21 Facts About Nike Zeus

Nike Zeus was an anti-ballistic missile system developed by the US Army during the late 1950s and early 1960s that was designed to destroy incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile warheads before they could hit their targets.

The original, Nike Zeus A, was designed to intercept warheads in the upper atmosphere, mounting a 25 kiloton W31 nuclear warhead.

Decision whether to proceed with Zeus eventually fell to President John F Kennedy, who became fascinated by the debate about the system.

Nike Zeus's solution was to limit the Army to weapons with 200-mile range, and those involved in surface-to-air defense to only 100 miles .

In return, the Air Force complained that Nike Zeus was too long-ranged and the ABM effort should center on Wizard.

Related searches

Nike Zeus had little federal experience, and the launch of Sputnik left him little time to ease into the position.

New DM-15B Nike Zeus B received a go-ahead for development on 16 January 1958, the same date the Air Force was officially told to stop all work on a Wizard missile.

Nike Zeus began to educate Kennedy on the technical problems inherent to the system.

Nike Zeus had lengthy discussions with David Bell, the budget director, who came to realize the enormous cost of any sort of reasonable Zeus system.

On 22 September 1961, McNamara approved funding for continued development, and approved initial deployment of a Nike Zeus system protecting twelve selected metropolitan areas.

Nike Zeus summed up both the positives and the concerns this way:.

On 14 December a Zeus passed within 100 feet of a Nike Hercules being used as a test target, a success that was repeated in March 1962.

The Nike Zeus site, known as the Kwajalein Test Site, was officially established on 1 October 1960.

The Nike Zeus team responded that a system could be readied for testing by May 1963.

The third test, this time using an actual target consisting of an Agena-D upper stage equipped with a Nike Zeus miss-distance transmitter, was carried out on 24 May 1963, and was a complete success.

Nike Zeus was originally intended to be a straightforward development of the earlier Hercules system giving it the ability to hit ICBM warheads at about the same range and altitude as the maximum performance of the Hercules.

When Nike Zeus was still in the early stages of design, Bell Labs suggested using two similar radars to provide extended range tracking and improve reaction times.

Data from the ZARs were passed to the appropriate Nike Zeus Firing Battery to attack, with each ZAR being able to send its data to up to ten batteries.

Original Nike Zeus A was similar to the original Hercules, but featured a revised control layout and gas puffers for maneuvering at high altitudes where the atmosphere was too thin for the aerodynamic surfaces to be effective.

Nike Zeus B had a maximum range of 250 miles and altitude of 200 miles .

Nike Zeus A was designed to attack warheads through shock effects, like the Hercules, and was to be armed with a relatively small nuclear warhead.