The HistoryThe Nike Missile Program started after World War II to prepare for a "German uprising", but the United States government did not anticipate the Soviet Union's planned use of nuclear weapons...
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The BeginningIn the year 1945, Bell Telephone Laboratories created the Anti-Aircraft Guided Missile Report, in an attempt to create a guided surface-to-air missile system. Research was first done for the Report out of fear over the German Air Force’s introduction of new aircrafts to their arsenal. Eventually, the United States government began to notice the Soviet Union’s testing of atomic bombs in 1949. After the Korean War subsided, the Nike Missile program became a reality.
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About The SitesThe Nike Missile sites that were built were only to be used as a final defense against the Soviet Union; essentially, the program would only be in use if the Air Force’s fighter-interceptor aircrafts failed to prevent an attack from the Soviet Union. It took until 1951 for the first Nike missile test to occur successfully. This missile, the Nike Ajax, was capable of going speeds nearing 1600 mph and reaching heights of 17,000 ft. With the Nike Ajax only having a range of twenty five miles, the military upgraded in the early 1960’s to the Nike Hercules, which had a maximum speed of 2,700 mph, could reach a height of 150,000 ft, and has a range of ninety miles.
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The EndThe Nike Missile Program ended after the Nike Zeus, the Hercules’s successor, was retired in 1963 favor of Titan missiles, which can be stored in underground silos, and eventually left only a few Intercontinental Ballistic Missile systems in place, which still run today, such as the Minuteman III, produced by Boeing. The need for guided surface-to-air missile systems diminished until there was zero threat of a Soviet attack.
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One: It would cost the Russians a small amount of money to take down a Nike Zeus missile compared to what the cost was for the United States military to build it in the first place.In assessing the costs to maintain the Nike Missile Sites compared to the cost it would take the Soviet Union to take down one of the Nike missiles, the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Charles Hitch, stated, “As long as it appears that the Russians would only have to spend one dollar in rubles to overcome defenses that cost us ten dollars, it doesn’t seem to be a very attractive exchange for us”.
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Two: The Nike Zeus system could not keep up with a large amount of attackers.It would not be able to pick out an actual attacker in a large group of decoys.
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Three: In the end, the cost to produce the Nike Zeus program to its fullest could be up to 40 billion dollars
McNamara estimated a much higher amount, saying that the costs to continue the Nike Zeus program could rise from 300 to 1,000 percent the initial cost of 40 billion. McNamara, along with President John F. Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee, would find the Nike Missile Program not worth the large amounts of money, time, and resources.
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