Florida (air surveillance system)

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Florida radar antenna (Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf)

The Florida was an air surveillance system of the Swiss Air Force manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Company in Fullerton , California , USA .

history

Florida Operations Center EZ (Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf)

The Florida air surveillance and command system was commissioned during Army 61 circa 1970 and replaced the previous SFR air surveillance system . With the Florida system, uninterrupted airspace surveillance was now possible. In contrast to the SFR system, the Florida system was already partially automated in terms of radar data output and, in addition to monitoring, was also able to calculate interception courses. The radar antennas could be retracted into the mountain to protect against meteorological influences (such as strong winds or thunderstorms / lightning) and military attacks. The construction work, especially on the touristically developed Pilatus , was visible from afar and could not be kept secret. The Florida system had reached its useful life after 2001. Since the requirements increased after 9/11 and the processing of a maximum of 400 objects in flight could no longer keep up with the development of increasing air traffic, the Florida system was replaced in 2003 by the current airspace monitoring and control system FLORAKO .

An innovative information technology project

Florida was one of the most complex armaments contract up to this point in Switzerland. It included one of the then largest computer composite systems in Europe, in the radar equipped of the three altitude stations (Grisons, Valais, Central Switzerland) data using directional beam - remote data transmission (RDT / EDI) to the two operational centers (DC LUV I Andermatt and II Attinghausen in hot standby - Mode) were transmitted via relay stations. The overall air situation, which is continuously processed in real time and supplemented with additional operational and operational logistical information, served as the calculation basis for the Florida main functions of advance warning, air defense and air traffic control (LUV). With Florida, Switzerland had the most modern fully integrated digital air defense system in the world at the time.

CDC 6600

The specification, derived from the overall defense strategy, required the integrated handling of all tactical functions of the air and anti-aircraft troops, ensuring coordination with civilian air traffic control and alerting the population in the event of a disaster. Since the manufacturer Hughes Aircraft Company had reservations about the technical feasibility of their system due to the state of the art at the time, the army had to adapt the system to the increased Swiss needs on its own and in cooperation with specialists (ETH etc.). New territory had to be broken for the technical challenges and the degree of complexity: project management with the then new network plan technology as well as newly developed software and computer technologies ( reliability , real-time capability , remote data transmission, linear optimization , the CDC 6600 computer system introduced by Control Data Corporation in 1964, etc.).

Florida was in partial continuous use from 1970 to 2002, was continuously improved and adapted to new requirements. An important addition was made from 1979 with "Flinte", the digital command information system of the aviation and Flab troops. The Informatikbrigade (Ik Br) 34 (today LVb FU 30 der FULW ) operated the “Shotgun” system as a “closed” system with the same principle long before the Internet became privately accessible. «Flinte» supported the planning, issuing of orders, control and evaluation in the command and control of the air force, supplied all weather and avalanche information and served as an additional element for the gathering of news. Florida and Flinte were independent Swiss innovations in software development that were around ten years ahead of the state of the art.

A Florida radar antenna, status board, two consoles and a complete data center are now in the Flieger-Flab-Museum in Dübendorf.

technology

The Florida system can be broken down into three main components:

The four radar systems at the altitude locations

After a prototype had been installed on the Wangenerberg near Dübendorf , the radar systems were built at the high-altitude locations Pilatus , Scopí , Weisshorn and Weissflue . The rotatable radar antennas each consisted of a primary radar and a secondary radar above the primary radar. They could be fully retracted into the mountain top, which was automatically closed with a massive gate. The high altitude sites were also equipped with 20 mm flab guns under rotating weather protection domes for self-defense. The HR-500 radar developed by Hughes with a phased array antenna was used as the radar . This radar was based on the prototype Light Weight 3D Radars (LW 3D) . The HR-500 radar worked in the C-band and the installed radar range was up to 600 km. The average transmission line was 12  kilowatts and the maximum transmission line was 2.4 megawatts.

Significant weaknesses were found after the radars were put into operation. So could z. B. no targets are pursued at altitudes below 2000–4000 m. Likewise, no slow-flying targets below 150 km / h could be pursued. Furthermore, there was no Doppler radar processing for fixed target suppression ( Moving Target Indication ) or for suppressing ground clutter and weather clutter. The radar was also susceptible to electronic countermeasures and the use of chaffs for radar deception. These vulnerabilities could e.g. In some cases, they can only be fixed in the following years. The last repairs were made in the 1990s.

  • Florida radar

The operations centers

There were several operations centers, protected operations centers in mountain caverns (these were later converted to the FLORAKO system) and an operations center for peacetime in Dübendorf, this is right next to the surveillance squadron building and is now used by the civilian Skyguide as a test center. The consoles were equipped with a trackball (forerunner of the computer mouse) and made it possible to process every radar track quickly if the Florida system could not automatically identify it. Each console had several number displays that always showed the fighter leader the current interception course for the aircraft flying under his command to a selected target. The hunter leader transmitted these data by radio using the Bambini code . In addition, each operations center was equipped with a large status board that displayed the most important information on all military airfields.

  • Former operations center

The data center

The data center consisted primarily of the computer system with the corresponding peripheral devices (magnetic tape, printer, punch cards and punched tape) as well as the interface devices (interfaces) for data communication with the local (screen consoles, status board, etc.) and the external subsystems (redundant data centers, radar stations , BL-64 positions, direction finders, etc.) The computer could process data from up to 400 aircraft at the same time.

  • Florida data center input station

  • Florida calculator

  • Florida calculator

  • Florida calculator

tasks

  • Creation of an adjusted, identified overall air situation based on the transmitted local air situation from the various radar stations. Continuous updating of the data.
  • Data communication with all internal and external sub-systems integrated in the Florida system.
  • Provision of the data for the representation of the air situation on the display consoles as well as the readiness and condition of the own resources on the status board in the air defense room.
  • Calculation of proposed solutions for the use of fighters or guided missiles to combat enemy aircraft at the request of the operator (air defense).
  • Calculation and presentation of continuously updated command data according to the selected deployment procedure for the attention of the operator.
  • Maintainability of the operational software and the test software as well as simulation of excellent air conditions for the training of militia personnel.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Albert Wüst: The Swiss Air Defense. 2011, ISBN 978-3-905616-20-0
  2. ↑ Shotgun, the Air Force Internet . General Swiss military magazine ASMZ, issue 6, volume 163, 1997
  3. ↑ Jürg Lindecker: Florida and shotgun, the information technology revolution . In: Memories of the Army 61 , Verlag Huber Frauenfeld, 2014
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Hans H. Jucker: History of military radar applications in Switzerland: Procurement and introduction of the third generation of early warning radar by 1975. (pdf) In: wrd.ch. WRD, accessed October 28, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Hans H. Jucker: History of military radar applications in Switzerland: experiences with the third generation radar and the beginning of RAS radar. (pdf) In: wrd.ch. WRD, accessed October 28, 2019 .