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Cold War Radar

Lash-Up/Permanent Radar System/JSS

The United States had their own radar chain apart from those in use in Canada.  Before the creation of the Canadian lines, the Americans wanted a way to get five to six hours of warning time before an attack.  This led to the creation of radar chain, Lash-Up, in 1949.

That year, the United States Air Force created seven Lash-Up sites, and expanded it to fifty by 1951.  However, Lash-Up was replaced in June of 1952 by the Permanent Radar System, which worked in partnership with gap fillers and the radar chains within Canada.

The Permanent Radar System was then replaced itself by the Joint Surveillance System (JSS) in 1973.  It was created by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Ministry of Transportation, working together since they both needed radar.  Canada never reached this type of agreement.

The JSS controlled sixty-two sites in America, including Alaska, and even involved the creation of a balloon borne radar.