Editing Distant Early Warning Line (section)

==Atlantic and Pacific Barrier==
{{more citations needed|section|date=February 2017}}
The DEW line was supplemented by the [[Continental Air Defense Command#Continental Air Defense Command#Contiguous Radar Coverage System|Contiguous Radar Coverage System]], which included 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 12 [[radar picket]] [[destroyer escort]]s and 16 [[Guardian-class radar picket ship]]s, and an air wing of [[Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star|Lockheed WV-2 Warning Star]] aircraft that patrolled the picket lines at an altitude of {{convert|1,000|–|2,000|m|abbr=on}} 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.<ref name="barwv2">Bouchard, Capt. Joseph F. (USN). [http://www.dean-boys.com/551aew/navy_air_defence.htm "Guarding the Cold War Ramparts."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928105324/http://www.dean-boys.com/551aew/navy_air_defence.htm |date=28 September 2011 }} ''dean-boys.com''. Retrieved: 13 March 2009.</ref>

[[File:Lockheed WV-2 of VW-15 flies over USS Sellstrom (DER-255) off Newfoundland, in March 1957.jpg|thumb|An Atlantic barrier [[EC-121 Warning Star|WV-2]] and the radar picket destroyer escort [[USS Sellstrom (DE-255)|USS ''Sellstrom'' (DER-255)]] off Newfoundland in 1957]]

The Atlantic Barrier (BarLant) consisted of two rotating squadrons, one based at [[Naval Station Argentia]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]], to fly orbits to the [[Lajes Field]] in the [[Azores]] and back; and the other at [[Naval Air Station 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 gap|GIUK barrier]]). Aircraft from Argentia were staged through [[Naval Air Station Keflavik]], Iceland, to extend coverage times.

The Pacific Barrier (BarPac) began operations with one squadron operating from [[Naval Air Station Barbers Point]], Hawaii, and a forward refuelling base at [[Naval Air Facility Midway Island]], on 1 July 1958. Planes flew from Midway Island to [[Naval Air Facility Adak]] on [[Adak Island]] (in the [[Aleutian Islands|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 the [[Midway Atoll]] and Escort Squadron Five (CORTRON FIVE), from [[Pearl Harbor]] to northern Pacific waters. Normally four or five 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 {{convert|400|–|500|mi|abbr=on}} off each coast.

Barrier Force operations were discontinued by September 1965 and their EC-121K (WV-2 before 1962) aircraft placed in storage.