AT&T Archives: A 20-Year History of the Anti-ballistic Missile (Bonus Edition)

Рет қаралды 96,446

12 жыл бұрын

See more from the AT&T Archives at techchannel.att.com/archives
Introduction by George Kupczak of the AT&T Archives and History Center
This film examines five different experimental and functional antiballistic missile systems worked on by Western Electric and Bell Labs in conjunction with the U.S. Army: the ABM studies, Nike Zeus, Nike-X, Sentinel, and Safeguard. It also shows the Spartan and Sprint systems, the Ballistic Missile Defense Operations Center, the BDMC at Cheyenne Mountain, PAR antennas and console operations, and the BDMC's link with NORAD. There are lots of images of real - and animated - missile launches.
In 1976, after this film was made, the Sentinel/Safeguard systems were scrapped due to low usefulness and high costs. In 1980, President Reagan pushed the SDI, or "Star Wars" system. SDI became the Missile Defense Agency in 2002, and the agency still has not abandoned Reagan's dream of a powerful defensive net.
Made by Western Electric and Bell Laboratories for the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command
Producer: Film Enterprises, Inc., New York, NY
Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

Пікірлер: 107

@stellamcwick8455 2 жыл бұрын

43:04 , the “He is Risen” in the shape of a missile in the base chapel. In that 1970’s acid trip font too.

@Sophocles13 Ай бұрын

Yeah that's pretty fantastic

@PacificAirwave144 3 жыл бұрын

I was a kid on Kwajalein in '68-69. I think it was primarily Nike-Zeus at the time moving to Nike-X. When they launched the island shook. Neat to see this video but it was before they put a temp-housing trailer park on one end of the island. The radar at 18:18 must've been decommissioned when we were there because it was being used as a golf driving range. Just a kid but I remember repeatedly going-for and hitting this piece of sheet-metal way up there which really gave off a 'wang' (early form of reactive targets :-) Always barefoot, the smell of the Creosote at the pier...a lot of great memories!

@adamfrazer5150 Жыл бұрын

Having this period footage available makes for a fascinating watch - many thanks for this 👍

@dragonheadthing 12 жыл бұрын

This was actually a very fascinating film. Well detailed and not boring. And I liked the background music too.

@johnruuu 6 жыл бұрын

Both were very good documentaries on these important past projects. I worked on advanced sensor systems and strategic weapons for 25 years through the 80's and 90's. Love to see documented prior work that led into work I did.

@sidv4615 2 жыл бұрын

What kind of systems did you work on

@StikEmUp 2 жыл бұрын

@@sidv4615 death system im guessin

@jaminova_1969 Ай бұрын

We owe so much to Bell Labs!

@blackbbbbiochip 3 жыл бұрын

Well, there's nothing we brits enjoy more than a good documentary.Thx AT&T T CH

@wrightmf 8 жыл бұрын

I'm watching this and thinking all that concrete, steel, tons of electronic equipment built in N. Dakota. And all those communities with housing etc. in an area that becomes bitter cold for months like Scandinavian countries. wow. And at end of this video there's Norm Augustine of the Augustine Commission I and II for the space program (but that's another story). Note that telephones made by Ma Bell same time this film was made were built of steel chassis, tough kevlar like plastic housing, and electronics that can withstand a nuclear blast from 50 yards. And they said, "Bell System Property, Not For Sale."

@matthewperry5524 4 ай бұрын

It wasnt plastic like today it was bake a light a much stronger denser material still have one of the phones in my parents basement

@ChristopherBell 11 жыл бұрын

Oh how cool you can see the 1971 storage media.

@lukesnyder3358 3 жыл бұрын

This is a testament to the power of cooperation... Ironic.

@lukesnyder3358 3 жыл бұрын

Heart goes out to the agents who died to bring us the Intel used to develop these systems

@hewhohasnoidentity4377 3 жыл бұрын

And to say thank you to AT&T for their efforts in our middle defense system and for building the phone infrastructure and developing the integrated circuit we declared them a monopoly, destroyed the retirement savings all the employees had and ended the very concept of corporate sponsored research laboratories. America.... Always looking to slow progress to keep in line with the election cycle.

@MrShobar 9 жыл бұрын

The spokesman looks like he just stepped off a '60's TV soap opera.

@RCAvhstape 7 жыл бұрын

18:40 demonstrates the importance of NFL football music in winning a nuclear war.

@krichardt 4 жыл бұрын

Nuclear war is the ultimate high stakes game!

@MrJohnisthename 3 жыл бұрын

Monday Night Football w/ Howard Cosell and Don Meredith

@rebradroot 3 жыл бұрын

And it accompanies my dad’s foreground appearance!

@johngdoty 10 жыл бұрын

Anyone wish we had this 17 site system in place now? I sure do.

@bogdog999 4 жыл бұрын

This was almost 70 years ago. Who knows what we have today that we aren't revealing unless we have to? A weapon nobody knows about is hard to defend against.

@ericwillis7127 4 жыл бұрын

Sentinel might have worked as a defense against a limited first strike by irrational/suicidal and non-state actors, but it could have easily been defeated by maneuverable reentry vehicles, deploying it could have been taken to mean that the United States intended to start and "win" a nuclear war, and on top of that, it would have blown up budget deficits. Strategic defense research is necessary, but only as a way to better understand the defenses that our strategic deterrent has to defeat, and aid the design of counter-countermeasures.

@TheMaxx111 3 жыл бұрын

None of this would have been necessary if Kennedy had not been such a pussy and nuked Russia in 1961 for putting up that wall in Berlin.

@punman5392 3 жыл бұрын

ABMs destabilize the nuclear power balance. There’s a reason we agreed to stop making them along with the USSR

@caribman10 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, me. But what I'd really want was the system as it would have evolved over 40 years.

@titaniumdiveknife 8 жыл бұрын

I love Sprint!

@Wag2112 3 жыл бұрын

Very Nice !! Thanks for posting !!! 21 year USAF Central Office Tech with 10 years in Space Command ! ( not the "new one " ) ( granted it , my Air Force time , was all on the dirty NTI shit ! haha :) )

@ApolloWasReal 10 жыл бұрын

As a former Bell Labs employee (1978-1984), I think it safe to say that there probably wouldn't have been an Internet had the Bell System stayed united. Bell Labs was a great place to work, and I often miss it, but it was a creature of a bygone age in which a single large monopoly completely controlled the public telecommunications infrastructure. The only entity able to meaningfully compete with it on a technical level was the US government. AT&T actually refused an invitation by the DoD to operate the early ARPANET because the technology was too radical and too threatening to the way they did business; a little-known company called BBN got the contract instead. While it did provide reliable funding for Bell Labs, AT&T was extremely jealous of their monopoly and they tried very hard to slap down any and all competitors. You only have to look at how some present-day government telecom monopolies in other countries deal with VoIP to see how AT&T would have reacted had they retained their monopoly. They tolerated the ARPANET only because, at that time, it was an internal network of the US Defense Department and restricted to government contractors and a few lucky university researchers.

@freddiejohnson8538 9 жыл бұрын

ApolloWasReal I hadn't connected the dots between the Bell System breakup and the rise of packet switching, but you've got a good point.

@Wag2112 3 жыл бұрын

haha and they still got the carrier lines contracts to let it operate ! They win anyway !

@ChildovGhad 2 жыл бұрын

The music 19 minutes in is very similar to the old NFL Monday Night Football music.

@FDSheckler 3 ай бұрын

It is the same piece, later in. Search KPM Heavy Metal, about 1:20 in. Seems like most of the 70s was KPM music.

@yelectric1893 3 жыл бұрын

This kind of reminds me of my learning process

@DEP717 12 жыл бұрын

Yes. A united Bell in the Internet Age would be very interesting!

@BobQuigley Ай бұрын

Straight out of Orwell's 1984. War equals peace.

@SocialistDistancing 3 ай бұрын

We went to the MSR site. It's still standing. It's been sold to hutterites and I think they sold it to someone else. The buildings are run down, but the pyramid and missile field is still there. I don't know where the remote missile fields are. The PAR is still standing and active. It's east of the MSR. Nekoma N.D. The Ronald Reagan minutemen silo is south of the MSR in Cooperstown. If you're in the area, it makes for a good nuclear tour.

@osher87 Жыл бұрын

Old is Gold

@nutsackmania 12 жыл бұрын

oh my god you guys radar is super!

@jesush.christ3003 4 ай бұрын

*currently waiting for at&t wifi to connect

@jamesguitarshields 2 жыл бұрын

i gotta find out the name of that KPM track that starts at 7:52.

@norman191000 3 жыл бұрын

are these north dakota and montana facilities still used for newer systems or abandoned? If the latter, what is now with all these bunker complexes?

@tachikomakusanagi3744 3 жыл бұрын

they are totally abandoned - one of the first actions of the Carter Administration in 1976. Apparently you can wander around the sites unobstructed (there are videos on youtube of this). They are ghost towns now.

@SimonWallwork 5 жыл бұрын

A really great video and thanks for posting it up. I read the comments and see a few good ones, but most are drivel. As far as BMD goes: good tactics, but poor strategy.

@nickpn23 Жыл бұрын

There are many people who are far more intelligent than I am. I can barely get my trousers on in the morning and look at these people.

@bcadventure2015 6 ай бұрын

I wonder how many hydro encabulators it had or dingle arms

@timmensch3601 Жыл бұрын

What is the name of the song at the 30:00 mark?

@Sophocles13 Ай бұрын

00:18 In the age of Mutually assured destruction I'm pretty sure the best offense was _offense_ , not defense. Hence the whole Mutually assured destruction name? Both of our offensive capabilities are so great that it's guaranteed both will go down in a shooting war. If one side had an "impenetrable defense" then MAD as a concept wouldn't apply...

@rockets4kids 2 жыл бұрын

43:05 That altarpiece looks like something Stanley Kubrick would have come up with.

@_Hotaru__ 3 жыл бұрын

10 dislikes were from verizon clients

@GBlunted 9 жыл бұрын

I here the NFL theme song!! What's up with that? The song got a name? Did it originally come from ATT in some way?

@jamesguitarshields 5 жыл бұрын

It's a Johnny Pearson composition called "Heavy Action" and it's a track from the KPM TV Production Library. I believe the album it's off of is called "Industrial Panorama" from the early 1970's... the track originally had nothing to do with MNF, NFL, etc. - they just licensed the rights to it.

@wilfredmay5231 4 жыл бұрын

What about the cavity magnatron???????????????

@h.m.stanley 10 ай бұрын

they (US Gov't) spent untold billions of dollars on this program.. its one of those defense programs no one knows about but consumed an ungodly amount of money to get to an operational state (which, BTW, lasted ONE DAY). This thing was enormous..

@raymiles691 3 жыл бұрын

Stick Vehicles🎓💫super serious circuits

@emmamontgomery448 3 жыл бұрын

Is it just me or does the guy at the beginning make out they invented radar?I don’t think so mate

@TheManLab7 4 ай бұрын

I was just about to say the EXACT same thing! Us Brits and the Germans invented Radar and we put it into practice. All the US has ever done is copy EVERYONE else's ideas and design n say "they did if first" when they OBVIOUSLY didn't. Google did the same with Google earth when in fact, it was the Germans who invented it. They came up with the idea n put it into practice and it worked perfectly! Once someone's done the hard bit, the US just copies it n say "we did it first" 😠 Why does the US seem to THINK they "invented" everything first??? 🤷🏻‍♂️ The amount of things the UK's invented over the years and then handed to the world for FREE because of our $h💩!t government beggers belief! 🤦🏻‍♂️

@petaplayer8993 3 ай бұрын

They invented aesa

@titaniumdiveknife 8 жыл бұрын

Love this. Only thing that purely defensive in the nuclear arms race.

@JosephGalbo 12 жыл бұрын

TESLA!!!! Thanks, Oatmeal.

@stephendavies923 5 жыл бұрын

I enjoy the AT&T Tech Channel and appreciate the innovations that At&T have accomplished, but to suggest that AT&T were the great pioneers at the beginning of radar and ignoring the British is just wrong, and in the eyes of historians almost criminal. Without the groundwork provided by the British, such technologies would have been ignored by the USA for a long time because they considered it as a useless technology. History shows that even as the Japanese were flying towards Hawaii to destroy Pearl Harbour, basic radar developed by Britain showed that they were on their way and the information was ignored. I understand who sponsors this channel but for everyone's sake, please at least be partially honest.

@Wag2112 3 жыл бұрын

Come on ! Put it where its DUE - Arthur C Clarke !!! pretty much invented modern Radar with his work in Ground Control Approach systems. Oh, and dont forget 22,000 mile Geosynch orbit . . . .

@user-gi7hf1bz1z 2 жыл бұрын

برامج علمية راقية . ليتها مترجمة للغة العربية

@kylesenior 2 жыл бұрын

27:37 - I knew it! The Yetis are involved in secret Canadian research!

@JoesGLI 8 жыл бұрын

18:40 Who's ready for Monday Night Football?!!!

@johnkern7075 Жыл бұрын

Didn't it operate for just 8 months and then it was shut down?

@richardvernon317 9 ай бұрын

Full Operational Capability for ONE Day!!!!

@recnepsgnitnarb6530 4 жыл бұрын

18:40 MONDAY NIGHT MISSILE COMMAND!

@64curarine 10 жыл бұрын

At 31:38, a view of the initial ground clearing for the proposed PAR, located off Route 114 in North Andover, MA. The PAR, a newly developed phased array antenna, was opposed by many liberal groups in the area and even Teddy Kennedy couldn't resist putting in his 2 cents.....the project was never completed at this site. But for all the arguments/criticism, just where do you think the PAR ( later name changed to PAVE PAWS) was built.........on good ole Cape Caahhhhd at Otis AFB.

@MrShobar 9 жыл бұрын

Looks like Nixon called the shot to me.

@64curarine 9 жыл бұрын

MrShobar True, Pres. Nixon did have the final say in the matter. He initially down-sized the nation covering Sentinel system to the more cost containing Safeguard ABM defense. The point of my little tirade had more to do with the backroom, two faced politicking accomplished by Mr Kennedy. Overall cost was not the only argument made against the ABM program. One in particular was location....whether an actual missile base or phased array radar, the great fear was in creating a strategic target for the enemy.

@hckyplyr9285 7 жыл бұрын

No, PAR and the radar in Massachusetts are very different. Both are phased array radars, but they have very different functions and design. The radar in Mass (there are others in California at Beale AFB, Clear AS Alaska, Thule AB Greenland, and RAF Fylingdales Moor in Yorkshire) is a detection only radar, designed primarily to detect submarine launched ballistic missiles. The one in CA serves the same purpose. The others are designed to detect ICBM launches. PAR (still around, and still in use) was a detection and tracking radar used to assess an attack and guide missiles to targets. The other radars, called PAVE PAWS OR Upgraded Early Warning Radars have no guidance function. Also, PAR, as the video shows, was hardened against nuclear attack. It was sufficiently hardened to withstand 1000 psi overpressure, allowing the system to function even in the case of a near miss (but not a direct hit). The radar in Mass and the others i listed are not hardened at all and could be taken out by a good sized conventional bomb, let alone a nuke. Just FYI.

@64curarine 7 жыл бұрын

Awesome info and thank you for the input. I have read up on the PAR,(what i could find) and I thought it was used to initially detect and track and then hand over to the MSR for more refined tracking and final intercept..as in the only completed Sentinel/Safeguard site in Grand Forks, ND My snarky comment above was directly related to the irony that Kennedy opposed the PAR in North Andover and ground was broken/monies wasted...only to see it or it's next generation built on the Cape.

@UQRXD Жыл бұрын

Primitive war like planet.

@posmoo9790 2 ай бұрын

they're using the old monday night football theme

@jbauerlu2 3 жыл бұрын

mad saved our lifes. abm could make nuts leaders do things ! cause they think they can do it without to be destroyed themself

@kd1s 2 жыл бұрын

So wait the ABM preceded Reagans SDI program? Really?

@hckyplyr9285 11 жыл бұрын

Anyone know what overpressure the PAR and MSR were designed to take? What about the criticism that the PAR and MSR would have been severely degraded if not useless after the detonation of one or several Spartan "neutron bomb" type warheads? Was that accurate, or just liberal bloviating to oppose a major defense program? I tend to think the latter, especially with the number of communist/Soviet fellow travelers in the US then, and now.

@richardvernon317 9 ай бұрын

Spartan killed by X-Rays, Sprint killed by Neutrons.

@LeilaAisha 2 жыл бұрын

Its such a huge difference between the stuff coming out of USSR and USA at the same time.... Even now, if you look at Russians what they use and what west/NATO uses, its like Russia is still stucked 30 or minimum 20 years back. Sometimes even more. Thanks God we joined NATO as soon as possible after the 89' happened. We DREAMED about all the stuff you were using normally in everydays life. Hell, chewing gum was precious! Coloured magazines made of wax paper, almost everyone has a car, some families two. There is no queue for bananas, and you have tangerines whole year, and all the yoghurts...we had two or three flavours, one brand. Everything was colorful not grey commie blocks like us with battered centers which, once beautiful, had to be braced because the facade was falling off... You - in the west - please never EVER swallow the lies and poison of utopia, socialism or communism. It does not work, and Czechoslovakia was a lucky country, others to the east had it much worse than us. Healthier, center with right and left stances is a key. Never go left, it sounds good maybe, but brings misery, corpses starvation, fear and tyranny. Whole generations grew in fear, stealing, bribing circle, untill today people are paying bribes at the doctors to get the care you have much cheaper and better. If you got all the way here, wish you a happy life! 😀

@titaniumdiveknife 8 жыл бұрын

30:39 Sprint!

@rolfstamenov9914 5 жыл бұрын

Smoked Robot Pâté yes sprint middle!

@lukesnyder3358 3 жыл бұрын

Stuff like this makes me feel bad for AT&T. Uncle sam asked so much, and took so much away. Then again I don't agree with monopolistic thinking or corporate cartelism. I don't believe in corporate welfare either, regardless of how it's repaid. I think the lesson is stay married to america when they put that ring on your finger, unless you're prepared to cut the thing off.

@ShainAndrews 3 жыл бұрын

I'm sure you see all the conflicts. So looking back what is the answer? Where would we be today if left untouched? Would the US still have the intellectual property strong hold? Would it have stagnated? I really don't know. Bell allocated a small portion of revenues to what would be called R&D today. There were little to no expectations for these efforts. There was no expectation of creating products or services to monetize yet they were making huge advances. I ponder... but leave with more questions than answers. UNIX is by far my favorite creation. Simply mind numbing how it came to be so early in computing, and remains so relevant today.

@lukesnyder3358 3 жыл бұрын

@@ShainAndrews I'm using a monolithic kernel system now

@lukesnyder3358 3 жыл бұрын

@@ShainAndrews guess what it does primarily it dials into a telephone network

@americanspirit8932 Жыл бұрын

@@ShainAndrews I started working for Western Electric back in February 1963, initially I was working in crossbar systems learning the ins and outs a little bit, then I was picked to go to number one ESS, because of my intense studying and my own research on the side digging into the systems I was selected to go to number five ESS, I had a great career with the Bell System no regrets I'm very proud to be part of the, Bell System. When judge green to buy the country into seven different sections, that upset me quite a bit. Today's date is August 24th 2022.

@desmonddwyer 3 жыл бұрын

Crap, remember 911 where was the defence then🤔🤔🤔

@kedrednael 3 жыл бұрын

They haven't build this because it only promotes the suicide of humanity, it's horribly expensive and also it wouldn't even work. It would not have been build to target planes either. There are fighter jets for that purpose.

@thecoolestofthe834s2 7 ай бұрын

@@kedrednael ahh yes hey lets blap nukes out of the sky so one stupid idiot with a pair of tweezers doesnt 1983 us tax system us to death is promoting the death of humans also im pretty sure using a nuke to vaporize a war head and its missile debris cloud is the definition of it working and the neutron and x ray thing was a lie

@thecoolestofthe834s2 7 ай бұрын

NUCLEAR TIPED MISSILES DONT SHOOT DOWN AIRPLANES

@michaelsoland3293 3 ай бұрын

@@kedrednael Heads up the actual evidence that this leads to escalation is shoddy, especially given targeting constraints, and it worked very very well with over a 95% success rate for the Sprint missile. The cost was a factor of its time, fortunately now we have systems just as reliable that can target the midcourse phase instead of just the terminal phase, and for a far lower cost. With SpaceX revolutionizing launch costs we can also make a Brilliant Pebbles type system for a ridiculously low cost.