'''Backup Interceptor Control''' (BUIC, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|juː|ᵻ|k}}{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}}) was the Electronic Systems Division 416M System to backup the SAGE 416L System in the United States and Canada. BUIC deployed Cold War command, control, and coordination systems to SAGE radar stations to create dispersed NORAD Control Centers.
{| class="wikitable sortable" align="right" |+ Back-Up Interceptor Control sites<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/findunits.php?sitetype=BUIC |title=Air Defense Radar Stations - sitetype=BUIC |publisher=Radomes.org |access-date=9 November 2014 }}</ref> |- ! Station !! Location !!BUIC I!! BUIC II !! BUIC III |- | Baudette AFS<ref>{{cite web|title=Baudette Air Force Station - A Brief History|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/BaudetteAFSMN692Hist.html}}</ref> || Minnesota || || || 1968 |- | Belleville AFS || Illinois || || || |- | Blaine AFS || Washington || || || |- | Boron AFS || California || || || |- | Calumet Air Force Station<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/data/newsletters/665th.jpg|title=665th RS in Copper Country|newspaper=The Patriot|date=28 September 1979|publisher=23rd Norad Air Division|location=Duluth}}</ref> || Michigan || || || yes |- | Cape Charles Air Force Station ||Virginia || || ?? || |- | Charleston Air Force Station<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/CharlestonAFSME.html |title=Welcome Brochure 765th Radar Squadron Charleston AFS, ME |publisher=Furbush-Roberts Printing Company |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> || Maine || 3/1963 || 3/1966 || 12/1969 |- | Fallon Air Force Station || Nevada || || || yes |- | Finland AFS || Minnesota || || yes || |- | Fortuna AFS || North Dakota || || || |- | Fort Fisher AFS || North Carolina || || || yes |- | Fort Meade radar station || Maryland || yes || || |- | Fortuna Air Force Station || North Dakota || yes || || yes |- | Havre AFS || Montana || || || yes |- | Hutchinson AFS || Kansas || || || |- | Keno AFS || Oregon || || || yes |- | Kirksville AFS || Missouri || || || |- | Makah AFS || Washington || until 3/1966 || || |- | Manassas AFS || Virginia || || || |- | Montauk AFS || New York || || yes || |- | Mount Laguna AFS<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/MountLagunaAFSCA1970size.html |title=Radar Station Grows In Size |newspaper=San Diego Union |date=April 12, 1970 |author=Betty Lubrano |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> || California || || || yes |- | North Bend AFS<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/NorthBendAFSORhist60s.html |title=Squadron History |author=US Air Force |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> || Oregon || 12/1962 || yes || |- | North Truro AFS<ref name="truro">{{cite journal|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/NorthTruroAFSMACED0967.html|title=North Truro Air Force Station|journal=Communications & Electronics Digest|date=Sep 1967|pages=24–25|publisher=Air Defense Command}}</ref> || Massachusetts || 1963 || 9/1965 || yes |- | Olathe AFS || Kansas || || || |- | Osceola AFS || Wisconsin || || || |- | Othello AFS<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/OthelloAFSWAarticles.html |title=637th Radar Sqdn., Othello AFS, WA |newspaper=Othello Outlook |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> || Washington || Yes || || Yes |- | Palermo AFS<ref>{{cite news|title=Second BUIC Facility Joins NORAD Net|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p6EhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EZoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6398,4639985&dq=sage+center+norad&hl=en|newspaper=Reading Eagle|date=10 November 1965}}</ref> || New Jersey || || 10/1965 || |- | Port Austin AFS<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/PortAustinAFSMIhistory.html |title=Port Austin AFS, MI History |author=US Air Force |publisher=Radomes.org |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> || Michigan || || 1965 || 1968 |- | Rockville AFS || Indiana || || || |- | Saint Albans AFS || Vermont || || || |- | Saratoga Springs AFS<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/656CED67-1.jpg |title=Communications & Electronics Digest |publisher=Air Defense Command |date=September 1967 |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> || New York || until 1965 || || |- | Tyndall Air Force Base || Florida || || yes || yes |- | Watertown AFS || New York || || || |- | Waverly AFS || Iowa || || || |- | RCAF Station St. Margarets ||New Brunswick || yes || yes || yes |- | CFS Senneterre{{Citation needed|reason=Not found in Radoms.org BUIC sites list.|date=November 2014}} || Quebec || || || yes |} {{align|right| {{Expand list|date=March 2013}} }} __TOC__
==Background== Prior to the SAGE Direction Centers becoming operational, the USAF deployed data link systems at NORAD Control Centers with ground computers for controlling crewed interceptors. After SAGE IBM AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Centrals became operational and the Super Combat Centers with improved (digital) computers were cancelled, a backup to SAGE was planned<ref>{{Cite report |type=minutes |url=http://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/45992/MC665_r14_6M-3797.pdf |publisher=Lincoln Laboratory Division 6 |title=Biweekly Report for 29 July 1955 |volume=Memorandum 6M-3797 |access-date=2013-07-25 |quote=The Systems Office has obtained more detailed information about the Radar Course Directing Group, AN/GPA-37, at a symposium held at RADC on 26 and 27 July. The GPA-37 is intended for backup air defense for SAGE and will be operated at the Heavy Radar P-sites in the Zone of Interior.}}</ref> in the event the above-ground SAGE Air Defense Direction Center failed.
==General Electric AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Group== BUIC began with deployment of General Electric AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Groups to several Long Range Radar stations. Units designated included the "U.S. Air Force 858th Air Defense Group (BUIC) [which became] a permanent operating facility" at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.<ref>{{Cite report |date=February 2002 |title=Archives Search Report Findings: Dixie Valley Bombing Target No. 21 }}</ref>
==BUIC II== '''BUIC II''' was used to command and control sites using the Burroughs AN/GSA-51 Radar Course Directing Group. North Truro AFS became the first ADC installation configured for BUIC II.<ref name="ww 44">{{cite book|last=Winkler|first=David F.|author2=Webster, Julie L|title=Searching the skies: The legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program|url= http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bn/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 |year=1997|publisher=US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories|location=Champaign, IL|page=44|lccn=97020912}}{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
==BUIC III== The '''AN/GYK-19'''<ref name=RadomesBuic>{{cite web|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/buic.html |title=NORAD Back-Up Intercept Control (BUIC) Sites |publisher=Radomes.org |date=1981-09-02 |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> (initially AN/GSA-51A) was an upgraded version of the BUIC II system designated AN/GSA-51A<ref name=Tyndall>{{cite journal|title=BUIC III at Tyndall|journal=Communications & Electronics Digest|date=August 1968|pages=19–21|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/TyndallAFBFLBUIC68.html|publisher=Air Defense Command}}</ref> and required a larger building than the AN/GSA-51. The first BUIC III site was Fort Fisher AFS,<ref name=RadomesBuic/> and Air Defense Command's was first installed at Fort Fisher Air Force Station, North Carolina.<ref>{{cite news|title=First BUIC Site Opens: Ft. Fisher first in ADC To Get New Defense System|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/FortFisherAFSNCTCSBUIC-IIIopens1969.html|newspaper=The Command Post|location=Stewart AFB, NY|date=January 1969}}</ref>
Although more advanced systems were contemplated, the final design of the BUIC III system was an upgraded version of the BUIC II with around twice the performance.<ref name="skies">{{cite book|title=Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program|publisher=CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING RESEARCH LAB (ARMY)|author1=Winkler, David F. |author2=Webster, Julie L |url=http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA331231|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201202922/http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA331231|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 1, 2012}}</ref>
thumb|BUIC III at North Turro AFS shortly before shutdown December 1973. Background l->r Cabinets Memory 5&6, Memory 7&8, Computer 1, Computer 2. Foreground: Status Display Console, Teletype. Cabinets are about 3' wide, 3' deep, & 7' high
==Closure and upgrade== In 1972, the USAF decided to shut down most of the BUIC sites; most of the sites mothballed by 1974, except for the BUIC III site at Tyndall Air Force Base.<ref name="skies" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/showsite.php?site=St+Margarets+AS,+NB,+CN&squadron=21+RCAF&country=CN |title=Air Defense Radar Stations |publisher=Radomes.org |access-date=2013-03-02}}</ref> In Canada the BUIC site at Senneterre was shut down, but St Margarets remained open. The remaining sites were closed between 1983-1984 when SAGE was replaced by the Joint Surveillance System.
The '''AN/FYQ-47 Common Digitizer''' for the Joint Surveillance System, and the Radar Video Data Processor (RVDP) was a combined system for the Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), it replaced the SAGE Burroughs AN/FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitting Sets.<ref name="Tyndall" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/buic.htm AN/GSA-51 Back Up Interceptor Control System (BUIC)] at Federation of American Scientists * [http://www.smecc.org/burroughs_buic_-__an_gsa-51__sage_backup.htm Burroughs BUIC - AN/GSA-51 SAGE Backup] at [http://www.smecc.org/ Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation]
{{USAF system codes}}
Category:Computer systems of the United States Air Force Category:Computer networks