Project Nike

Project Nike was a US Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Labs, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the world's first operational anti-aircraft missile system in 1953, the Nike Ajax. A huge number of the technologies and rocket systems used to develop the Nike Ajax were re-used in a number of roles, many of which gained the "Nike" name. The missile's first-stage solid rocket booster became the basis for everything from the Nike Hercules missile to NASA's Nike Smoke rocket, used for upper-atmosphere research.

Project Nike began in 1944 when the US military demanded a new defense system to combat the potential new jet aircraft. Existing gun-based systems proved completely incapable of dealing with the speeds and altitudes that such planes operated at. Bell Labs proposed a two-stage supersonic rocket that was directed by a ground-based radar and computer system. The actual missile system was developed and built by Bell, Western Electric and Douglas. This was one of two projects being run by the Army; General Electric's Project Thumper was developing a collision-course missile system for longer range interception, a system that would eventually be delivered as the BOMARC missile.

The first successful Nike test was in November 1951, intercepting a drogue B-17. The two stage missile had a solid fuel booster stage and a liquid fuelled (IRFNA/UDMH) second stage. The missile could reach a maximum speed of 1,600 mph, an altitdue of 70,000 ft and had a range of 25 miles. The missile contained an unusual three part payload, with explosive fragmentation charges at three points down the length of the missile. The missiles limited range was seen by critics as a serious flaw, it often meant that the missile had to be sited very close to the area it was protecting.

The first type, Nike Ajax (MIM-3), were deployed from 1953. The Army initially ordered 1,000 missiles and 60 sets of equipment. They were placed to protect strategic and tactical sites within the US, a last-line of defence from air attack they were position to protect cities as well as military installations. The missile was first deployed at Fort Meade, Maryland from December, 1953. A further 240 launch sites were built up to 1962. They replaced 896 90 and 120 mm AA artillery, operated by the National Guard or Army to protect certain key sites.

After bickering between the Army and the Air Force (see the Key West Conference, 1948) the air defence missiles were operated by the Army Anti-aircraft Command (ARAACOM), founded in 1950 (the Air Force went on to develop its own BOMARC program). ARAACOM was renamed the US Army Air Defense Command (USARADCOM) in 1957, it adopted a simpler acronym, ARADCOM, in 1961.

Each launch site was in two parts, seperated by at least 1,000 yards, one site of about six acres contained the radar systems to detect incoming targets (acquisition and target tracking) and direct the missiles (missile tracking), along with the computer systems to plot and direct the intercept. The other site, around forty acres, held underground missile magazines, four launch assemblies and included a safety zone. The site had a crew of 109 officers and men who ran the site continuously, one launcher would be on 15 minutes alert, two on 30 minutes and one on two hour alert.

Even as Nike Ajax was being tested work started on Nike-B, later renamed Nike Hercules (MIM-14). Intended improvements were to speed, range and accuracy, with the ability to intercept ballistic missiles. The Hercules had a range of about 100 miles, a top speed in excess of 3,000 mph and a maximum altitude of around 100,000 ft. It had solid fuel boost and sustainer rocket motors. The boost phase was four Ajax boosters strapped together. Another improvement over Ajax was the replacement of vacuuum tubes with solid-state components.

The missile also had a nuclear warhead option to improve the probability of a kill, the W-31 was a variable yield system offering 3, 20 or 30 kiloton detonations. The non-nuclear option was a explosive fragmentation type, the T-45. The fire control of the Nike system was also improved with the Hercules and included a surface-to-surface mode.

The Nike Hercules was deployed from June 1958. First deployed to Chicago, 393 Hercules ground systems were manufactured. By 1960 ARADCOM had 88 Hercules batteries and 174 Ajax batteries, defending 23 zones across 30 states. Peak deployment was in 1963 with 134 Hercules batteries.

Development continued, producing Improved Nike Hercules and then Nike Zeus A and B. Zeus, with a new 400,000 lb thrust solid-fuel booster, was first test fired in August 1959 and demonstrated a top speed of 8,000 mph but had certain deficiencies, it was renamed Spartan in 1967. Production of the Zeus was deferred in 1961 and phased out in 1963 in favor of a specific ABM system initially designated Nike X but later renamed Sentinel.

The development of ICBMs decreased the value of the Nike system, from around 1965 the system was being contracted. Thule air defence was cut in 1965 and SAC base defence in 1966, reducing the number of batteries to 112, budgetary cuts reduced that number to 87 in 1968 and 82 in 1969.

Nike Hercules was included in SALT I discussions as a ABM and following the treaty signed in 1972 and further budget cuts almost all Nike sites were deactivated by February 4, 1974.

The Nike Zeus was developed as an ASAT from 1962 until the project was cancelled in favor of Thor in 1966

• Length: 10.36 m overall, 6.41 m second stage
• Diameter: 0.30 m
• Fin span: 1.22 m
• Mass: 1,116 kg on launch, 523 kg second stage
• Maximum speed: Mach 2.25
• Range: 40 km
• Ceiling: 21,300 m
• Booster: Solid-fuel (26,818 kg static thrust for 2.5 seconds)
• Sustainer: Liquid-fuel (1,182 kg static thrust for 21 seconds)