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Who was involved in the DEW Line?
In 1954, the same year that the Canada-US Military Study Group officially recommended the construction of the DEW Line, the Canadian government undertook sole responsibility for the construction of a radar line to run roughly along the 55th Parallel.
Where is the DEW Line located?
Alaska
Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), Cold War communications network, made up of more than 60 manned radar installations and extending about 4,800 km (3,000 miles) from northwestern Alaska to eastern Baffin Island.
Who paid for the DEW Line?
This northernmost line of radar stations crossed the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, Greenland and Iceland, approximately along the 69th parallel. Construction of the 63 DEW Line stations was paid for by the Americans, using some 25,000 Canadian labourers.
Is the DEW Line still in operation?
Back in the 1950s, Cold War tensions ran high and so did the DEW Line: high above the Arctic Circle, that is. Though many of the original 63 radar stations have been re-purposed or dismantled, many still remain in place, remarkably preserved by some of the coldest temperatures found outside Antarctica.
How many DEW Line sites were there?
The line consisted of 63 stations stretching from Alaska to Baffin Island, covering nearly 10,000 km (6,200 mi). The United States agreed to pay for and construct the line, and to employ Canadian labour as much as possible. A target date for completing the DEW Line and having it in operation was set for 31 July 1957.
How does the DEW Line work?
The Distant Early Warning Line, or DEW Line, was a series of radar stations across the arctic, from Alaska through Canada over Greenland to Iceland. The Americans conceived that the DEW line could detect enemy bombers coming over the North Pole that could threaten North American cities.
Why are there no more DEW Line stations?
A number of intermediate stations were decommissioned, since their effectiveness was judged to be less than desired and required. The manned stations were retained to monitor potential Soviet air activities and to allow Canada to assert sovereignty in the Arctic.
Why was the DEW Line obsolete?
The DEW Line was shut down in the late 1980s. The reason was the technology had changed so much that Canada and the U.S. realized they needed a new series of radar stations to replace the DEW Line, and that was the birth of the North Warning System.
What is Distant Early Warning?
The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line was a Cold War era project aimed at providing advanced warning of incoming Soviet attack via the northern periphery of Canada and the United States.
How much did the DEW Line cost?
Because the advent of ICBMs created another attack scenario that the DEW Line could not defend against, in 1958 the United States Federal Government authorized construction of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), at a reported cost of $28 billion.
How did the DEW Line work?
The Distant Early Warning Line, or DEW Line, was a series of radar stations across the arctic, from Alaska through Canada over Greenland to Iceland. The U.S. needed Canadian territory to detect the enemy bombers far enough away so they asked the Canadian government to partner with them.
What are the three lines of radar?
A rough map of the three warning lines. From north to south: the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, Mid-Canada Line, and Pinetree Line.
Why did the US build the DEW Line?
The Americans conceived that the DEW line could detect enemy bombers coming over the North Pole that could threaten North American cities. Back in the early 1950s, the U.S. government determined that they needed a series of radar stations across the Arctic that could detect enemy bombers coming over the Pole.
Why was the DEW Line shut down in Canada?
The DEW Line was shut down in the late 1980s. The reason was the technology had changed so much that Canada and the U.S. realized they needed a new series of radar stations to replace the DEW Line, and that was the birth of the North Warning System.
When did Dew switch to the North Warning System?
In 1985, as part of the ” Shamrock Summit “, the United States and Canada agreed to transition DEW to the new North Warning System (NWS). Beginning in 1988, most of the original DEW stations were deactivated, while a small number were upgraded with all-new equipment. The official handover from DEW to NWS took place on 15 July 1993.
What was the environmental risk of the DEW Line?
The risk of the DEW Line sites was mainly a local risk about 10 kilometers around the sites and it was caused by contaminated soil and the contents of landfills left on the sites. There was really only a long-term environmental risk to these sites – the contamination of the sites is not severe.