Norad And The Soviet Nuclear Threat

Explore the history of the Canadian air defence of North America during the Cold War. NORAD and the Soviet Nuclear Threat is the history of the air defence of Canada during the Cold War era. The reader is taken into the Top Secret world of NORAD, the joint Canadian-American North American Air Defence network. Ride along with the aircrew in their cockpit as they fight an electronic joust in the skies. Go deep underground to the Command Centre as the Air Weapons controllers plot the air war on their radar screens. Visit the radar sites deep in the Canadian bush as they struggle to provide the radar data for an electronic air battle happening overhead. An actual NORAD exercise on 10 May 1973, called Amalgam Mute, is used as an example. This exercise tested that NORAD was honouring its motto: Deter, Detect, Destroy, and was protecting North America from aerial threat. There is an extensive explanation of the aircraft, squadrons, weapons, radar, and radar sites involved. Included are two personal accounts of the first interception of a Soviet "Bear" bomber off the coast of Canada, and the first Canadian fighter interceptor pilot to win the coveted United States Air Force "Top Gun" award.

Explore the history of the Canadian air defence of North America during the Cold War. NORAD and the Soviet Nuclear Threat is the history of the air defence of Canada during the Cold War era. The reader is taken into the Top Secret world of NORAD, the joint Canadian-American North American Air Defence network. Ride along with the aircrew in their cockpit as they fight an electronic joust in the skies. Go deep underground to the Command Centre as the Air Weapons controllers plot the air war on their radar screens. Visit the radar sites deep in the Canadian bush as they struggle to provide the radar data for an electronic air battle happening overhead. An actual NORAD exercise on 10 May 1973, called Amalgam Mute, is used as an example. This exercise tested that NORAD was honouring its motto: Deter, Detect, Destroy, and was protecting North America from aerial threat. There is an extensive explanation of the aircraft, squadrons, weapons, radar, and radar sites involved. Included are two personal accounts of the first interception of a Soviet "Bear" bomber off the coast of Canada, and the first Canadian fighter interceptor pilot to win the coveted United States Air Force "Top Gun" award.

In Learning to Love the Bomb, Sean M. Maloney explores the controversial subject of Canada's acquisition of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Based on newly declassified Canadian and U.S. documents, it examines policy, strategy, operational, and technical matters and weaves these seemingly disparate elements into a compelling story that finally unlocks several Cold War mysteries. For example, while U.S. military forces during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were focused on the Caribbean Sea and the southeastern United States, Canadian forces assumed responsibility for defending the northern United States, with aircraft armed with nuclear depth charges flying patrols and guarding against missile attack by Soviet submarines. This defensive strategy was a closely guarded secret because it conflicted with Canada's image as a peacekeeper and therefore a more passive member of NATO than its ally to the south. It is revealed here for the first time. The place of nuclear weapons in Canadian history has, until now, been a highly secret and misunderstood field subject to rumor, rhetoric, half-truths, and propaganda. Learning to Love the Bomb reveals the truth about Canada's role as a nuclear power.

In 1988, as the Berlin Wall began to quake and the United States and the Soviet Union prepared to slash their nuclear arsenals, Canada's government remained firmly tied to a Cold War vision of the world. In this book, Regehr and Rosenblum assessed the international strategic situation at the very moment that the superpowers' nuclear standoff began to melt away. Against the backdrop of significant undertakings to halt the drift towards annihilation, the authors' find much to criticize in Canadian defence policy: complicity in reckless American war-fighting strategies; undue adherence to organizations such as NATO and NORAD whose justifications were fast disappearing; a retrograde approach to defending Arctic sovereignty. The Road to Peace is a compelling document that vividly conveys the heady atmosphere of the Cold War's apogee.

During the past twenty-five years, U.S. strategists have argued that avoiding nuclear war depends on deterring a Soviet first strike by ensuring that U.S. forces could survive a surprise attack in numbers sufficient to inflict unacceptable damage in retaliation. U.S. military and political leaders have thus emphasized acquiring more powerful and accurate weaponry and providing better protection for it.

With the beginning of the Cold War, American defense experts and political leaders began planning and implementing a defensive air shield, which they believed was necessary to defend against a possible attack by long-range, manned Soviet bombers. By the time of its creation in 1947, as a separate service, it was widely acknowledged the Air Force would be the center point of this defensive effort. Under the auspices of the Air Defense Command (ADC), first created in 1948, and reconstituted in 1951 at Ent AFB, Colorado, subordinate Air Force commands were given responsibility to protect the various regions of the United States. By 1954, as concerns about Soviet capabilities became more grave, a multi-service unified command was created, involving Naval, Army, and Air Force units-the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). Air Force leaders, most notably Generals Benjamin Chidlaw and Earle Partridge, guided the planning and programs during the mid 1950s. The Air Force provided the interceptor aircraft and planned the upgrades needed over the years. The Air Force also developed and operated the extensive early warning radar sites and systems which acted as "trip wire" against air attack. The advance warning systems and communication requirements to provide the alert time needed, as well as command and control of forces, became primarily an Air Force contribution, a trend which continued into the future as the nation's aerospace defense matured.

Canada and the Cold War is a fascinating historical overview of a key period in Canadian history. The focus is on how Canada and Canadians responded to the Soviet Union -- and to America's demands on its northern neighbour.