HM-69 | The radar can continue to locate the target in elevation or azimuth because all of the signals come from the same location, but the receiver cannot easily determine which pulse was sent by the radar and which was sent by the electronic countermeasures (ECM) on the target aircraft, which is needed to measure the time-of-flight. The upper stage alone was 24feet 11inches (7.59m) long. At its peak, it was deployed at over 130 bases in the US alone. New to the Hercules system was the Target Ranging Radar, or TRR. Here are some dangers I encountered, some are just plain stupidity. [31][32] In spite of this success, the GOER-based Hercules would not be used operationally. This was aircraft with speeds up to Mach 3, a wide range of radar cross sections, and powerful electronic countermeasures. Mobilization 1962: Driver decides to back his missile trailer loaded with a live Hercules- backs off the road down an embankment. Good luck to any fishing boats at that point of the ocean. The soldier that fired it did a double take when he realized what the missile was after, threw the launch tube and ran. Having to disarm the warhead Several years later I was working for AT&T when I ran across an article in an AT&T magazine about Murray Hill in New Jersey. He opened up the escape hatch door to ventilate the panel room and made us get out of the launching area for the rest of the day. [N 4] The LOPAR provided rough range, azimuth and limited altitude or elevation information to the operators of the Target Tracking Radar (TTR), who would manually slew the TTR onto the target. 126 feet, Target Tracking Hercules was officially referred to as transportable, but moving a battery was a significant operation and required considerable construction at the firing sites. The Nike Hercules missiles were positioned underground in the silos. The civilian on the phone and two other scientists received a Noble Prize for discovering cosmic background radiation in space, the C.O.B.E. My MOS was 22f20 Nike electronic maintenance and warhead specialist. [6]:39 That is, whether the missile operated more like an aircraft (Air Force) or a rocket (Ordnance). At this time the target information and the intercept point were displayed on the plotting boards and the BCO selected the right time to manually fire. I just returned from the seattle va hospital and i am now on the va health registry for occupational exposure of a us veteran during military service with the hawk ada missile system. Second lt. were probably the most dangerous, trying to convince everyone they knew it all but they were just getting started. HM-69 | Subject: Melting Waveguide I was woken at 6:30 AM by our Master Sergeant banging on my door telling me to get dressed and report to the base commander now and bring the daily log! BudHalsey | To address this whole range of issues, Bell proposed a series of changes:[26]. | I heard he also relieved himself of all that was in his lower intestine. Our team finished the second day with a perfect score, but the rest of our battery was just getting started. 16B goes nuts in a guard tower 30 feet high with an M16A1 and 180 rounds of ammo, with a gas mask. going out to the RF Test Set. Ordnance | Air Force call the Army about it. Once locked-on, tracking was automatic.[36]. Oozlefinch | We were high as a kite from the fumes of the trichlorethelene. Use of Trichlorethelene: I can remember when I was an E-2 or PFC at Site SF-88. Italy | Granted sovereignty to the marshall islands, including bikini, in the 1980s. Keywords CONT INENTAL Defense Department National Security Council Nuclear Warhead Enemy Attack Panel Room, before they installed stairs. The resulting system used six semi-trailers: four to carry HIPAR electronic gear, one to carry the antenna, and one to carry the generators. a rattle snake in your tent The guidance commands were sent to the missile by modulating the MTR transmit signal. The location was downtown Huntsville, Alabama. Everglades National Park. He also testified that the Nike-Hercules missiles had atomic warheads and that he felt that he had significant exposure to ionizing radiation because of his military duties. Sent him to the hospital. [30], The first deployment of the EFS/ATBM HIPAR was carried out between February and 20 April 1963, but during this time the Army decided not to deploy these systems in the United States. NY56 | Radio-frequency radiations from radar antennas and associated LA-29 | Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2013 6:39:30 PM BaseTuono | out there that want to add to the list just send your material to the webmaster@nikemissile.org. [2]:287[22] Conventionally armed Nike Hercules missiles also served in the United States, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Norway, and Taiwan. From: "Robert Bennington" Although Hercules had demonstrated its ability to successfully engage short-range missiles, the capability was not considered very important. Conversions were largely complete by 1960, leaving only a few Ajax sites in use. Approximately 25,000 Nike Hercules were manufactured. [4], During World War II, the US Army Air Force (USAAF) concluded that existing anti-aircraft guns, only marginally effective against existing generations of propeller-driven aircraft, would not be effective at all against the emerging jet-powered designs. One of these locations was directly above the elevator, the others were reached by manually pushing the missiles off the elevator to the launcher along rails. Reunions; Current Events; Cold War. ammo trailer that lost three Eating "something" (mystery meat) at cafe while on SNAP at NAMFI Crete Greece. Meanwhile, the TTR can continue offering location information, and in the case that is also jammed (difficult but possible), was upgraded to offer a home-on-jam mode that used the ECM system's own broadcasts as a location source. 7923 carlton arms rd, apt b (1,726.23 mi) indianapolis, in, in 46256. Similar experiments for Hercules boosters led to the XM-61 single-chamber booster, but when the XM-42 cluster proved to be even less expensive than expected, this effort was also dropped. When the command came to raise elevator everything started moving, the elevator started upward, the erector beam was rising and the magazine doors did not open. Radar-Nike-Ajax Mode 127 feet, Missile Tracking [9] It was normally deployed in fixed bases with a central radar and control site (Integrated Fire Control area or IFC) separated from the launcher area (LA). A new missile could be launched about 11 seconds after detonation or rejecting the previous missile. Tom Cluff | Like the Germans and British before them, they concluded the only successful defence would be to use guided weapons.[5]. currents, arming magnetos, pissed off attack dogs, rifles and handguns, The HIPAR was fired up and the rotation was locked with the antenna pointed at a certain point off the east coast. Blown fuse in a nuclear warhead de-mating procedures, never saw the Italians run so fast. While stationed at D/2/52 on Krome Avenue in spring 1972 we went to the RFTS to perform dailies and found that due to heavy rain the previous evening, there were approximately 100 snakes of several different types coiled up on the concrete pad at the base of the mast. VA recognizes that the following diseases are possibly caused by exposure to ionizing radiation during service: All cancers. In testing the system was successful against all manner of short-range rockets and missiles, and successfully tracked the Redstone on 23 September and 5 October 1963, but failed to achieve a "kill" in either test due to unrelated problems. CWVA As soon at the TTR was locked on to a target, an analog computer (later digital) continually computed a suitable intercept point in the sky and an expected 'time to fly' of the missile based on information from the TTR and basic performance information about the missile. The first HIPAR was tested at White Sands between 14 April 1960 and 13 April 1961, starting with two Ajax launches that passed 14 yards and 18 yards from the drone targets, and a further 17 Hercules launches that were generally successful. [29] FABMDS would have performance against any credible "theatre" ranged missile or rocket system, as well as offer anti-aircraft capabilities, the ability to attack four targets at once, and be relatively mobile. Dangers | TerryFetterman | SiteSummit | Subject: Nike Site Dangers, Sandbagging hose from Joy Compressor to launcher and having hose fitting fail. Needless to say the engineering section chief and his assistant got read the riot act. The effect of Based on the 'time to fly' of the missile this limited overall battery rates to about one launch every couple of minutes.[36]. LaunchSet | Tents were only 8 to 10 feet from the building they were rebuilding. turning over, with injuries to The last Hercules missiles were deactivated in Europe in 1988, without ever being fired in a military conflict. Date: August 4, 2019. The last active Nike Ajax batteries were relieved of their mission in December 1961, followed by the last Army National Guard unit in May 1964. Official requirements were published in 1945; Bell Laboratories won the Ordnance contract for a short-range line-of-sight weapon under Project Nike,[5] while a team of players led by Boeing won the contract for a long-range design known as Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft, or GAPA. someone (people) is down range, Rebuilding berms and equipment I reviewed what I had done with the Captain and the test instructions. Finding a Nike Hercules' warhead armed Italy | Beginning in FY 1961 the older warheads were replaced by W-31 Mod 0 warheads, with yields of 2 kt (Y1) or 30 kt (Y2). Falling down the ladder leading to the Body parts sucked into cooling fans; We call these presumptive diseases. SF-88 | Scoring, and other routine soldier duties like guard duty, K.P., painting and Sent: Friday, March 8, 2013. We were all individuals but the men I trained were the best people in the service. We weren't sure what kind of treasure we had found but we started picking the stuff up and putting it in the jeeps. Reunions | [30], The primary change to create the resulting "Improved EFS/ATBM Hercules" was a modified version of the HIPAR. I was diagnosed in October 2014. At MA+4 the missile self destructed when it failed to detect the MTR. The antenna was modified to give it the ability to see higher angles, while the Battery Control Console was upgraded with dual PPI displays for short- and long-range work, and the data link to the missile van was upgraded. desert north of Fort Bliss. Needless to say I quickly killed the transmitter. However, it makes the determination of range difficult or impossible. Trophy | Tom Cluff | Store | and could be spared), Finding warhead seal broken The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. [12], During this period, some effort was put into a frangible booster for the Ajax. C-50 | HM-95 | [23] The first deployments in Europe began in 1959. Video | In his 26 November 1956 memorandum, he limited the Army to weapons with 200-mile (320km) range, and those involved in ground-to-air defense to only 100 miles (160km). Overview | Germany 1962: Performing maintenance on the racks in the Missile Storage Building, with overhead doors closed, crossing from one side to the other I swung the gate towards the overhead door and there was an electric arc from the door to the racks. War Veterans Assc. F16 buzz the IFC so the IFC made the F16 light come on (lock on the F16). The TRR system combatted this by allowing switching between two very different set of frequencies. Greece | There were concerns about the possibility of Air Force fighters being attacked by Army missiles, but the two forces improved co-ordination between the Army's ARAACOM and the Air Force's Air Defense Command (ADC) to the point where it was no longer a serious concern. See hearing transcript at pp. [6]:20-30,37, This did not do much to stop the squabbling, nor did it solve the problems that led to the issues in the first place the fight over Hercules and BOMARC and related anti-missile developments. Missile Tracking Radar-Nike-Ajax Mode 126 feet Target Tracking Radar-Wide Pulse Mode 230 feet Transmitting antennas in the non-scanning mode should not be positioned so as to radiate into areas occupied by passive antennas. Paint a Hercules trainer missile put it on a ready round trailer. Working with nuclear weapons, high explosives, errant electric Site Bay (C Battery), across Cook Inlet from the others, has been mostly demolished, with only burned out shells of the batteries remaining, as well as a few storage bunkers. [21], The AMMO shot took place on 1 July 1958, successfully intercepting a simulated 650-knot (750mph; 1,200km/h) target flying at an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,000m) and a slant range of 79 miles (69nmi; 127km). This included about 30 seconds to develop a track for a target; 4 seconds for computer to develop a firing solution, and 2 seconds between the initial fire order command and missile launch. To provide the same range of view, the tracking radars were also often placed on concrete platforms of their own, although these were much smaller. However, as rumours of a ban on atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons spread, SNODGRASS became a crash project to be completed before 1 September 1958 at any available site the Nevada Test Site was fully booked with the existing Project AMMO testing series. Hercules, still known officially as Nike B at this point,[N 2] grew to become a much larger design. Crests | LauncherArea | In the case of Hercules, all of the radars were typically mounted on (concrete) elevated platforms to improve their line-of-sight. Subject: Nike Herc night time thriller. I updated my log and headed down the hill for some rest. [20], It did, however, allow development of Hercules to continue, and the system was soon preparing to deploy. Developed by Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque and at Los Alamos, it was given 1A priority by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in March 1953. It was up to him to take whatever action was necessary to protect his equipment. Murray Hill is where all the AT&T antenna experiments took place. Unzipping the door on the TTR radome only Learn more about Diseases Related to Exposure to Ionizing Radiation Each wing ended with a control flap which was separated from the wing by a short distance, leaving a gap. Not only were the duties on a Chicago was slated to shortly begin receiving its Hercules upgrades. Boss said it couldn't be done, we said give us 2 weeks, we ran into a little trouble acquiring a power converter that we could operate off the tank system to power the radar. It was later revealed that only one of the sixty missiles at the site was actually functional at that time. sfn error: no target: CITEREFLeonard2011 (, United States tri-service rocket designations post-1963, United States Army Center of Military History, "Complete List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons", "New Battle Looms Over Army's Newest Missile", "Nickerson Accuses Wilson Of 'Grave Errors' On Missiles", "Army Weights Court-Martial Over Missiles", "Naval Forces' Capability for Theater Missile Defense", "Nike-Hercules Anti-Aircraft Missile Launched", "The Nike Hercules of the Italian Air Force Museum", "Nike Hercules Booster Motor Assembly Markings and Paint Schemes", "SF-88 NIKE MISSILE ASSEMBLY and SERVICE AREAS", "Nike History, Eyewitness accounts of Timothy Ryan, Carl Durling, and Charles Rudicil", Last Line Of Defense: Nike Missile Sites In Illinois, Holm Hinrichs Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nike_Hercules&oldid=1131078092, Cold War nuclear missiles of the United States, Cold War surface-to-air missiles of the United States, Military equipment introduced in the 1950s, Articles with dead external links from December 2022, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from July 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Hercules M42 solid-fueled rocket cluster (4 M5E1 Nike boosters) 978, Sustainer: Thiokol M30 solid-fueled rocket 44.4, improvements to the X-band TTR/MTR radars to increase range, the addition of the long-range L-band "High Power Acquisition Radar" (HIPAR) to detect small, high-speed targets, the addition of the wide-frequency Ku-band Target Ranging Radar (TRR) to provide ranging in a heavy ECM environment, the addition of an active seeker on the missile to improve performance against low-altitude targets, This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 12:42. 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