THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED FOR RESIDENT AND NONRESIDENT

INSTRUCTION OF THE U.S. ARMY MISSILE AND MUNITIONS

CENTER AND SCHOOL ONLY. IT REFLECTS THE CURRENT THOUGHT OF

THIS SCHOOL AND CONFORMS TO PRINTED DEPARTMENT OF

THE ARMY DOCTRINE AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE

 

INDEX

SECTION 1 -        SYSTEM INTEGRATION

SECTION II -       SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

SECTION III -     INTEGRATED FIRE CONTROI AREA

SECTION IV -      LAUNCHING AREA

SEC TION V -      ASSEMBLY AND SERVICE AREA

SECTION VI -      SYSTEM SUPPORT  MAINTENANCE     

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5

8

11

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INTRODUCTION

This pamphlet has been written for the purpose of providing a basic knowledge and understanding of the NIKE HERCULES system it is designed so that an individual does not necessarily need a high degree of technical knowledge to understand the concept of the United States Army`s high altitude AD weapon system.

NIKE MISSILE SYSTEM ORIENTATION BK-6472

   

HISTORY OF THE NIKE SYSTEM

 

Toward the end of World War II, and particularly during the period immediately following the war, it became apparent that the existing gun-­type weapon systems were no longer able to cope with the rapidly advancing air and air supported offensive weapon system threats. Also, the advent of nuclear weapons no longer permitted the then acceptable, limited air defense penetration. The limitations of gun-type weapons dictated the development of a new air defense weapon system having a greater range and a higher kill probability.

 With this aim, at the request of the US Army Ordnance Corps, the BeIl Telephone Laboratories conducted a four month study program and, in 1945, submitted the NIKE program to Ordnance. The program was based on the system concept; in other words, an air defense network with equipment designed and manufactured to operate a guided missile weapons system. This system was superior to gun-type weapon systems in that it possessed a range capability exceeding 45,000 meters and an altitude coverage of over 15, 000 meters and by utilizing command guidance, its kill prob­ability was greatly increased over that of conventional gun-type systems.

 In 1953, NIKE AJAX became operational and was the first air defense guided missile system to be tactically deployed in the United States and allied countries. For several years, AJAX served as the free world‘s primary air defense system and in this capacity, established the NIKE tradition.

 In the latter part of the decade, of the l950`s, aircraft performance became greater, altitudes and payloads increased, and a missile system with greater capabilities than those of AJAX became necessary. Reasons for the supplanting of AJAX are: first, the kill radius of the high explosive AJAX warhead was relatively small, resulting in the destruction of only one air­craft in a formation. Second, AJAX range and altitude limitations restricted its effectiveness. Finally, the AJAX had only an HE (high explosive) cap­ability, thus neutralization of the nuclear weapons in an attacking aircraft could not be effected. (To neutralize a nuclear weapon, another nuclear weapon is needed). Therefore, a missile with a nuclear capability was required. Development of a missile with its associated equipment to coun­ter these limitations resulted in the second generation of the NIKE family-the NIKE HERCULES. (Fig. 1)

Tactically deployed since 1958, the NIKE HERCULES has replaced the NIKE AJAX as the first line of air defense. In replacing AJAX, the HER­CULES system has expanded the air defense perimeter to counter supersonic aircraft operating at altitudes in excess of 30,000 meters and ranges be­yond 100,000 meters.

NIKE MISSILE SYSTEM ORIENTATION BK - 6472

Since 1958, offensive weapons have undergone extensive technological changes and development to include Mach-2 high altitude aircraft and Mach-3 air supported missiles. These air supported missiles may be air launched, surface launched, or submarine launched, and may attain altitudes in excess of 30, 000 meters. In addition, the aircraft and air supported missiles may carry nuclear weapons and advanced Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) devices. 10 counter these advanced offensive weapons, the Improved NIKE HERCULES system was developed. (Fig 2). The Improved Hercules is based on modifications to the basic HERCULES system. Also, a new radar, the Target Ranging Radar (TRR) is added. Improved HERCULES systems will also have a High Power Acquisition Radar (HIPAR) (Fig 2).

 In addition to the capabilities of the HERCULES against airborne targets, it also has an extremely accurate and dependable surface to surface capability. Many tests employing the HERCULES as a surface to surface weapon have been made with highly satisfactory results.

 The HERCULES also has a limited anti-missile capability. In test firings at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the HERCULES system has proven to be extremely accurate, scoring direct hits against the CORPORAL surface to surface missile and against other HERCULES missiles being used as surface to surface type weapons. These tests indicate that the HERCULES system has an excellent anti-missile capability against tactical surface to surface and air to surface missiles.

 The anti-missile capability of the HERCULES missile system has been greatly improved by the addition of the Anti-Tactical Ballistic Missile (ATBM) modification. This modification is brought about primarily by changing the HIPAR antenna. This alters the antenna radiation pattern and gives a much higher altitude coverage. This type of coverage is essential if the HERCULES system is to be effective against the high angle ballistic trajectory which is characteristic of a ballistic missile. Since the ballistic missile may not be seen until it enters the antenna beam lobe, a high altitude coverage is neces­sary to give adequate reaction time to allow for an intercept at a safe distance from the Nike Site.

 Summary of General Tactical Characteristics: The Improved Nike Her­cules System is primarily designed to combat air-to-surface missiles and fast high altitude formations of modern aircraft with ECM capabilities. It can also be used, with nuclear warheads, against surface targets. The system can be employed as an individual defense unit or in combination with other air defense units such as HAWK. A number of Improved Nike Hercules batteries can be employed as units of an integrated air defense system, with each system monitored and controlled by an Army Air Defense Command Post (AADCP). The Nike Hercules ATBM System is designed to combat aircraft, air supported missiles. and tactical ballistic missiles, and as an added feature, can be conditioned to operate against surface targets using nuclear warheads.   
SECTION I

The NIKE HERCULES air defense system is tied to the overall air defense scheme by a system of AADCPs (Army Air Defense Command Posts), and interface equipment called Battery Terminal Equipment (BTE). This enables an automatic transfer of symbology between different groups and even different fire units of the same battalion. For local challenge and identification, each battery has IFF/SIF (Identification Friend or FOE Selective Identification Feature) equipment. The battalion level AADCP consists of the Operations Central (located at one of the fire unit sites and housed in an equipment shelter) and the Coder-Decoder Group (CDG) lo­cated at the fire unit. The AADCP equipment configurations vary according to geographical locations and missile system employed with. Missile Master, the first integrated fire distribution system (AADCP), has since been replaced by Missile Monitor or Missile Mentor. A future system, the Missile Minder, will replace all types.


Figure 3:    Surface to Air Mission - functional diagram

  Either acquisition radar can be selected and appropriate ECCM features employed as required. SIF!IFF may also be utilized to aid in establishing target identity, if AADCP System data is unavailable or indeterminate. The coordinate data from the selected acquisition radar is transferred to the TTR, which acquires the target. The TTR can be conditioned for manual or automatic tracking of the target while it transfers the target coordinate data to the computer. The MTR tracks the missile via a missile response pulse, which is generated as a result of the missile decoding of the MTR coded pulse transmission. The computer uses the missile and target position data to compute an intercept point and sends gyro azimuth data to the missile. The missile gyro provides a reference for the missile roll and flight attitudes. Steering and burst orders originate in the computer and are transmitted by the MTR as required.

A Surface-to-Air (Anti-missile) mission requires some preswitching and a system modified for this capability, otherwise this mission is identical to the surface to air type.

 



Figure 4:    Surface to Surface Mission - functional diagram  

In a Surface-to-Surface mission, the acquisition radars and the TRR systems are not used because the target position is known and stationary. The range, azimuth and elevation coordinates of the target are calculated, manually set into the TTR and locked. This data is fed to the computer. The computer functions as in an air defense mission except that missile trajectory data is manually set into the computer system causing the mis­sile to be guided to a point in space above the desired impact point. Before the missile reaches this reference point, the computer issues a dive order. As the missile approaches the ground, the computer issues a burst order, but due to special preparation of the missile for a surface to surface shot, the burst order only disables the missile receiver and fail safe circuitry. This arms the preset barometric fuse and rolls the missile 180 degrees to compensate for flight biases. The missile warhead is detonated in accordance with the barometric fuse setting.