SCCs were to be able to withstand 200 psi (1,400 kPa) overpressure[2] as from a nuclear explosion. Some caverns were to be excavated in mountains: Kennesaw Mountain GA and Whitehorse Mountain NY[3] for the Raleigh and Syracuse sectors, respectively. In 1956, ARDC had sponsored "development of a transistorized…computer" by IBM and in June 1958, the "SAGE Solid State Computer…was estimated to have a computing capability of seven times" the AN/FSQ-7.[1] ADC's November 1958 plan to field—by April 1964—the 13 solid state AN/FSQ-7A[1] (designated AN/FSQ-32 after December 1958) was for divisions at Ottawa, St Louis, San Antonio, Raleigh, Syracuse, Chicago, Spokane, Minot, Portland, Phoenix, and 3 above-ground sites for Miami, Albuquerque, and Shreveport divisions.[1] By December 1959 an SCC was also planned for the 26th Air Division (Denver Air Defense Sector).[2]
DoD's June 19, 1959, Continental Air Defense Program reduced the number of SCCs to 7 and on December 9, 1959, the USAF eliminated both the SCC for the Denver sector and the Albuquerque sector's above-ground AN/FSQ-32.[2] On December 21, 1959, the Office of Defense Research and Engineering informed NORAD a stop order had been placed on AN/FSQ-32 production and in January 1960, the Office of the Secretary of Defense recommended the SCC program be canceled[2] (cancellation was March 18, 1960.)[2]
The canceled SAGE SCC/DC planned for the 35th NORAD Region/Ottawa Air Defense Sector was replaced with the only vacuum tube AN/FSQ-7 deployed underground. Construction of CFB North Bay for the Ottawa sector had started in 1959[specify] for a bunker ~700 feet (210 m) underground, and the facility was used for DC-31 (operational October 1, 1963)[4] (3 AN/FSQ-8 Combat Centers were operational in 1963.) To replace the GCI contingency capability that SCCs would have provided when an AN/FSQ-7 Direction Center and its neighboring DCs had been incapacitated, Air Defense Command deployed pre-SAGE General Electric AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Groups at NORAD Control Centers and other dispersed sites for Back-Up Interceptor Control.
- ^ a b c d e f NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary: July–December 1958,
In September 1956, CONAD proposed to the JCS the collocation of the Missile Master and the Air Force's AN/GPA-37 in ten areas. The Office of the Secretary of Defense concurred on 30 October 1956.
- ^ a b c d e f NORAD CONAD Historical Summary: July–December 1959,
On 18 March 1960, the JCS advised NORAD that they had approved cancellation of the SCC program for the U.S.
- ^ Page, Thomas E. (June 16, 2009). "IBM SAGE" (anecdotal message post). Ed-Thelen.org. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
A number of Super-SAGE Combat Centers (AN/FSQ-32) were planned, but none was built. Most were to have built underground… White Horse Mountain near West Point, NY… One prototype Q-32 was installed at the IBM programming center in Santa Monica, CA.
(T. E. Page cites: Shield of Faith by Bruce Briggs (Simon and Schuster, 1988.)
- ^ Hazlitt, Tom (June 5, 1963). "The Evolution In Air Defense: NORAD Looks For A Place To Hide". The Calgary Herald. Southam News Services. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
The North Bay SAGE centre is the only one on the continent to be fully "hardened", or constructed underground.