Ground Air Transmit Receive


Ground Air Transmit Receive "control sites" were the radio stations of a Cold War communications network in the Burroughs 416L SAGE Defense System deployed to automate ground-controlled interception using manned interceptors. Generally located near or, in some cases, on an Aerospace Defense Command radar station, a GATR site was used for the Ground to Air Data Link Subsystem to communicate command guidance via "HF/VHF/UHF voice & TDDL" to vector F-106 Delta Dart and other equipped aircraft that had been dispatched by teams in Weapons Direction rooms of SAGE Direction Centers. GATR maintenance was by the 304x4 Ground Radio Maintenance career field with initial radio training at Keesler Air Force Base, and GATR sites included the RCA AN/GKA-5 Time Division Data Link equipment providing output to an AN/FRT-49 Electronic Guidance Signals Transmitting Set with Varian klystron and 20 kilowatt output. The aircraft receivers were either Hughes AN/ARR-60 or SLI AN/ARR-61 "Airborne Radio Receivers" of the Hughes MA-1 Fire Control System.
Most "GATR/SAGE sites" are now Formerly Used Defense Sites such as the site supported by Oakdale Air Force Station, Pennsylvania, and that were designated for closure by the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Sites