I live a few miles away from an old SAGE blockhouse [1]. It's still imposing today - basically looks like a giant block of cement. It's interesting to see pictures of the inside of one of these things when it was in use.
yeah, it looks less basic than a concrete block, but it is just a big box. this small skyscraper could offer a nice view, but it has no windows.
they used to be filled with telephone switching equipment for all the phone lines, but electronic switching has shrunk those space needs a lot. I think they've turned them into hosting providers for financial companies but I'm not positive.
emmelaich 6 hours ago [-]
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View has good exhibit on this. The sheer scale of the project was incredible. And rendered obsolete in a few years by the advent of ICBMs.
Pretty cool seeing that the consoles had a place for your cigarette.
glimshe 7 hours ago [-]
Would we be able to execute on a project like today, ignoring political party factors?
I mean to ask: do we have enough mature entities in our industry and academia to pull of a project of this scope in 2025?
Animats 4 hours ago [-]
In the 1950s, defense spending was about 40% of federal spending. Today, it's about 13%. A huge amount of military equipment was built during the Eisenhower administration:
- The Distant Early Warning line of radar stations, in northern Canada, along with the Mid-Canada Line and the Pine Tree Line further south. Plus Texas Towers off the coasts, picket ships, and radar search aircraft.
- Mass production of bombers and fighters, with generations coming one after another rapidly. Fighters went from the F-86 to the F-106 in a few years. Bombers went from the B-36 (six props, four jets) to the B-47 (a fighter design scaled up to bomber size) to the B-52. Despite being an interim design, over 2,000 B-47 aircraft were built.
- Mass production of ICBMs. Thousands of them. Thousands of silos to put them in.
- USAF bases everywhere, from the Aleutian Islands to the Middle East.
- Nike air defense missile sites around all major US cities.
- Fallout shelters.
- Enough conventional weapons to re-fight WWII kept in service.
SAGE was a tiny part of all that. It was just command and control for US and Canada air defense. Not offense; that was separate, under the USAF Strategic Air Command.
Jtsummers 7 hours ago [-]
Yes, but not under the current procurement processes used by DOD.
[1] https://fortwiki.com/Richards-Gebaur_SAGE_Direction_Center_D...
yeah, it looks less basic than a concrete block, but it is just a big box. this small skyscraper could offer a nice view, but it has no windows.
they used to be filled with telephone switching equipment for all the phone lines, but electronic switching has shrunk those space needs a lot. I think they've turned them into hosting providers for financial companies but I'm not positive.
Pretty cool seeing that the consoles had a place for your cigarette.
I mean to ask: do we have enough mature entities in our industry and academia to pull of a project of this scope in 2025?
- The Distant Early Warning line of radar stations, in northern Canada, along with the Mid-Canada Line and the Pine Tree Line further south. Plus Texas Towers off the coasts, picket ships, and radar search aircraft.
- Mass production of bombers and fighters, with generations coming one after another rapidly. Fighters went from the F-86 to the F-106 in a few years. Bombers went from the B-36 (six props, four jets) to the B-47 (a fighter design scaled up to bomber size) to the B-52. Despite being an interim design, over 2,000 B-47 aircraft were built.
- Mass production of ICBMs. Thousands of them. Thousands of silos to put them in.
- Nuclear-powered submarines. Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. ICBMs for nuclear powered submarines.
- USAF bases everywhere, from the Aleutian Islands to the Middle East.
- Nike air defense missile sites around all major US cities.
- Fallout shelters.
- Enough conventional weapons to re-fight WWII kept in service.
SAGE was a tiny part of all that. It was just command and control for US and Canada air defense. Not offense; that was separate, under the USAF Strategic Air Command.