Air Defense Identification Zone - History

History

With the outbreak of World War II, the United States asserted control of coastal airspace in 1940, and this took on a sense of urgency after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. However, by 1943 the Axis powers no longer posed a threat to North America. With the outbreak of the Korean War, the Air Force placed its forces on alert and uncovered major weaknesses in the coordination of domestic defense units. An air defense command and control structure was developed in 1950, creating five Air Defense Identification Zones around North America. If radio interrogation failed to identify an aircraft in the ADIZ, the Air Force launched interceptor aircraft to identify the intruder visually. The air defense system reached its peak in 1962, however with the deployment of the SS-6 ICBM in the USSR, strategic threats shifted overwhelmingly to ICBM attacks, and bomber intrusions were considered to be less of a threat.

The ADIZ was focused on aircraft approaching primarily from Russia, but on October 26, 1971, a Cuban aircraft landed in New Orleans after flying completely undetected through American airspace. Publicity and political pressure from Louisiana Congressman Felix Edward Hébert forced the Air Force to establish the Southeast Air Defense Sector and open a radar network along the Gulf coast. In the 1980s with the rise of the War on Drugs, this ADIZ took on a dual role of controlling drug smuggling from Latin America.

The role of the ADIZ diminished significantly in the 1990s with political changes in Russia and the reduction and attrition of Russian strategic aviation forces, but gained renewed importance during the following decade due to the War on Terror that emerged in the wake of the September 11 attacks, in which long-range aircraft were used against domestic targets.