page_title: Distant Early Warning Line
section_title: Atlantic and Pacific Barrier
hierarchical_section_title: Distant Early Warning Line / Atlantic and Pacific Barrier
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. Navy Lockheed WV-2 Willy Victor (BuNo 141310) of Early Warning Squadron 15 (VW-15) flies over the radar picket destroyer escort USS Sellstrom (DER-255) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in March 1957.The WV-2 141310 disappeared on 20 February 1958 300 km north of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. No trace of the aircraft or the crew of 22 was ever found.
context_page_description: The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It was set up to detect incoming Soviet bombers during the Cold War, and provide early warning of any sea-and-land invasion.
  The DEW Line was the northernmost and most capable of three radar lines in Canada and Alaska. The first of these was the joint Canadian-US Pinetree Line, which ran from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island just north of the Canadian border, but even while it was being built there were concerns that it would not provide enough warning time to launch an effective counterattack. The Mid-Canada Line was proposed as an inexpensive solution using a new type of radar. This provided a "trip wire" warning located roughly at the 55th parallel, giving commanders ample warning time, but little information on the targets or their exact location. The MCL proved largely useless in practice, as the radar return of flocks of birds overwhelmed signals from aircraft.
context_section_description: The DEW line was supplemented by two "barrier" forces in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans which were operated by the United States Navy from 1956 to 1965. These barrier forces consisted of surface picket stations, dubbed "Texas Towers", a surface naval force of twelve radar picket destroyer escorts and sixteen Guardian-class radar picket ships, and an air wing of Lockheed WV-2 Warning Star aircraft that patrolled the picket lines at 1,000–2,000 m (3,000–6,000 ft) altitude in 12- to 14-hour missions. Their objective was to extend early warning coverage against surprise Soviet bomber and missile attack as an extension of the DEW Line.
  The Atlantic Barrier (BarLant) consisted of two rotating squadrons, one based at Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, to fly orbits to the Azores and back; and the other at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. BarLant began operations on 1 July 1956, and flew continuous coverage until early 1965, when the barrier was shifted to cover the approaches between Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom (GIUK barrier). Aircraft from Argentia were staged through NAS Keflavik, Iceland, to extend coverage times.
  The Pacific Barrier (BarPac) began operations with one squadron operating from NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, and a forward refueling base at Naval Station Midway, on 1 July 1958. Planes flew from Midway Island to Adak Island (in the Aleutian Island chain) and back, non-stop. Its orbits overlapped the radar picket stations of the ships of Escort Squadron Seven (CORTRON SEVEN), from roughly Kodiak Island to Midway and Escort Squadron Five (CORTRON FIVE), from Pearl Harbor to northern Pacific waters. Normally 4 or 5 WV-2s were required at any single time to provide coverage over the entire line. This coverage was later augmented, and modified/replaced by Project Stretchout and Project Bluegrass. 
  The Guardian-class radar picket ships were based in Rhode Island and San Francisco, and covered picket stations 400–500 miles off each coast.
  Barrier Force operations were discontinued by September 1965 and their EC-121K (WV-2 before 1962) aircraft placed in storage.
caption: An Atlantic barrier WV-2 and the radar picket destroyer escort USS Sellstrom (DER-255) off Newfoundland in 1957
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