Seattle Air Defense Sector

Western Air Defense Sector
Battle Control System – Fixed (BCS-F) display, used at the WADS Sector Operations Control Center (SOCC) at McChord AFB. WADS Region shown in NORAD Region/Sector Configuration
Active	1958-Present
Country	United States
Allegiance	Washington
Branch	Air National Guard
Type	Sector
Role	Air Defense
Part of	Washington Air National Guard
Garrison/HQ	Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington
Commanders
Current commander	Brigadier General John S. Tuohy
Insignia
Western Air Defense Sector Emblem

External image

SAGE facilities

The Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) is a unit of the Washington Air National Guard located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington.

As a state militia unit, the Western Air Defense Sector is not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. It is under the jurisdiction of the Washington Air National Guard unless it is federalized by order of the President of the United States. It is operationally gained by Air Combat Command.

The WADS is one of two Sectors responsible to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Continental NORAD Region for peacetime air sovereignty, strategic air defense, and airborne counter-drug operations in the continental United States. The other sector is the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS). There was a third Sector, the Southeast Air Defense Sector, located at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida; but it was closed in 2006.

WADS operates a Sector Operations Control Center (SOCC) at McChord AFB, as part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS) which had replaced SAGE in 1983. This system enjoins state-of-the-art air defense systems and cutting-edge computer technology to significantly increase surveillance and identification capabilities, and better protect the nation's airways from intrusion and attack. It relies on digitized radar inputs from Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR) sites jointly operated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Air Force, and tethered aerostat radar balloons. It is fully integrated with the E-3A Airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system and the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (E-8 Joint STARS).