaceable Unit.

T101 Radar System Antenna

Radar Management Cabin T101 Radar System Radar Management Cabin

Display Workshop Cabin T101 Radar System Display Workshop Cabin

Power Distribution Cabin T101 Radar System Power Distribution Cabin

T101 Radar System Generator Cabins

T101 Main Features Frequency Band Bandwidth Frequency Agility 2.7-3.1 GHz Bandwidth 400 MHz Frequency Agility 32 Different User Frequencies. Instrumented Range 254 nautical miles

Type 101 Located at: Portreath Kirton in Lindsey 1 Air Control Center (1ACC) 3D radar - range, bearing, height E/F band - 2.7 - 3.1Ghz range 254nm (effective listening range)

UKASACS Air Defence Radar Sites BENBECULA BUCHAN BRIZLEE WOOD THE T101 IS LOCATED AT PORTEATH 1 Air Control Center (1ACC) is located at Kirton in Lindsey. It was planned that it would eventually move into RAF Scampton. 1ACC normally has no input into ASACS. BRIZLEE WOOD STAXTON WOLD TRIMINGHAM PORTREATH KIRTON IN LINDSEY

T101 Main Features Pulse Duration Compressed Pulse Length 400 ns Rotation Speed / Scan Speed 6 rpm Pulse Repetition Interval 854.4 to 3351.6 ms

T101 Main Features Positional Accuracy at 220Km (118nM) Range 48m. Azimuth. 0.22 . Height. 2,400 feet

T101 Main Features Elevation Coverage Radio Frequency (RF) Power 0 to 20 with Electronic tilt offset ranging from -2 to +5.75. Radio Frequency (RF) Power 200 kW (Spot Frequency). 150 kW (Across the full frequency spread). 5.48 kW Mean (4% duty cycle).

UKASACS Air Defence Radar Sites BENBECULA BUCHAN BRIZLEE WOOD THE T101 IS LOCATED AT PORTEATH 1 Air Control Center (1ACC) is located at Kirton in Lindsey. It was planned that it would eventually move into RAF Scampton. 1ACC normally has no input into ASACS. BRIZLEE WOOD STAXTON WOLD TRIMINGHAM PORTREATH KIRTON IN LINDSEY

Display Facilities Transmit Inhibit Sectors (TIS). Tracking. Intercept Geometry.

Display Facilities Radar Monitoring & Control. UKASACS Link Filter Areas (LFA). Simulation.