Radar station personnel monitored systems (e.g., local radars and remote radars at gap-filler annexes) and at most radar stations, used CDTS equipment such as the antenna control unit and the Range Height Indicator—CDTS range precision was . Also part of the SAGE Air Defense System were radar stations in sectors with Manual Control Centers which provided radar tracks by voice communication, and fourth floor consoles of SAGE Direction Centers in adjacent sectors could input those stations' tracks in the "Manual Inputs" room adjacent to the "Communication Recording-Monitoring and VHF" room. Squadrons at some radar stations were the parent organizations for detachments at other stations, e.g., the
666th RADSQ at
Mill Valley Z-38 was the parent of Detachment 2 at the
Mather AFB radar station, and the 771st RADSQ at Cape Charles Z-56 was responsible for three gap-filler annexes in Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina. Most radar stations were part of the preceding Permanent System and some SAGE stations had
Ground Air Transmit Receive (GATR) equipment for radioing
command guidance by
TDDL automated data link to autopilots of equipped interceptors for vectoring to targets the former SAGE barracks used for the McChord AFB museum, and the antenna tower, building, and Cold War era radar equipment which have survived nearly completely intact at the
Saugatuck gap filler annex.
SAGE upgrades Air Defense Command radar squadrons were renamed as personnel were assigned with training for the automated CDTS, e.g., the "
609th Radar Squadron (SAGE)" was designated on September 1, 1958:154 (originally an
AC&W Sq). The
Air Defense Command reorganization when the SAGE System was deployed included the redesignation of Air Divisions to Air Defense Sectors in 1959, e.g., the
27th Air Division was renamed between February 1, 1959 and April 1, 1966, as the
Los Angeles Air Defense Sector (LAADS) followed by the inactivation of units such as the Air Defense Forces (
Western,
Central, and
Eastern, on July 1, 1960) and some
Numbered Air Forces (e.g.,
Fourth Air Force, September 1, 1960). Radar station tracks were used for 1958
CIM-10 "BOMARC test firings at
Patrick,
Gunter, and
McGuire", and a SAGE Radar Station was used for the first Bomarc intercept of a
Cape Canaveral drone on August 7, 1958. A few SAGE radar stations provided radar tracks for use with the eight operational Bomarc complexes, e.g., for 28
Upper Peninsula launch shelters ("
Kincheloe AFB BOMARC site"),
56 shelters in New Jersey (operational September 1, 1959), and 56
Long Island shelters (
SAGE codename "BED") near the "FOX" mainland site. Of the eight Permanent System stations that closed from 1959 to 1964 with squadrons relocating to stations with "RP" designations, two were the last remaining stations with the "LP" designation: (
Elkhorn LP-31/RP-31F and
Blue Knob LP-63). From 1959 to 1962, three NORAD radar stations were added for the SAGE Radar Network (i.e., after the third semi-mobile phase of the Permanent System):
Key West Z-209,
Richmond Z-210,
Patrick Z-211 in 1962. One SAGE radar station also provided gap-filler radar coverage for Nike Hercules:
San Pedro Hill Z-39 (RP-39) for the 1963–74
Integrated Fire Control area of
Malibu Nike battery LA-78 on
San Vicente Mtn. A few Permanent System stations continued operations without being redesignated with Z-xx "NORAD identification codes", e.g.,
1952 Duncanville P-79 until 1964,
1958 Cottonwood SM-150 until 1965, and
1948 Hamilton P-48 until 1973. In 1963 when NORAD/ADC command operations moved from Ent AFB to the nearby
Chidlaw Building's
Combined Operations Center with SAGE-automation, on July 31 the SAGE radar stations were redesignated with the Z-xx codes. Some sector assignments were redesignated (e.g.,
Watertown AFS was assigned from the 1958
Syracuse Air Defense Sector to the
Boston Air Defense Sector on September 4, 1963) and by the end of 1963 nearly all of the
Permanent System radar stations not used for SAGE had closed. In 1966, Chidlaw Building operations transferred to the
Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker, SAGE's first
BUIC II II
CCCS was deployed (
North Truro Z-10), and NORAD/ADC reorganized the Air Defense Sectors back to Air Divisions.
JUSS radar stations The
joint-use site system (JUSS) was completed after the 1959 Missile Master Plan resolved the
surface-to-air missile (SAM) dispute: both the US Army and USAF SAMs would be deployed and their computers were integrated with each CCCS netting the USAF sector or Army region radar stations. The SAGE System used crosstelling of "SAGE reference track data" from the BOMARC AN/FSQ-7 to the NIKE Hercules
AN/FSG-1's "two surveillance and entry consoles", and the nine bunker sites had been selected by June 1957 for coordinating Army batteries' intercept of targets within an interior NIKE Defense Area of the USAF sector. Deployment of JUSS resulted in several "LP" Permanent System stations closing, and the squadrons relocated to new JUSS "RP" radar stations at most of the nine sites where Army
Missile Master bunkers were being constructed through December 14, 1960. Construction of the
Highlands Army Air Defense Site for NY-55DC (fourth AN/FSQ-7) began adjacent to the 1948
Highlands P-9 to use the existing equipment as "Missile Master organic radars" and in 1961, the
770th Radar Squadron at
Palermo LP-54 moved to the existing
Ft Meade Nike
AADCP (W-13DC with USAF RP-54 designation). Squadrons moving to new JUSS radar stations included the
635th RADSQ on May 15, 1960, to the first completed Missile Master bunker (
Fort Lawton Air Force Station SE-90DC, January 21, 1960), and two JUSS installations used geographically separate radar stations and Missile Master bunkers: the new
San Pedro Hill RP-39 was TBD miles from the Ft MacArthur bunker (completed December 1960), and the new
Gibbsboro RP-63 in 1961 later provided 1966 radar tracks to replace the Nike radars at
Pedricktown PH-64DC, away. As at San Pedro Hill (ARSR-tbd), the JUSS radar station at Fort Heath B-21DC (the third FSG-1 and second bunker completed 1960) also had a 1959
ARSR-1 radar of the
FAA in addition to two USAF and two Army height finder radars.
Locations ;Codes for Aerospace Defense Command radar stations in the United States •
LP-xx designates Permanent System stations using older radar equipment instead of radars deployed at "P-xx" stations •
P-xx designates "Priority Permanent System" stations completed by May 1952 •
RP-xx designates a replacement of one of the permanent stations •
M-xx designates an initial a station of the 1953-7 semi-mobile radar program •
SM-xx designates a station of the 1954–62 "second phase mobile radar program" •
TM-xx designates a station of the 1957–60 "third phase mobile radar program" •
TT-x designates the Texas Towers, radar tower rigs off the East Coast. •
Z-xx is the NORAD identification code ;Codes for Aerospace Defense Command radar stations outside the United States •
C-xx sites on the Canadian
Pinetree Line assigned to ADC •
G-xx sites in
Greenland established by
Northeast Air Command (NEAC) reassigned to ADC, redesignated as
C-xx sites. •
H-xx sites in
Iceland established by
Military Air Transport Service or NEAC reassigned to ADC. •
N-xx Pinetree Line sites in
Canada transferred from NEAC to ADC in 1957, redesignated as
C-xx sites. ==Replacement==