AN/FSQ-8 Combat Control Central
United States Air Force computerized command and control system / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The AN/FSQ-8 Combat Control Central was a United States Air Force computerized command and control system. Several of the centrals were used in the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense network for Cold War ground-controlled interception to give "each combat center the capability to coordinate defense for the whole nation".[1] Each AN/FSQ-8 (“AN/FSQ” derives from “Army-Navy / Fixed Special eQuipment”)[2] was a smaller variant of the AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central with less equipment since the Q8 received processed air defense data from AN/FSQ-7 centrals at Direction Centers. The AN/FSQ-8 centrals were housed in eight[3] 3-story[4] SAGE Combat Center (SCC) buildings similar to the Direction Center building (some were colocated) and the Q8s allowed "supervision of the several sectors within the division."[4] The Combat Centers "forwarded the divisional air defense status to" NORAD[5] (initially at Ent AFB in 1957, the Chidlaw Building in 1963, and the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in 1966).