Post War Defensive Missiles
Early in the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed long-range bombers which could reach the United States, and soon after exploded their first atomic bomb. Among the most threatened targets were harbors and naval bases. The mission of the Nike missile program was to act as a "last-ditch" line of air defense for selected areas. The Nike system would have been used if the Air Force's interceptors failed. These were the last fixed-fortifications weapons employed in the United States.
Nike sites were built during the 1950s in "rings" around major urban and industrial areas, and key Strategic Air Command bases. The number of sites constructed within varied upon many factors. Due to the short range of the original Nike missile, the Nike "Ajax", many bases were located close to the center of the areas they protected. Frequently, they were located within heavily populated areas.
The missiles were considered obsolete by the mid-1960s, and the installations were removed.
Read more about this topic: Seacoast Defense In The United States
Famous quotes containing the words post, war, defensive and/or missiles:
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“There’s no telling what might have happened to our defense budget if Saddam Hussein hadn’t invaded Kuwait that August and set everyone gearing up for World War II½. Can we count on Saddam Hussein to come along every year and resolve our defense-policy debates? Given the history of the Middle East, it’s possible.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Stay-at-home mothers, . . . their self-esteem constantly assaulted, . . . are ever more fervently concerned that their offspring turn out better so they won’t have to stoop to say “I told you so.” Working mothers, . . . their self-esteem corroded by guilt, . . . are praying their kids turn out functional so they can stop being defensive and apologetic and instead assert “See? I did do it all.””
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“Our missiles always make too short an arc:
They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect
The curve of earth, and striking, break their own;”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)