[5] In 1944, the British Air Force installed analog computers at Chain Home stations in order to automatically convert radar plots into map locations.
The committee determined that the greatest threat to the nation's air defense was low-flying aircraft capable of avoiding widely dispersed GCI radars.
[6] To counter this, the committee recommended that a large number of ground based radar systems be installed all over the United States to provide complete coverage.
This large number of stations required a command and control center that could aggregate radar track data in real time.
SAGE was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area.
There was no money at the time, however the Marine Corps continued to refine requirements for their future automated tactical data system for air defense operations.
[5] MTDS consisted of three major components that worked in concert to automate early warning, fighter direction and the control of surface to air missiles within the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF).
[5] In its original design, MTDS planned to utilize TADIL-A/Link 11 to communicate between all participating Marine Corps units (TACC, LAAM, etc...) and the Navy's NTDS afloat.
There were also questions about the viability of utilizing high frequency radio waves in mountainous terrain where the Marine Corps may need to operate.
The TRC-97 provided data, voice and teletype connectivity for MTDS and would grow to become the backbone of USMC and USAF long haul communications for years to come.
Memory drums were used as the digital storage elements and system clock pulse generators in the Central Computer Group and each of the Radar and Identification Data Processors (RIDP).
At that time a senior defense official questioned the efficacy of drum memory computers and requested a review of the program.
After a few month delay, the Marine Corps was able to show that the drum memory system already in place met all reliability requirements set forth for the program.
Classroom instructions was provided by the Marines of MACS-3, field representatives from Litton Industries and civilians from the US Navy's Naval Aviation Engineering Service Unit.
Testing was not complete before the beginning of Gulf War in 1990 therefore Marine Air Control Squadron 2 utilized MTDS when combat operations commenced in January 1991.
The site also provided excellent line of sight to United States Seventh Fleet ships operating in Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin.
[16] Even though MACS-4 departed Vietnam on 31 January 1971 it maintained a small detachment of twenty Marines on top of Monkey Mountain to man the AN/TYQ-3 - Tactical Data Communications Central (TDCC).
The arrival of these highly technical systems, and the concurrent need for specialists to operate them, was a catalyst for the professionalization of aviation command and control in the Marine Corps.