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The DEW line, or Distant Early System. was a radar system aimed at protecting the North American territory against the Soviet threat. The creation brought Canada and the United States together, leading to the creation of the North American Air Defense Command, NORAD, in 1958. By the time the Line went active, it consisted of 21 stations established along a transcontinental procession extending for 3,693 statute miles. It took as many as 25,000 people and all sorts of technical and construction skills to fashion the finished product. In one way the DEW Line had a very short useful life, and in another it still lives and operates in a way we find essential. The effective life of the Line ended with the introduction of intercontinental ballistic missiles. This technology literally took off during 1957 and 1958 with the Soviet R-7, of Sputnik fame, and the American Atlas A. In 1960, the U.S. Navy also perfected the Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of 1,200 nautical miles. These missiles could fly far above the DEW Line warning net radars and travel at a rate no aircraft could attain. However, the determination displayed in coming together to survey, design, and build, in a very difficult environment, a defensive barrier against early Soviet nuclear capability demonstrated the vitality and flexibility of the Canadian-U.S. relationship. In this case the homeland became North America, and the threat served to bring us together as it did in World War II, as it would in later conflicts, and as it does now in formulating GEOINT to support the war on terrorism. #soviet #dewline #defence
