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The Bomarc Missile Program was a joint United States of America-Canada effort during 1957 to 1971 to protect against the USSR bomber threat. It involved the deployment of tactical stations armed with Bomarc missiles along east and west coasts of North America, as well as central areas of the continent.
The Bomarcs were capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads. Their intended role in defence was in an intrusion prevention perimeter. Bomarcs aligned on the eastern and western coasts of North America would theoretically launch and disintegrate enemy bombers before the bombers could drop their payload on industrial regions.
The name Bomarc was conceived as a merge of the two organisations who played the most prominent roles in its creation: Boeing and the Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (MARC).
The Bomarc IM-99A was the first production Bomarc missile. It had an operational radius of 200 miles and was designed to fly at Mach 2.5 at a cruising altitude of 60 000 feet. It was 14.2 m (46.6 ft) long and weighed 7020 kg (15500 lb).
The Super Bomarc IM-99B was the 99A's successor with improvements to its operational parameters. It was capable of striking targets within a radius of 400 miles and able to fly at Mach 4 as high as 100 000 feet. It was 13.7 m (45 ft) long and weighed 7250 kg (16000 lb).
IBM designed an additional component to this called SAGE which allowed for remote launching of the Bomarc missiles.
At the height of the program there were 14 Bomarc sites located in the United States and two in Canada.
The Bomarc Missile Program was highly controversial in Canada. The Progressive Conservative government of John George Diefenbaker initially agreed to deploy the missiles and controversially scrapped the Avro Arrow fighter program arguing that the missile program made the Arrow unnecessary.
Initially, it was unclear whether the missiles would be equipped with nuclear warheads. Once their use as nuclear weapons became known in 1960 a debate ensued about whether Canada should accept nuclear weapons. Ultimately, the Diefenbaker government decided that the Bomarcs should be equipped with conventional warheads. The dispute split the Diefenbaker Cabinet and led to the collapse of the government in 1963. The Opposition Liberals argued in favour of accepting nuclear warheads and after winning the 1963 Canadian election the new Liberal government of Lester Pearson proceeded to accept nuclear warheads, with the first being deployed on December 31 1963.
Pierre Trudeau, who was at the time a member of the New Democratic Party of Canada, witheringly attacked Pearson for the decision. While he was forced to reverse himself when he decided to run for the Liberals in 1965 he remained unenthusiastic and, shortly after becoming Prime Minister in 1968, he announced that the missiles would be phased out by 1971. .
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