Editing Project Nike (section)

===Nike Hercules===
{{Main|MIM-14 Nike-Hercules}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2011}}
[[File:A Nike Hercules missile at the Army Museum in Brussels.jpg|upright|thumb|A Nike Hercules missile]]
Even as Nike Ajax was being tested, work started on Nike-B, later renamed '''Nike Hercules''' (MIM-14). It improved speed, range and accuracy, and could intercept [[ballistic missile]]s. The Hercules had a range of about 100 miles (160&nbsp;km), a top speed in excess of 3,000&nbsp;mph (4,800&nbsp;km/h) and a maximum altitude of around 150,000&nbsp;ft (about 46&nbsp;km)<ref>{{cite book|title=FM 44-1|publisher=U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1962-650514|pages=8|edition=1962-650514|url=http://ed-thelen.org/FM44-1.pdf|ref=Department of the Army Field Manual 44-1}}</ref> (30&nbsp;km). It had solid fuel boost and [[sustainer rocket]] motors, with the boost phase consisting of four Nike Ajax [[booster (rocketry)|boosters]] strapped together. In the 70's some (foreign) users replaced the vacuum tube guidance circuits in the missile with more reliable solid-state components, but electron tube circuits were still used well into the 80's.<ref name="Hercules">{{cite book |last1=Kendrick |first1=Gregory |title=First Line of Defense, Nike Missile Sites in Illinois |date=1996 |publisher=Rocky Mountain System Support Office, National Park Service |location=Denver, Colorado |pages=32–35 |edition=1st }}</ref> The electron tube's resistance to EMP effects over earlier non-EMP-hardened solid-state circuits played a major part in the retention of 'obsolete' technology until hardened solid-state circuits were developed.

[[File:"It's no secret we're in the 'missile business' to stay..." 1958 Douglas Aircraft Company ad detail, from- The Big T 1958 (page 184 crop).jpg|left|thumb|"It's no secret we're in the 'missile business' to stay..." Douglas Aircraft Company ad in the [[California Institute of Technology]] 1958 yearbook]]
The missile also had an optional [[nuclear weapon|nuclear warhead]] to improve the ability to defend against mass formations. The [[W31|W-31]] warhead had four variants offering 2, 10, 20 and 30 kiloton yields. The 20&nbsp;kt version was used in the Hercules system. At sites in the United States, the missile almost exclusively carried a nuclear warhead. Sites in foreign nations typically had a mix of high-explosive and nuclear warheads. The [[fire-control system]] of the Nike system was also improved in the Hercules, and included a [[surface-to-surface missile|surface-to-surface]] mode which was successfully tested in Alaska. Arming the missile, with concurrent choosing of the deployment mode, was accomplished by changing a single plug on the warhead from the "Safe Plug" to "Surface to Air" or "Surface to Surface" <ref name="Hercules"/> and a range setting in the TRR. 

The Nike Hercules was deployed starting in 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 not including the US Army Hercules batteries deployed in Germany, Greece, Greenland, Italy, Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Turkey.<ref name="Hercules"/>

In 1961, SAC and the U.S. Army began a joint training mission with benefits for both parties. SAC needed fresh (simulated) targets which the cities ringed by Nike/Hercules sites provided, and the Army needed live targets to acquire and track with their radar. SAC had many [[Radar Bomb Scoring]] (RBS) sites across the country which had very similar acquisition and tracking radar, plus similar computerized plotting boards which were used to record the bomber tracks and bomb release points. Airmen from these sites were [[Temporary duty assignment|temporarily assigned]] to Nike sites across the country to train the Nike crews in RBS procedures. The distances from the simulated bomb landing point and the "target" were recorded on paper, measured, encoded, and transmitted to the aircrews. The results of these bomb runs were used to promote or demote air crews. These exercises also included [[Electronic countermeasure]] training. The performance of the NIKE crews improved remarkably with this "live target" practice.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Many Nike Hercules batteries were manned by [[Army National Guard]] troops, with a single active Army officer assigned to each battalion to account for the unit's nuclear warheads. The National Guard air defense units shared responsibility for defense of their assigned area with active Army units in the area, and reported to the active Army chain of command. This is the only known instance of Army National Guard units being equipped with operational nuclear weapons.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}