Issue 10: Tech from the Military

8 | ORIGINS
DIVIDES & UNIONS
Europe was not the only part of the world to split
between the two superpowers. In Asia, Korea divided
in half with a northern communist regime and
southern republic. North Korea wanted reconciliation
under a communist government sparking
the following war (1950-1953). The United States
sent 90% of military troops to defend South Korea
with a cost of 67 billion, 33,739 soldiers killed in
battle, and 103,284 wounded in action. The total
loss of all life during the Korean War is estimated
at 2,800,000. Today, South Korea remains a strong
capitalist country.
Vietnam divided into capitalist rebel South Vietnam
and communist North Vietnam. The Soviet Union
sent military supplies and advisors. The United
States sent troops to defend South Vietnam with a
cost of $200 billion, 47,438 soldiers killed in battle,
and 153,303 wounded in action. The Soviet Union
sent about 3,000 military experts to Vietnam who
fought alongside North Vietnamese soldiers and
helped inflict heavy damage on American planes.
They remained forgotten soldiers until 1991. The
total loss of life during the war is estimated at
3,100,000. Today, Vietnam is a communist state.
Espionage and military intelligence was the focus of
both countries. Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
(MIT) Summer Study Group wrote a detailed
analysis (1952) of the United States and Canada’s
vulnerability to air attack. Their recommendation
was to build an early warning system across the
arctic as soon as possible. The system would give
the United States and Canada an early warning of
foreign aircrafts approaching the polar regions with
time to initiate a defense.
The United States built the Distant Early Warning
System, known as the DEW Line, across Alaska, Canada,
and Greenland. The 3,000 mile chain was composed
of more than 50 radar and communication
stations across the Northeast shore of Alaska to the
eastern shore of Baffin Island, near Greenland. Prototype
sites were first built in Alaska and were active
until the 1980s.
www.knowyourorigins.org
The DEW Line
project name
project start
project built
Distant Early
Warning System
1954 December
1957 July
people involved 20,000
building conditions
transportation
amount of
materials moved
what was built
amenities included
comparable to
manned by
replaced with
long, dark, sub-zero
blizzard filled winters
dog sleds, snowmobiles,
aircrafts
460,000 tonnes from
United States & Canada
buildings, airstrips,
hangars
electricity, heat, water
dismantling & moving
2,000 Colosus of Rhodes
1,788 miles & rebuilding
them along the 3,000
mile span of the Arctic
Circle in darkness &
extreme cold in less than
3 years
U.S. Air Force from
1957 - 1992
North Warning System
1993 - Present