The following is a list of Nike missile sites operated by the United States Army. This article lists sites in the United States, most responsible to Army Air Defense Command; however, the Army also deployed Nike missiles to Europe as part of the NATO alliance, with sites being operated by both American and European military forces. U.S. Army Nike sites were also operational in South Korea, Japan and were sold to Taiwan.
Leftover traces of the approximately 265 Nike missile bases can still be seen around cities across the United States. As the sites were decommissioned, they were first offered to federal agencies. Many were already on Army National Guard bases who continued to use the property. Others were offered to state and local governments, while others were sold to school districts. The leftovers were offered to private individuals. Many Nike sites are now municipal yards, communications, and FAA facilities, probation camps, and even renovated for use as airsoft gaming and military simulation training complexes. Several were obliterated and turned into parks. Some are now private residences. Only a few are intact and preserve the history of the Nike project.
General Belgian Nike info: The Nike missile system was operational in the Belgian airforce from 1959 until 1990. It was organized into a Missile Group (the overall staffing); a Support Wing (tech and log support), and 2 (9th and 13th) Missile Wings, each with 4 subordinate units. All Belgian Nike sites were in the 2 ATAF part of then West-Germany. Their defending area was the industrial Ruhr area.
94th ADA Group, headquartered in Kaiserslautern for most of the Nike-Hercules period had four battalions as follows, with locations:
2/1 ADA headquartered at Wiesbaden Air Base
- A Battery: Wackernheim
- B Battery: Dexheim
- C Battery: Quirnheim
- D Battery: Dichtelbach
5/6 ADA headquartered in Neubruecke
- A Battery: Schoenborn
- B Battery: Wueschheim
- C Battery: Baumholder
- D Battery: Hontheim
2/56 ADA headquartered in Pirmasens
- A Battery: Geinsheim
- B Battery: Landau
- C Battery: Salzwoog
- D Battery: Oberauerbach
3/71 ADA headquartered in Ludwigsburg
- A Battery: Dallau
- B Battery: Grosssachsenheim
- C Battery: Hardheim
- D Battery: Pforzheim
- In Pforzheim (HagenschieÃÂ/Wurmberg), in Baden-Württemberg there is a missile launch site operated by the US-Army until April 1985.
It was part of the Nike-Belt, a defense system which was created to defend Europe against the then newly invented jets. The site fired Nike missiles at potentially incoming jets as part of the Project Nike.
On Okinawa, the 30th ADA Brigade was on Okinawa. On Reversion Day, May 15, 1972, all Nike Hercules missile sites were handed over to the JASDF. Battery B,8th Battalion,3rd Air Defense Brigade was located on the Chinen peninsula in southern part of the island. The U.S. reverted the islands to Japan on May 15, 1972, setting back a Ryà «kyà « independence movement that had emerged. A Battery was located on Isikawa Dake, the narrow waist of the island. There was also a battery at Naha.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) contributed to the high level air defense of Germany by the following units:
Consisting of the four Squadrons: 118 (nuclear, also Group Operations Center (GOC), 119 (nuclear), 120 (nuclear) and 121 (conventional).
Squadrons located in Vörden, Handorf, Borgholzhausen and Bad Essen
Commissioned 01-11-1959, decommissioned 15-05-1975 and merged with 2GGW into 12 GGW.
Commissioned 08-04-1963, decommissioned 15-05-1975 and merged with 1GGW into 12GGW;
Consisting of the four Squadrons: 220 (nuclear, also Group Operations Center (GOC), 221 (nuclear), 222 (conventional ) and 223 (nuclear).
Squadrons located in Schöppingen, Erle, Nordhorn and Rheine
Commissioned 15-05-1975, decommissioned 01-04-1988;
Consisting of the four Squadrons: 118 (nuclear, also Group Operations Center GOC), 120 (nuclear), 220 (nuclear) en 223 (conventional).
Squadrons located in Vörden (118 sqn), Borgholzhausen (120 sqn), Schöppingen (220 sqn) en Rheine (223 sqn)
Commissioned 01-02-1964, decommissioned 15-05-1975 and merged with 1GGW and 2GGW into 12GGW; Location Hesepe.
This list is sorted by state. The "Missile type" code indicates the numbers and types of missiles and other installation details. For example, "2AK/18L-H" means the site contained two Nike Ajax magazines (A), located above ground (K), with eight launchers (8L) being converted to Nike Hercules (H). Many listings will have "FDS" following either the control site or launch site heading, which means that the site has gone through the "Formerly-Used Defense Site" program and has been transferred from DoD control to another party. With the exception of Alaska, in which sites were given a specific name, Nike missile sites were designated by a coding system of the Defense Area Name abbreviation; a two-digit number representing the degree from north converted to a number between 01 and 99 (North being 01; East being 25; South being 50; West being 75), and a letter, L = launch site, C = IFC (Integrated Fire Control) site. The Formerly Used Defense Sites (FDS) program processed many former sites and then transferred them out of Defense Department control.
The Alaska Nike sites were under the control of United States Army Alaska (USARAK), rather than Army Air Defense Command.
There were sixteen Nike related sites within the State of New Jersey, all of which were classed as supporting either the New York or Philadelphia defense areas. Refer to the respective state section (New York or Pennsylvania) for information related to New Jersey located Nike sites.
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