Airborne Launch Control System: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 22:51, 25 February 2010

The United States' Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS) is a method of assured command and control of nuclear weapons, specifically ICBMs and SLBMs. With land-based ICBMs, the ALCS has the unique capability to retarget and launch the missiles without the interaction of the missile combat crew (MCC).

Overview

In the mid-1960s, United States civilian and military leadership became concerned about the possibility of a decapitating attack from the Soviets, destroying any land-based communication links to the nuclear forces of the Strategic Air Command. One solution to the communication problem was placing radio equipment onboard an aircraft, and allow it to fly over the United States and use radio broadcasts to pass along information . This concept would allow communcation to missile launch crews to pass along Emergency Action Messages (EAMs), but would not duplicate the missile combat crew's function of actually launching the missiles. The key characteristic added to ALCS (versus other communication methods such as ERCS) was giving the airborne crews the same degree of access to the launch facilities as the underground missile crews.

Minuteman launch facilities contained an ultra high frequency (UHF) receiver, that would pick up commands from the ALCS; the destruction of the launch control center or the hardenend intersite cable system would not prevent retaliation.