Ed's Nike Missile Web Site (original) (raw)

ed@ed-thelen.org
Ed Thelen

Our Founder - Ed Thelen - 1931-2024

Ed at SF-88

Ed at SF-88

New Story

Inside a Nike Missile Guidance Circuit Board

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"Peace in our time"?? - Russia invades Ukraine, China threatens Taiwan.
United Nations Security Council, the 5 members with veto power
include Russia & China
Russia is attacking Ukraine, Ukraine is so desirable
China threatens Tiawan, Taiwan has TSMC
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC),
is the world's largest, best, and most valuable semiconductor manufacturer.

China makes 12 times more steel and burns 7 times as much coal than the U.S.
If the U.S. gets into a serious war, it will have to import more steel from China.

Visiting again? - updates

Table of Contents. This site presents a great deal of Nike Herculeshistorical,technical andoperationalinformation and provides extensive links to Nike relatedbooks, documents,museumsand to otherNike related web sites. This site also provides aphotographic tour of Nike site SF-88 (being restored),location and status of Nike sites, and aList of Nike People, some on-line documents, a bulletin board, a search, a Photo Exchange, an FAQ, and a variety of other features.
2019, the Russians are playing "games" again.

Table of Contents

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Introduction

gotta have a little fun

(Model) Nike Launches from BA-79 just outside of Baltimore
from David Zuchero - Jun 22, 2020

I am working with a group of volunteers who are restoring BA-79 just outside of Baltimore. Last week I launched a scale model of the Nike Hercules from BA-79 off of the one of the elevator doors. Probably the first time any Nike every left the launch site at that base, lucky for all of us!

from JP Moore

This example shows the importance of accuracy in your tax return.

The IRS has returned the Tax Return to a man in New York City after he apparently answered one of the questions incorrectly.
In response to the question, ... "Do you have anyone dependent on you?"
the man wrote: ... "12 million single mothers, 7.1 million illegal immigrants, 1.1 million crack-heads, 4.4 million unemployable scroungers, 80,000 criminals in over 85 prisons, plus 450 idiots in Congress and a group that call themselves Politicians."

The IRS stated that the response he gave was unacceptable.

The man's response back to the IRS was.... "Who did I leave out?"

Comments on today's world

Why I like retirement
to help ex-President Obama as he ponders terror,FBI,Harry Truman
Civil Asset Forfeiture,A little Bit of Reality,Commentary,the NFL,9/11
Reagan's Soviet Jokes,We Forgot!,Senate Testimony
"Carbon Footprint" - 2021 Steel production, China produces 52.8% of the world's crude steel.
12.0 times the U.S. steel production, which is less than either India or Japan.
"Green" California buys most of the steel for its bridges and structures from China!
Thomas Sowell, Cancel Culture Comes to France, Another election year Political Cartoons

Maybe we are getting the quality of government we pay for?? - as of June 2021

  1. Senior software engineers in San Jose, CA get an average of $166,452 (indeed.com)
    (and can live at home)
  2. Senators and House Representatives get $174,000 per year.
    (and need to live in near Washington DC and in their home district!)
    - My "liberal" friends point out that they also get free haircuts and other "benefits" -
  3. Senior Major League Baseball umpires can earn upwards of $350,000 per year.
  4. The president of the U.S. gets $400,000 plus free haircuts ;--)
    - and either protection or abuse from "the media", depending -
  5. Nancy Farber, CEO of our local hospital, got $1,200,835 in 2019
    - I drive extra miles to avoid that screwed up place
  6. Buster Posey, a SF Giants baseball player, got $22,177,777/year.
    - Enough to pay the salaries of 127 members of Congress
    - In 2020,Roger Goodell (NFL) was slated to make $40 million
!! Disinformation from Copernicus !! Consensus of philosophers agree with Aristotle.Disagreeing with Aristotle, Copernicus claims: a) The earth turns around once a day. b) The earth goes around the sun once a year. c) The earth is not the center of the universe.To halt spread of the above disinformation: a) Copernicus book is on the Forbidden List. b) Giordano Bruno didn't recant - burned alive. c) Galileo recanted - permanent house arrest.Stamp Out Disinformation and Copernicus Is the DGB Disinformation Governance Board replacing theRoman Inquisition ??Sounds like Vladimir Putin's previous employer - the KGB.The same KGB of Stalin fame.

Introduction

What Nike is all about Created in 2021, an excellent 13 minute Youtube by Scott ManleyOddly, I can find nothing to quibble about! Very unusual -Sott also mentions the WWII German AA rocket, the Wasserfall, hand guided, never fielded/used. Nike Hercules Missile Q5 High Altitude Intercept - 1.5 minutes This three minute videois a (successful :-) test of an early Nike Ajax destroying a radio controlled WW-II B-17. Later tests verified that the Nike Ajax was also a killer of higher flying sub and supersonic jets such as used by the Soviet Union. The next generation was the Nike Hercules which was faster, longer range, and could carry nuclear warheads to destroy multiple targets. The "plotting room" equipment shown in this video must have been an engineering prototype - Things were much more crowded when installed in the two vans - among other things, the plotting boards here are horizontal, in the BC van, they are vertical. The analog computer operational amplifiers are different, big tubes here, in the vans they were "miniature" tubes, and on and on - the zero set switches (the round spinning things in the analog computer) were a little different style - I think you could say that this equipment was "re-packaged" for field use.
Mike Stucka, a staff writer for the Taunton Daily Gazette, was looking for images for a Nike story and e-mailed"This story is interesting, and everyone is so darned helpful." ( That story has disappeared - I should have made a "local copy" ! ) I thought for a bit and replied:"These were good days for lots of now older folks - and we were quite proud of - the learning experience - some of us even got a little more "mature" ;-)) - doing something useful - better than flipping hamburgers or selling shoes ?"Most look back and smile, and like to share the warm feeling :-))"

This site has become a cooperative effort as more than 350 people have contributed text, stories, ideas, information, and corrections.

The Nike surface to air missile system was named after the winged goddess of victory in Greek mythology. Two versions of this system defended the U.S. and other places from hostile aircraft.

The 1st version, the Nike Ajax, was deployed in the U.S. from 1954 to the early 1960s. It had an effective range of 25 miles.

The 2nd version, the Nike Hercules, was developed which was faster, had a range of over 75 miles, and had nuclear capability. The Hercules was deployed starting in 1958. In 1963, there were 134 Nike Hercules and 77 Nike Ajax batteries defending the U. S. - as per "Rings of Supersonic Steel".

Both versions above are made light and transportable by wheeled vehicles, transportable in cargo planes for "easy" mobility. With practice and preparation, a site could be moved in a long, hard day. As many parts as practical are made of aluminum or magnesium, the standard power frequency is 400 Hertz (cycles per second) saving iron and weight in transformers and motors as in aircraft.

The Nike Hercules sites in the continental United States mostly closed around 1974, with the exception of Alaska and Florida, which were closed around 1979.
Our NATO Allies continued to utilize the Nike Hercules Air Defense system until early 2000's.(with an improved digital computer and all internal electronics upgraded to solid state electronics)
Our NATO allies de-commissioned the Nike Hercules in Taiwan 2002, Italy 2008, Greece and Turkey 2010.
The Patriot Missile System MM-104 Replaced the Nike Hercules system in 1981.
The Patriot system had better mobile "Shoot and Scoot" capabilities, and was more of a battlefield weapon
In 2008 The US Army placed in service the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) Mobile Anti-Ballistic Missile System, with a 120 mile range and carries no warhead, uses impact to destroy.

This web site does not present photos, histories, nor detailed status of most NIKE sites. I link to other web sites take up that interesting challenge.

Almost all Nike Hercules related information has been declassified - the only exceptions are some IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) information, some flight characteristics, and some nuclear warhead information. This site has a little information on the Nike Ajax, and no information onNike Zeus (external link), also youtube A 20-year History of Antiballistic Missile Systems.

I installed and maintained Nike Ajax fire control equipment (radars & computer) at Chicago site C-41 during 1955-1957.Maybe "we" deterred "them".I have served as a volunteer helping restore an old Nike site(SF-88) near San Francisco for the National Park Service.

About submitting photos to this web site.

Colorful Pictures, Movies, Brochures

Two "action" pictures and four movies

Hercules Night Launch, (17 K bytes) [ [Herc night launch] From previous army pictures at http://www.redstone.army.mil/ history/archives/nike_017.jpg.](nike%5F017.jpg) Hercules Day Launch, (from NAMFI, 32 K bytes) [ [Herc day NAMFI launch] From ](nike%5Fkreta1.jpg)Rolf Dieter G?rigk On-Line Movies Nike Ajax Intercept - 1 minute, Internet Archive Nike Hercules Intercept - 1.5 min, Internet Archive Hercules Launchs - 6 min, YouTube Nike Hercules night launch The missile (with booster) was launched 0.4 seconds ago, is accelerating at 25 times the force of earth's gravity, has risen 60 feet, and it is now going 210 miles per hour. Four seconds from now, the missile will be: going 1,700 miles per hour straight up,separated from the booster, (the black flaming thing with the white fins),turning (diving) towards the intercept point with the target,starting the sustainer rocket engine to reach 2,700 miles per hour. If the target is 90 miles approaching at mach 1.5, the missile will meet the target 60 miles away in 90 seconds. The Nike Hercules shown here defended major U.S. target areas against aircraft attack from 1958 to 1974. It had an effective range of over 75 miles and a speed of mach 3.6. South Korea has over 200 of these missiles, with associated radars and guidance systems, currently in service. Its predecessor, the smaller Nike Ajax, was in service from 1954 through about 1965. It had a range of 25 miles and a speed of mach 2.5.

A Great Photo Study of an abandoned Nike site - by Rich Lewis

Intercept - A little more technical ;-))

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This is a plot of a Nike Hercules intercepting a target flying at 52,000 feet.
The vertical scale is altitude in feet. (max 100,000 feet)
The left trace is the Nike missile, the right is the target.
The horizonal scale is computed time to intercept, in seconds.
The middle is time zero, intercept.
Note: Against high flying targets such as this, the Hercules does not necessarily go above the target.
from TM9-1400-250-10/2 page 36,Manual

Cold War in South Florida, ... Study available free online - posted Mar 4, 2010

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3 MBytes

Click on image to download the .pdf
Good news. The Cold War Study of Nike Hercules in South Florida ($19.95 plus shipping) has been re-released in pdf format as a public domain document.

The tours of HM-69 has been overwhelming at Everglades National Park for the second year. Tours will be conducted through the end of March.

Charles D. Carter

The Cuban Missile Crisis by James Whitaker (Nike, South Florida)
The Cold War is an Electronic War (Soviets shot down 23 of our ELINT Planes) 36 minutes through 44 minutes

Michael Keller wrote (Feb 2009) & (Dec 2010) & (Aug 2011) & (Dec 2012)

Nike History

Nike in Overall Air Defense

Nike Site Technical information

Nike Operational information

Support for Nike Field Batteries (and museums)

On-Line documents - Longer range radars another site
- Un-Numbered Documents
- Numbered Documents