Editing Project Nike (section)

===Decommissioning===
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2011}}
Soviet development of [[ICBM]]s decreased the value of the Nike (aircraft) air defense system.  Beginning around 1965, the number of Nike batteries was reduced. [[Thule Air Base|Thule]] air defense was reduced during 1965 and [[Strategic Air Command|SAC]] air base defense during 1966, reducing the number of batteries to 112.  Budgetary cuts reduced that number to 87 in 1968, and 82 in 1969.

Some small-scale work to use Nike Zeus as an [[anti-satellite weapon]] (ASAT) was carried out from 1962 until the project was canceled in favor of the [[PGM-17 Thor|Thor]] based [[Program 437]] system during 1966.
In the end, neither development would enter service. However, the Nike Zeus system did demonstrate a [[hit-to-kill]] capability against ballistic missiles during the early 1960s. See [[National Missile Defense]] and [[anti-ballistic missile]] (ABM) systems.

Nike Hercules was included in [[SALT I]] discussions as an ABM.  Following the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]] signed during 1972, and further budget reduction, almost all Nike sites in the continental United States were deactivated by April 1974.  Some units remained active until the later part of that decade in a coastal air defense role.