FYQ-93

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FYQ-93 Computer System (1983-2006) - A Computer System built for
the Joint
Surveillance system (JSS) by the Hughes Aircraft Company. The system
consisted of a central computer interfaced with a number of display
consoles and interfaced with external radars to provide a Region/Sector
display of air traffic.

Rome
ROCC FYQ-93 Computer Consoles circa
1983-1984.

Origins

The need for the FYQ-93 System became apparent in the 1970s when the SAGE
System became technologically obsolete and logistically unsupportable.
The FYQ-93 system was conceived and specified in the late 1970s. The
system was manufactured and delivered in the first half of the 1980s and
by the end of 1984 all nine facilities were in place. Enough of the system
was in place in mid 1983 for the SAGE
System to officially shut down and the Joint Surveillance System (JSS)
became the air defense system of the United States and Canada. The large
network of military long range radar sites was shut down and a much small
number (43) of FAA Joint Use sites replaced them.

JSS Command Center, FYQ-93 and BCS-F Locations (edit list)

ROCC/SOCC/SAOC

Location

State

Unit

From

To

GPS

Notes

Rome

Griffiss AFB

NY

NEADS

1983

2006

43.21667,
-75.40583

Now BCS-F
System

McChord

McChord AFB

WA

NWADS

1983

2006

47.12167,
-122.50389

Now BCS-F
System

Tyndall

Tyndall AFB

FL

SEADS

1983

2006

30.07500,
-85.59417

Closed

March

March AFB

CA

SWADS

1984

1995

33.89482,
-117.25055

Closed

Elmendorf

Elmendorf AFB

AK

AKADS

1983

2006

61.24416,
-149.81139

Now BCS-F
System

Wheeler

Wheeler AAF

HI

HIRAOC

1984

2006

21.48262,
-158.04582

Now BCS-F
System

CAN-East

CFB North Bay

ON

CAN-East

1983

2005

46.3375,
-79.41167

Now BCS-F
System

CAN-West

CFB North Bay

ON

CAN-West

1983

2005

46.3375,
-79.41167

Now BCS-F
System

ICE

Keflavik NAS

IS

Iceland

1984

2006

63.96166,
-22.59166

Closed

Equipment

Internally the FYQ-93 system included a Hughes H5118ME Central
Computer, and four Hughes HMP-1116 Peripheral computers. The software was
written in a proprietary version of JOVIAL known as JSS JOVIAL. The system
was updated over time to change tape drives to disk cartridges and
single-line printers to multi-line printers. The memory was expanded at
least twice to the system maximum of 512,000 bytes.

In 1991 the GAO audited the FYQ-93 system and found that it could not
process the current volume of air traffic and new sources of traffic were
being added that would further tax the system in the future. The
inadequacies were being compensated for by reducing the number of tracks
that external systems could input. A radar system that could generate 250
simultaneous tracks might be limited to sending 50 of those tracks to the
FYQ-93. The report also documented the attempts to upgrade the system
memory but found that the system architecture did not allow the expansion
of the track storage memory. The report also found that the Air Force did
not know the track capacity of the system and had no plan to manage the
track capacity.

FYQ-93 Computer System

Element

Value

Notes

Nomenclature

FYQ-93

Origins

Hughes H5118E Computer

Variants

Manufacturer

Hughes Aircraft Company

Type

Computer System

Number Made

??

Designed

1977-78

Production

1979-1982

Introduced

1982

Removed from Service

2006

FYQ-93
H5118ME Processor.

FYQ-93 Components (edit list)

Component

Model

Quantity

Height

Width

Deep

Weight

Notes

Display Console

OJ-501/FYQ-93(V)

18+ at US ROCCs
28 at CAN ROCCs

Processor Controller A

OK-436/FYQ-93(V)

1

Processor Controller B

OK-437/FYQ-93(V)

1

Display Controller

OK-435/FYQ-93(V)

1

Central Computer

FYK-18/FYQ-93(V)

1

System Control Console

OK-434/FYQ-93(V)

1

Digital Switch

SA-2329/FYQ-93(V)

1

The Ultimate Test

Between 1994 and 1997 the responsibility for the maintenance and
operation of the CONUS FYQ-93s was incrementally transferred to the Air
National Guard of the States where the facilities were located. The whole
system was periodically exercised with planned simulated attacks and all
seemed well. A simulated exercise was scheduled for the morning of 11 Sep
2001 (911) in the NE-SAOC at Griffiss when the first air attack on the
United States since World
War II started to unfold.

Four commercial aircraft were hijacked soon after takeoff, their IFF
beacon transponders were turned off and the planes were flown by the
hijackers via circuitous routes toward preplanned targets, two toward the
Twin Towers in New York, one toward the Pentagon and the fourth possibly
to the White House or the Capitol. The 911 commission compiled a minute by
minute record of what happened at the NE-SAOC on that day. Three of the
planes hit their intended targets and one was deliberately crashed into a
field in Pennsylvania.

In the aftermath of the 911 attack the FYQ-93 consoles were
supplemented by the addition of a number of NORAD Contingency Suite (NCS)
consoles in support of Operation Noble Eagle. The transition to the next
generation Air Supremacy System, Battle
Control System - Fixed, (BCS-F) with the (FYQ-156)
computer system began in 2005-2006.

See Also:

JSS
System

US
Computer Systems

FYQ-156

Sources:

Winkler, David F., Searching the skies: the legacy of the United
States Cold War defense radar program, USAF Hq Air Combat Command,
1997, 192 pages, Pdf

MIL-HDBK-162A, 15 Dec 1965.

Links:

FAS - FYQ-93

Radomes - FYQ-93

GAO - Air Attack Warning System Cannot Process All Radar
Track Data

Retrieved from "http://www.fortwiki.com/index.php?title=FYQ-93&oldid=107678"

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FYQ-93

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This page was last modified 11:43, 20 July 2016
by John
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