Former D 2 1 ADA Nike Hercules missile Launcher AREA

 military, invisible, closed

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 (see D 2 1 ADA Launcher Area Dichtelbach ) 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.

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.

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 See www.d21dichtelbach.com