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Updated 26 May 2004
Origins Of The Nike System
Nike, named for the mythical Greek goddess of victory, was the name given
to a program which ultimately produced the world's first successful,
widely-deployed, guided surface-to-air missile system. Planning for Nike
was begun during the last months of the Second World War when the U.S.
Army realized that conventional anti-aircraft artillery would not be able
to provide an adequate defense against the fast, high-flying and
maneuverable jet aircraft which were being introduced into service,
particularly by the Germans.
During 1945, Bell Telephone Laboratories
produced the "AAGM (Anti Aircraft Guided Missile) Report" in which the
concept of the Nike system were first outlined. The Report envisioned a
two-stage, supersonic missile which could be
guided to its target by means of ground-based radar and computer systems.
This type of system is known as a "command" guidance system. The main
advantage over conventional anti-aircraft artillery was that the Nike
missile could be continuously guided to intercept an aircraft, in spite of
any evasive actions taken by its pilot. By contrast, the
projectiles fired by conventional anti-aircraft artillery (such as 90mm
and 120mm guns) followed a predetermined, ballistic trajectory which
could not be altered after firing.
During the first decade of the Cold War, the Soviet Union began to
develop a series of long-range bomber aircraft, capable of reaching
targets within the continental United States. The potential threat posed
by such aircraft became much more serious when, in 1949, the Russians
exploded their first atomic bomb.
The perception that the Soviet Union might
be capable of constructing a sizable fleet of long-range, nuclear-armed
bomber aircraft capable of reaching the continental United States provided
motivation
to rapidly develop and deploy the Nike system to defend major U.S. population
centers and other vital targets. The outbreak of hostilities in Korea,
provided a further impetus to this deployment.
The mission of Nike within the continental U.S was to act as a "last
ditch" line of air defense for selected areas. The Nike system would have
been utilized in the
event that the Air Force's long-range fighter-interceptor aircraft had
failed to destroy
any attacking bombers at a greater distance from their intended targets.
Within the continental United States, Nike missile sites were constructed
in defensive "rings" surrounding major urban and industrial areas.
Additional Nike sites protected key Strategic Air Command bases and other
sensitive
installations, such as the nuclear facilities at Hanford,
Washington. Sites were located on government-owned property where this
was available (for example, on military bases). However, much real estate
needed to be acquired in order to construct sufficient bases to provide
an adequate defense. This was a sometimes difficult and contentious process.
Often, the federal government had to go to court in order to obtain the
property needed for such sites.
The exact number of Nike sites constructed within a particular "defense area"
varied
depending upon many factors. The New York Defense Area -- one of the
largest in the nation -- was defended at one time by nearly twenty
individual Nike installations. Due to the relatively short
range of
the original Nike missile, the Nike "Ajax", many bases were located
relatively close to the center of the areas they protected. Frequently, they
were located within heavily populated areas.
Nike Ajax missiles first became operational at Fort Meade, Maryland, during
December, 1953. Dozens of Nike sites were subsequently constructed at
locations all across
the continental United States during the mid fifties and early sixties.
Roughly 250 sites were constructed during this period. Nike missiles were
also deployed overseas with U.S. forces in Europe and Asia, by the armed
forces of many NATO nations (Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Belgium,
Norway, the Netherlands, Greece and Turkey), and by U.S. allies in Asia
(Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan).
A typical Nike air defense site consisted of two separate parcels of land.
One area was known as the Integrated Fire Control (IFC) Area. This site
contained the
Nike system's ground-based radar and computer systems designed to detect and
track hostile aircraft, and to
guide the missiles to their targets.
The second parcel of land was known as the Launcher Area. At the
launcher area, Nike missiles were stored horizontally within
heavily constructed underground missile magazines. A large,
missile elevator brought the Nikes to the surface of the site where
they would be pushed (manually) by crewmen, across twin steel rails to
one of four satellite
launchers. The missile was then attached to its launcher and erected
to a near-vertical
position for firing. The near-vertical firing position ensured that the
missile's booster rocket (lower stage) would not crash directly back onto
the
missile site, but, instead, would land within a predetermined booster
impact area.
The control and launcher areas were separated by a distance of 1,000 to
6,000 yards (roughly 0.5- to 3.5-miles) and were often located within
different townships. Technical limitations of the
guidance system required the two facilities to be separated by a
minimum of 3,000 feet. Whenever possible, control
areas were constructed on high ground in order to gain superior radar
coverage of the area. Control areas were generally located between
the area being defended and the launcher area containing the missiles.
The first successful test firing of a Nike missile occurred during 1951.
This first
Nike missile was later given the name Nike "Ajax". Nike Ajax was a slender,
two-stage guided missile powered by a liquid-fueled motor utilizing a
combination of inhibited red fuming
nitric acid (IRFNA), unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) and JP-4 jet
petroleum. The Ajax was blasted off of
its launcher by means of a jettisonable solid fuel rocket booster which
fired for about 3 seconds, accelerating the missile with a power of 25
times the force of gravity.
The Ajax missile was capable of maximum speeds of over 1,600-mph and
could reach targets at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet. Its range was
only about 25 miles, which was too short to make it a truly effective air
defense weapon in the eyes of its many detractors. Its supporters countered
that the new missile was markedly superior to conventional antiaircraft
artillery, and that it was, significantly, the only air defense missile
actually deployed and operational at that time.
Nike Ajax was armed with
three individual high-explosive, fragmentation-type warheads located at
the front, center and rear of the missile body. Although consideration
was given to arming the Ajax with a nuclear (atomic) warhead, this
project was canceled in favor of developing a totally new, much-improved
Nike missile. Even as the first Nike Ajax missiles were being deployed
across the nation, work on its successor, first known as "Nike-B" and later
as Nike "Hercules" had already begun.
Work on a successor to the first Nike missile, the Nike Ajax, was
initiated well before the first Ajax missiles were deployed at
tactical sites
across the nation.
Two major considerations drove the development of the this
second-generation
Nike missile. The first was a requirement to produce a missile with
improved speed, range and altitude capabilities to defend against a new
generation of faster and smaller
aerial targets, in particular, supersonic aircraft and cruise missiles.
The
second requirement was the desire to arm this new missile with a powerful
atomic warhead to ensure destruction of the target aircraft and the
destruction of disabling of any nuclear weapons it carried.
Originally designated as "Nike B", the Nike "Hercules" was a far more
capable missile than its predecessor (the
Nike Ajax) in nearly every way. With a maximum range of about 90 miles,
maximum
speeds in excess of 2,700 mph, and the ability to reach targets at
altitudes of up to 150,000 feet, the Nike Hercules was a highly potent air
defense
weapon. The Hercules missile lacked most of the complex, miniaturized
vacuum tubes utilized by the Ajax missile. It also employed solid
rocket fuel in its
"sustainer" motor made the missile both easier and safer to handle than
the Ajax
which employed highly caustic liquid fuel components.
Unlike the Ajax, the Hercules missile was designed from the outset to
carry a
nuclear warhead. Designated "W-31" the Hercules nuclear warhead was
available in three different yields: low yield (3-Kilotons);
medium yield (20-Kilotons) and high yield (30-Kilotons.). A Kiloton
(Kt.) represents the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT. For purposes
of comparison,
the atomic bomb
dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of the Second
World War had a yield of approximately 15 Kilotons.
Armed with its nuclear warhead a
single Nike Hercules missile was capable of
destroying a closely spaced formation of several attacking aircraft.
However, defending against mass formations of aircraft was not the only
reason
for deploying atomic warheads on the Hercules missiles. Instead, the
atomic capability provided an enhanced capacity for destroying or
disabling the nuclear weapons carried aboard an aircraft, helping to
ensure that there would be no nuclear detonation of these devices.
Deployment of the first nuclear-armed Nike Hercules missiles was made on
an
emergency
basis within the continental United States. Because sufficient quantities
of
the W-31 warhead were not available in early 1958, some of these missiles
were initially equipped with an already available, although somewhat
heavier, nuclear warhead designated "W-7".
The Hercules missile could also be equipped with a powerful,
high-explosive, fragmentation-type warhead designated "T-45". This warhead
provided a useful alternative to the atomic W-31 warhead. For
example, a conventional Hercules missile could have
been used to engage a single U-2 type Soviet reconnaissance aircraft, a
circumstance when the nuclear capability would have been excessive.
Very limited
numbers of conventional Nike Hercules missiles were deployed at Nike
missile sites within the continental United States. The vast majority of
these missiles were, however, nuclear-tipped.
Additional
warhead designs, including "cluster" type warheads containing numerous
submunitions, were developed although not deployed operationally on the
Nike Hercules missile.
More sophisticated radar and guidance systems were also part of the
Nike Hercules "package". These made the Hercules system more accurate and
effective at longer
ranges. During the early sixties, an "Improved" version of the
Nike Hercules
missile system,
utilizing ABAR (Alternate Battery Acquisition Radar) or HIPAR (High Power
Acquisition Radar) was deployed. The improved radar capabilities and other
advanced electronic features of the Improved Nike Hercules system made it
more effective against small, supersonic targets including aircraft and
aircraft launched "stand-off" or "cruise" missiles. A variant of the
system provided a limited capability to defend against tactical
ballistic missiles.
An relatively unknown fact is that the Hercules missile could also be
used in
a surface-to-surface mode. In this role, the Hercules would have
been
used to deliver tactical nuclear warheads to destroy concentrations of
enemy troops and armored vehicles, or bridges, dams and other
significant targets from bases and field deployments located primarily
within Western Europe. This surface capability might also have proven
useful in other areas where the Hercules missile was deployed including South
Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey. The potential use of Hercules missiles against
ships or submarines from coastal sites in the continental United States
also appears to have been considered.
Maximum range of the Hercules missile in the
surface-to-surface mode was 114 miles, and was limited by the
effective transmission range of the Missile Tracking Radar (MTR).
Although deployed at permanent sites within the continental United
States, and at many overseas locations, mobile Nike Hercules batteries
increased the flexibility and usefulness of this system, permitting the
powerful capabilities of this versatile missile system to be extended
wherever this could prove useful. Trucks and trailers were used to
transport Nike Hercules system components to the desired field locations.
In this mode, a single missile was mounted upon a truck-drawn
trailer/launcher unit which also served as a firing platform.
Unlike some
modern missile systems, Nike was guided entirely from the ground, from
firing to warhead detonation. The electronic "eyes" (radar) and "brain"
(computer) of
the Nike system were located on the ground, within the Intergrated Fire
Control or IFC Area.
Within the IFC area, hostile aircraft were first identified by means of
an acquisition radar. This rotating, search-type radar enabled the missile
battery
to detect aircraft and to positively identity friendly
or hostile aircraft by means of electronic signals generated
by either IFF ("Identification Friend or Foe") or SIF ("Selective
Identification Feature") equipment.
Target information would normally have been derived from regional Army air
defense control centers. These facilities received information about
incoming hostile aircraft from the Air Force's nationwide air defense
radar network. The regional control centers determined which aerial
targets were to be fired on by individual Nike missile
batteries. The advent of the Air Force's partly-automated, nationwide SAGE
(Semi Automatic Ground Environment) air defense network and the deployment
of the Army's own Missile Master system (and similar, follow-on fire
distribution systems), enabled faster and more accurate coordination
within this Cold War era system of air defenses.
Having acquired and positively identified a hostile aircraft,
a second radar, the Target Tracking Radar (TTR) would be aimed at and
electronically locked onto it. This radar would then follow the
selected aircraft's every move in spite of any evasive action taken by
its pilot. A third radar, the Missile Tracking Radar (MTR) was then aimed at
and electronically locked onto an individual Nike missile located at the
nearby Launcher Area.
Both the TTR and MTR were linked to a guidance computer located within the
Battery Control Trailer at the IFC Area. This analog computer continuously
compared the relative positions of both the target aircraft and the
missile during its flight and determined the best course the missile would
have to fly in order to reach its intended target. Steering
commands were computed and sent from the ground to the missile during its
flight, via the Missile Tracking Radar. At the moment of
closest approach the missile's warhead would be detonated by a computer
generated "burst command" sent from the ground via the MTR.
For surface-to-surface shots, the coordinates of the target were
dialed into the computer and the height of burst was set by crew members
at the Launcher Area. The standard technique was for the missile's
guidance signal to be terminated as it dove vertically onto its target.
Detonation of the warhead was via the pre-set barometric fusing.
Alternately (and presumably as a back-up system) the warhead could be
exploded via contact fusing when it impacted the selected target or target
area.
Although Nike was created in response to Soviet efforts to design and
deploy long-range bomber aircraft during the early years of the Cold
War, Soviet military strategy soon changed. By the late 1950s, fearing
that their manned
aircraft
would be too vulnerable to attack by American interceptor
aircraft armed with rockets and missiles, the Soviet Union focused more of
its attention on developing ICBMs or Intercontinental Ballistic
Missiles against which there existed, at that time, no effective defense.
The Soviet long-range strategic bomber force continued to operate
throughout the Cold War. However, these forces never achieved the size or
capabilities of their American counterpart, the U.S. Air Force's Strategic
Air Command or SAC.
The shifting nature of the Soviet threat meant that the air defense role,
for
which Nike was originally intended, became relatively less critical as time
passed.
Defense dollars were needed for other projects (including the development
of American ICBMs and potential missile defenses) and also to fund the
rapidly growing war in Vietnam. As a result, beginning in the mid
1960s, the total number of operational Nike
bases within the continental U.S. was fairly steadily reduced, on an
almost annual basis. All Nike Ajax sites in the continental United States
were closed down by 1964. Closures of select Nike Hercules sites began
during the mid 1960s.
During 1974, all remaining operational sites within the nationwide Nike
air defense system were inactivated. Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM) which
administered this system was closed down shortly thereafter. The
deactivation
of the nationwide Nike missile system signaled the end of one of the
nation's most significant, highly visible and costly Cold War air
defense programs.
end.
Despite the termination of the nationwide Nike program in the United
States, Nike
missiles
remained
operational at a small number of sites in southern Florida and in Alaska
for several more years. Nike missiles also remained operational with U.S.
forces in Europe and the Pacific, and with
the armed forces of many U.S. Allies overseas. Although no longer in the
U.S.
inventory, more than four decades after the first Nike missile became
operational in the U.S., Nike Hercules missiles are today deployed by
the armed forces of Italy, Greece, Turkey and South Korea.
Copyright 1997-2004 by Donald E. Bender. All rights reserved.
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