system and transfer the responsibility to a commercial firm. Also, the semi-automated Alaskan NORAD Control Center was replaced with the fully automated Alaska NORAD Region Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC). It achieved an operational capability on 14 June 1983, linked to the Alaska Radar System which achieved its operational capability in October 1985. At Elmendorf, the 21st Tactical Fighter Wing converted from F-4s to F-15A Eagles in 1982; the Eagles were upgraded to the more capable F-15C during 1986–1987. The 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron was assigned to Eielson Air Force Base where it was equipped with A-10 Thunderbolt II close air-ground support aircraft. The 54th Tactical Fighter Squadron, of Aleutian Campaign fame, activated once again in 1987 On 1 July 1986, the 962d Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron (AWACS) activated at Elmendorf AFB. It operated two E-3 Sentry aircraft on rotational duty to Alaska. (The aircraft were later assigned to the squadron.) A second F-15C squadron was added the next year. The modern radar system, F-15s and the E-3 resulted in a greater capability to protect the air sovereignty of North America. The number of Soviet aircraft intercepts increased dramatically from an average of ten a year during the first half of the 1980s to a record of 31 in 1987, after which the numbers began to decline dramatically following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and today such intercepts are rare occurrences. The air sovereignty role while still important, has diminished in utility to that of the "Polar Thrust" whereby Alaskan aircraft deploy anywhere in the globe on short notice to deliver whatever ordnance or capability is required. AAC hosted multiple distinguished visitors. In 1989 President George Bush stopped at Elmendorf en route to Japan for the state funeral of Japanese Emperor Hirohito and addressed a crowd of over 7,000 in Hangar Five. Ironically, this was the same hangar in which President Richard Nixon had greeted Hirohito eighteen years previously when the emperor had made his first official state visit outside his native land. Inactivation Joint operations in Alaska are a practical necessity. After the Alaskan Command (ALCOM), a unified command established in 1947, was disestablished in 1975, the Commander, AAC assumed the additional responsibility of Commander, Joint Task Force-Alaska, a provisional joint command that could be activated in the event of an emergency, such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989. Emergency activation did not