USAF (DEFEND AND AVENGE 509th ATOMIC BOMB WING) THE ONLY UNIT EVER TO DROP NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN ANGER.



Attached below the shield a White scroll edged with a narrow Yellow border and inscribed "DEFENSOR VINDEX" in Blue   

The 509th Bombardment Wing's emblem is rich in tradition. Each symbol on the shield represents some part of the past. The Air Force wings represent the branch of service but are not in the familiar outstretched position. When the ancient Greeks approached a stranger, they raised their arms with palms outward to show they were carrying no weapons - a sign of peace. The 509th obtained special permission to display the wings in this configuration to show that it, too, comes in peace. The atomic cloud burst represents two things: that the 509th is the only unit to ever drop atomic bombs in wartime and that it still uses atomic power as a deterrent to war and defender of peace. Finally, the eldest son symbol (the red tripod) shows that the wing is the oldest atomic trained military unit in the world.

Cold WarThe wing was established as 509th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, on 3 November 1947 and organized on 17 November 1947. The initial mission of the 509th Bomb Wing was to carry out strategic bombing missions using Atomic Bombs at the direction of the President of the United States.

The wing's mission expanded in July 1948 when it received the 509th Air Refueling Squadron and its KB-29M hose-type tankers and later with B/KB–29P boom–type tankers. Although aerial refueling had been accomplished as far back as the 1920s, the Air Force decided to make it a permanent part of its operations. In fact, the 509th AREFS was one of the first two AREFSs ever activated. In the first week of December 1948, the squadron began receiving the KB-29M, modified B-29 bombers capable of providing air-to-air refueling for bombers using a refueling hose [vs. today's USAF standard flying boom]. With the addition of tankers, the 509th's bombers could reach nearly any point on earth. In June 1950, the wing received the B-50D Superfortress and in January 1954, the KC-97 Stratotanker replaced the aging KB-29Ms.509th BW B-47 Era badgeThe 509th BW entered the jet age in June 1955 when it received the B-47E Stratojet, the first all-jet bomber. Deployed as a wing several times in the early 1950s, three times to England on REFLEX deployments and once to Guam, the wing also deployed individual squadrons at other times. Temporarily had no refueling unit during 1958. The 509th BW moved its personnel and equipment to Pease AFB, N.H. in August 1958. By 1961 it was believed that the B-47 was becoming obsolete and President John F. Kennedy directed that the phaseout of the B-47 be accelerated. However this was delayed in July by the onset of the Berlin crisis of 1961-62.
     The 509th was initially phased down for inactivation in late 1965 as a part of the retirement of the B-47, but instead was converted to a B-52D Stratofortress wing in 1966. The 509th was taken off nuclear alert as its B-52Ds were designed to carry a large number of conventional bombs (84 500-lb Mk 82 or 42 750 lb M-117s) for service in the Vietnam War as part of Operation Arc Light. The wing deployed KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft and crews, November 1966– December 1975; with B–52 aircraft and crews, November 1966– September 1969, and with B–52 crews, 1970. From 1 April to 1 October 1968 and 26 March to c. 20 September 1969, more than one-half of the wing was deployed to Andersen AFB, Guam to support SAC operations in Southeast Asia.
                   On 1 December 1969 was wing redesignated as the 509th Bombardment Wing, Medium and began receiving the FB-111A strategic bomber in December 1970. The FB-111A was the all-weather strategic bombing version of the Tactical Air Command F-111 which was equipped to carry the AGM-69 SRAM that carried a nuclear warhead with an explosive yield of 200 kilotons. The 509th would operate the aircraft for two decades. Won the SAC Bombing and Navigation competition and the Fairchild trophy in 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1983. Awarded the Sanders trophy for best air refueling unit in 1982.
As the Rockwell B-1B Lancer came into service, the FB-111 became redundant to SAC needs In 1988, Pease AFB was one of several Air Force installations closed as part of the base realignment and closure commission recommendation. The 509th's FB-111s were transferred from SAC to TAC between june and December 1990, being redesignated as F-111G and converted into a tactical bomber.

NY-25 ROCKY POINT NIKE/HERCULES US ARMY MISSILE BASE

Nike Battery NY-25

Rocky Point/Brookhaven,NY
for the last ten years or more i have followed
one of the most dedicated Nike Missile Historians.
 His website and information helped me put
my information together and understand what
a rich cold war history is around me.
thanks to a great historian and Nike/Cold War guru
Don Bender - click title to visit his website

Changing military tactics and the proposed extension of the Long Island Expressway influenced the location of Nike missile battery NY-25. Plans originally called for the site to be located closer to existing Nike sites in Nassau County. However, the site ultimately chosen for what would become the easternmost Nike installation within the former New York Defense Area better reflected the enhanced capabilities of the second generation Nike Hercules missile system.
Located in Suffolk County on Long Island's north shore, this Nike Hercules equipped site defended the nuclear research facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratories, as well as Grumman's Calverton test facility, the Suffolk County Air Force Base, and the New York metro area in general. Site NY-25 remained in operation until 1974.

Location ROCKY POINT/ SHOREHAM NY

LONG ISLAND, SUFFOLK COUNTY

USAR ARAADCOM No. NY-25

Launcher Area: ARMY RESERVE CENTER- MAGAZINES ARE INTACT BUT NOT BEING MAINTANED Route 25a Shoreham Ny

Long Island/Suffolk County

Rocky Point, Brookhaven

(Suffolk County), NY

Control Area: DEFENSE HILL Across from Army Reserve Center at Top of hill end of road area is totally free of any abandonded military equipment, The early 1990s the large radar platforms and a couple of buildings was razed.only the perimeter fence is left. And the flag pole. currently  The US Army housing was still there being used as low income housing units, The area water tank and playground are rusted beyond being usable.

Rocky Point, Brookhaven

(Suffolk County), NY

Dates of Operation

1956 -1974

 Weapons Systems

& Missile Load

Nike Ajax / 30

Nike Hercules / 18

 Missile Magazines

3 Magazines.

1 type "B" and 2 type "C".

Radar Types

ACQR, LOPAR, ABAR, HIPAR

Secondary Master Fire Unit

Reserve Radar Integration Station

 Unit Information

Army -

D/505th (1956-1958)

D/3/51st (1958-1964)

National Guard -

B/1/244th (1964-1974)

 Present Status

Portions of this site remain reasonably intact. The former launcher area with its 3 underground missile magazines is located within the current U.S. Army Reserve Center. The family housing area remains intact with the homes occupied by new, non-army, residents. Atop Defense Hill, the Control Area has been demolished and the site is used as a park and for flying model airplanes.

The Rocky Point / Shoreham NY-25 Site Was Situated next to Shoreham Wading River High School and was never a problem and was so quiet

i had family who grew up less than one mile away

and never new the full extent of the US Army Ground to Air Nike/Hercules base. Nor did they know they were nuclear , Across ny 25a was the housing for families of the Nike Unit a small not well built bunch of one story houses and at the end of Defense Hill rd. was the Command & Control Section with heavy fencing and perimeter guards, This battery was not ONLY to protect NYC but it's mission was the Nuclear Research lab (Brookhaven National Laboratory ) that housed a Functioning Nuclear Reactor and was involved in Radiological research for most of the Pacific Nuclear Tests and studied the effects on the people that lived on the islands surrounding the tests and did Radiological Research on Agriculture on the Lab's property,

RCA Radio had a radio broadcasting station just west of the site and was known for being the first to transmit overseas, A little further East was the Grumman Calverton Naval Weapons plant that produced many of the Cold War Electronic jamming and Counter Measures Aircraft and a was a big part of aircraft found on Aircraft Carriers the F-14 TomCat was the last of Grummans  naval contracts.

        It is also very possible that the site protected the Groton Submarine Base across the sound only 2o miles North. during the late 1960s all the way to the 1980s the power company LILCO (Long Island Lighting Company) was building a Nuclear Power Plant to generate power about 2 miles east of the NY-25 (built and decommisioned soon after)  The Suffolk County Air Force Base was just east of the US Army Missile site and Montauk early warning radar a bit further east in Montauk also the US Goverment Infectious Disease Lab on Plum Island was East of Montauk but still part Of New York State . Other local Govt. had Command and Control Bunkers south of the nike base that was responsible for Suffolk County Fire, Rescue,Suffolk County Police Dept. and Civil Defense Now Office Of Emergency Mngmnt in Yaphank. The county Public Works  is based there also.It is a shame that the Nike base was let to rot like the others on Long Island but if someone intervenes i am sure it could be saved and restored. As far as Protection For the residents of Suffolk County all air defense has been dismantled ,missiles, interceptor aircraft, Radar sites , and with that all the aircraft Mfg companies Republic,fairchild,Grumman, Douglas,Gyrodyne, and with that hundreds of radar, aviation electronics,and other military contractors. Riding the Long Island RailRoad all the big Cold War military Contractors were along side the rails and these huge Industrial sites like Sperry, Fairchild,Republic,Grumman, etc.. are rotting and torn down and retail outlets built in their place, Bethpage Grummans HQ where the lunar module was built had their Airport  next to the tracks and military jets would be landing and taking off always now you can not even see a runway since factories and a water tower sit where the runway was, east of that at republic /fairchild the place that built cold war jets and helped win world war 2 and the cold war is in such disrepair it's factory is a fire hazard. its a shame and disrespectful.

SISTER MARGARET BRIODY was a young nun in training in Amityville when the Cuban missile crisis hit in 1962. People streamed into her church, Queen of the Rosary Chapel, to light candles and pray that nuclear missiles would not rain down on the United States. She remembers because it was her job to replenish the votive candles and she could barely keep them stocked. ''Those were very tense times,'' she recalled. ''People were very worried we might go to war.'' The threat seemed especially real in Amityville because a missile base sat next to the campus of buildings owned by the Sisters of St. Dominic. Throughout the missile crisis, she said, uniformed soldiers could be seen rushing about, aiming 40-foot-long Nike anti-aircraft missiles at the sky to shoot down any enemy bombers that might come. Unbeknownst to residents at the time, those missiles were fitted with nuclear warheads, some more than twice as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The instruments of nuclear Armaggeddon were literally in their backyards.
To protect New York City -- an obvious target for any enemy -- 19 missile bases were built in the suburbs surrounding the city. Long Island had five sites, in Lloyd Harbor, Oyster Bay, Lido Beach, Rocky Point and Amityville. Other bases were built in the city, in Westchester and Rockland counties and in northern New Jersey. The ring of missile bases was the area's last line of defense against Soviet bombers. There are few people around who remember the sight of missiles being carted across Long Island on trailers, and most of the bases have little more than a rusted chain-link fence left to them. Private homes have been built on parts of the Oyster Bay and Lloyd Harbor missile sites, and part of the Lido Beach site is now used for school bus parking by the Long Beach School District.
But now, a quarter century since the last base was closed, there are hopes that the missile site at Rocky Point can be placed on the National Register of Historic Places and someday turned into a cold war museum. ''A lot of cold war infrastructure is historically significant even though it's not very old,'' said Donald Bender, a military historian who researches Nike missile sites across the country for government agencies and who has started the process for historic designation. ''These missile sites aren't pretty like the old seaside fortifications that were built in previous centuries, but they're fascinating nonetheless.'' Instead of stately stone forts, they are steel and concrete bunkers buried in the ground and surrounded by barbed wire. Still, standing underground at Rocky Point's now-empty missile magazine, a cavernous room about 50 feet long and 60 feet wide, Mr. Bender easily conjures Strangelovian images.
''They make you think of spies, James Bond, secret codes, sirens blaring, red lights flashing,'' he says, his voice echoing through the dank expanse. ''It's cold-war scary.''
But for many among the hundreds of men who served on these Long Island bases, the ''missile years'' are remembered as their best years in uniform.






''It was different from other assignments,'' said Frank Hess, a 78-year-old World War II veteran who worked at missile sites on Long Island for more than 10 years. ''You're with a different group. These guys worked hard and it was a job, but it was in the line of defense of your country. We put in a lot of time together.'' It was the hours spent huddled underground, waiting for further orders and not knowing if the ''red status'' issued by higher-ups was real or just a drill, that bound these men in a way not easily forgotten.
''I would tell the guys to take it easy and then all of a sudden, we'd get a red status and boom, it was get to the pits, hook them up and get ready to fly them,'' said Mr. Hess, who lives in the same house in College Point where he lived while serving on the missile bases. ''And you never knew if it was practice or the real thing. The rest of the time, you'd be waiting for something to happen. After a while, it just gets in your blood.''
Mr. Hess joined the Army National Guard in 1955 and initially served at anti-aircraft gun batteries in Queens before moving on to missile bases on Long Island. The missile bases were initially staffed by the regular Army but by the 1960's had been shifted to the National Guard, which generally operated each base with about 90 full-time guardsmen and 40 or more weekend reservists.Each of the Long Island bases had a launch area where the missiles were kept and about half a mile away a separate radar area that searched the skies for enemy aircraft. Each base had three missile magazines or ''pits.'' Each pit held 10 Ajax missiles, lined up side by side. The Ajax, the first generation of the Nike missile, could fly 1,600 miles per hour, reached altitudes of 70,000 feet and had a conventional warhead and a range of about 25 miles. ''All these things were obsolete the day they were put into practice,'' said Harold Borodiansky, who worked at four of Long Island's missile sites between 1957 and 1974. ''We knew they were obsolete, but we knew the government was always working on perfecting something new that would be bigger or faster.''

The Nike Hercules missile was introduced in 1963 and because it was bigger and had a wider range, three of Long Island's missile sites were closed when it replaced the Ajax, leaving only the Rocky Point and Amityville sites through the 1960's and into the 1970's.

The Hercules missile looked like and was operated like the Ajax, but it could fly faster, higher and farther. But most important, the Hercules carried a nuclear warhead. Mr. Bender, the historian, said the nuclear missiles were designed to knock down a formation of enemy planes with one shot. Military commanders believed that because the atomic blast would take place at altitudes of 50,000 feet or higher, there would be relatively little effect on anybody on the ground.

Nuclear warheads also pushed the missile sites into top-secret status.

Soldiers were forbidden to talk about what they did on the Nike bases and were told to tell the curious only that they were military ''maintenance men.'' Frank Polis, the battery commander at Rocky Point from 1965 until the base was closed in 1971, said he told no one that the base had nuclear warheads, not even his wife. ''My wife used to say to me, 'I see you working in your office, but I have no idea what you do,' '' he said.

Security was maximized. A second electrified fence went up to surround the missile magazines and guard dogs were brought in to patrol between the fences at night. No one was allowed near a missile alone and the notion that every action on the base had to be a two-man operation was amplified. The fire panel operator, who handled the controls that raised the missiles, could not begin until a section chief unlocked the panel with his keys.

And the codes that authorized the base to fire its missiles were kept in a safe with two combinations, one kept by a captain from the radar area and the other by a technician from the launch area.

But even though the nuclear warheads were a classified secret, it would not have taken much for an inquiring civilian to figure it out. When the bases held Ajax missiles, tours were regularly conducted as a goodwill gesture to the bases' neighbors.

Boy Scout troops were given rides on the elevators that hoisted the missiles above ground and it was not uncommon to see an Ajax missile in a July 4th parade. But after the Hercules arrived, the parades stopped and outsiders weren't allowed past the fence. ''People knew it was a missile base, there was no hiding that because you could see the missiles from the road when we put them up on their launchers,'' said Mr. Borodiansky, 62, who retired to Arizona in 1974 after suffering a back injury while rushing down an escape hatch to help disarm a missile that had accidentally armed itself. ''But people didn't ask questions,'' he said. ''We were all kind of worried about the Russians and I got the impression that most of the time, they were just glad we were there. But glad in silence.'' Sister Margaret Clines, 69, who taught at the Queen of the Rosary Academy, a girls' high school within sight of the Amityville missile base, said that seeing the missiles raised regularly for drills ''was a scary thing.'' Even so, she said, ''I don't remember there being any great curiosity about the base. We never really knew why it was there. It was just the government put it there.''

Even through the tumultuous late 1960's, when anti-war protesters filled the streets, no one ever objected to the Nike bases. Mr. Hess remembers that neighbors occasionally would voice concerns about where the enormous booster rockets would land if the missiles had to be fired.

''My boosters would have landed in the Long Island Sound,'' Mr. Hess said. ''But I would say,

'If an attack comes, I don't give a damn where the booster lands because a bomb's going to be coming down otherwise.' That's how I explained it to people.''

Through the years, the missile bases and the men who worked on them tried hard to be good neighbors. Mr. Borodiansky, the platoon leader in Amityville, remembers acting quickly when the Mother Superior at the Sisters of St. Dominic complained that his men could be seen walking around the base in their underwear. ''There were also meeting places along the fence for the girls from the school and some of our young guys, which the Mother Superior really frowned on,'' he said. ''I did a lot of night reconnaissance to put a stop to that.''

The men who signed up to work on a Nike missile site for the National Guard tended to be former military men who saw the assignment as a chance to settle down in one place as a civilian while still working for a branch of the armed forces. Pay was decent -- with an average salary of about $85 a week in 1960, most of the men earned enough to buy a house on suburban Long Island. Most of the time, the men worked regular 8- to 12-hour shifts running maintenance checks on the missiles and equipment and then went home to their families. But one week out of every month, each base was placed on an alert, known as alpha status. A certain number of bases in the New York region were always on alpha status in case Russian bombers flew into their airspace. While on alert, the crews would alternate 24 hours on and 24 hours off and they would sleep in barracks at the base because they could not be more than two minutes away from their battle stations.

Some days would pass uneventfully. There was a game room with a television, pool table and ping pong. At Rocky Point, there was even an outdoor swimming pool.

Other times would be more stressful, with drills called in the middle of the night and army intelligence officers mounting mock commando raids on the bases to keep the men on their toes. Occasionally, if an unidentified plane strayed into the area or an incident had occurred somewhere else in the region, a unit could be placed on ''yellow status'' and crews would have to stay in their pits for as long as 20 hours, ready to fire at a moment's notice. General alerts were also called at times of national crisis like the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of President Kennedy. ''The discipline that you learned from having to be on alert and being constantly evaluated stayed with you,'' said James F. Olsakovsky, 59, a commander at Rocky Point and Amityville who now lives near Albany and retired as a colonel in 1996. ''You could lose a whole evaluation if just one person didn't do his job, so everybody depended on everybody to do their job and to do it well.''

Once a year, each crew would head to New Mexico to fire missiles at simulated targets. In addition to those evaluations, the men who worked on the 250 Nike missile sites scattered across the country also faced constant safety inspections and security checks at their home bases. The Rocky Point site earned a reputation as one of the best in the nation, winning three awards for ''excellence in combat proficiency'' and a listing as one of the nation's top five missile batteries. But in all the years that missiles were kept on Long Island, the men who worked on the bases said they never really felt a serious threat to the area or thought that they might actually have to fire the missiles. ''The biggest threat we had had nothing to do with the enemy,'' recalled Mr. Polis, 62, the Rocky Point commander who also lives near Albany. He recalled that during the 1965 blackout that darkened most of the Northeast, he and his men feared the worst when in addition to being plunged into darkness, one of their sentry dogs suddenly turned up dead.

''That was a very deep-thought day,'' he said. ''I was thinking about Pearl Harbor and how they saw signs that something was happening.''

No one on the base breathed easy until a local veterinarian came to the base and autopsied the dog to discover that it had died of natural causes.

The Rocky Point site closed in 1971 and the Amityville site closed in 1974. Both bases are now used by the Army Reserve. The massive elevator doors on the missile pits have been welded shut and most of the buildings from the Nike days have either been demolished or sit abandoned and empty.

Mr. Polis said he and his colleagues would be delighted to see the old Rocky Point site turned into a cold war museum. ''Very little is known about what went on in the days of the cold war,'' he said. ''Hollywood does war movies, but the cold war wasn't exciting enough, I guess. Nobody really knows what was going on on the home front.'' Mr. Bender said that getting historic designation would be just the first step toward preserving the missile site. ''It gives it a certain status that would help potentially get funding to turn it into a museum or to get volunteers interested,'' he said. A missile site in the San Francisco area has been restored as a museum and is run entirely by volunteers, most of them missile site veterans. It attracts about 20,000 visitors a year.

Chet Marcus, a spokesman for the 77th Army Regional Support Command, which oversees the Rocky Point base, said that the Army Reserve would support restoration plans. He said that the missile magazines were ''40 percent ready to be brought back to life,'' noting that while the steel racks that held the missiles and the missile control panels had been carted off, much of the infrastructure remained, including fuse boxes and controls for the missile elevators.

Pacifists aren't that crazy about the idea of a cold war museum. ''I don't think I'd want to see that,'' said the Rev. Robert Lepley, executive director of the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives. ''It was such an irresponsible thing to place nuclear weapons on an island when these things are so accident-prone, and a museum would probably give it a positive spin.''

But Josh Stoff, the curator at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, which will open next spring with a Nike Hercules missile, lauded the idea of preserving the missile site. ''People on Long Island now have no idea that during the cold war, Long Island was ground zero and we were protecting New York and the whole East Coast,'' he said. ''It's not about glorifying war, it's about remembering the cold war and how fear of attack was a social phenomenon that everyone experienced.''

NIKE MISSILE INFORMATION-

''The Nike Missile Defense System'' Nike Ajax was the world's first guided surface-to-air missile system. It was later replaced by Nike Hercules, which could carry a nuclear warhead. NIKE AJAX: DATES IN USE: 1954-63 LENGTH: 21 feet DIAMETER: 12 inches WINGSPAN: 4 feet, 6 inches WEIGHT: 1,000 pounds RANGE: 25-30 miles SPEED: Mach 2.3 (1,679 m.p.h.) ALTITUDE: up to 70,000 feet WARHEAD: 3 high-explosive fragmentation warheads NUMBER BUILT: 15,000 NIKE HERCULES DATES IN USE: 1958-75 LENGTH: 41 feet DIAMETER: 31.5 inches WINGSPAN: 6 feet, 2 inches WEIGHT: 5,531 pounds RANGE: over 75 miles SPEED: Mach 3.65 (2,707 m.p.h.) ALTITUDE: up to 150,000 feet WARHEAD: nuclear or high-explosive fragmentation NUMBER BUILT: 25,500 (Source: Jane's Weapon Systems; Department of Defense)

Origins Of The Nike System

Nike, named for the mythical Greek goddess of victory, was the name given to a program which ultimately produced the world's first successful, widely-deployed, guided surface-to-air missile system. Planning for Nike was begun during the last months of the Second World War when the U.S. Army realized that conventional anti-aircraft artillery would not be able to provide an adequate defense against the fast, high-flying and maneuverable jet aircraft which were being introduced into service, particularly by the Germans.

During 1945, Bell Telephone Laboratories produced the "AAGM (Anti Aircraft Guided Missile) Report" in which the concept of the Nike system were first outlined. The Report envisioned a two-stage, supersonic missile which could be guided to its target by means of ground-based radar and computer systems. This type of system is known as a "command" guidance system. The main advantage over conventional anti-aircraft artillery was that the Nike missile could be continuously guided to intercept an aircraft, in spite of any evasive actions taken by its pilot. By contrast, the projectiles fired by conventional anti-aircraft artillery (such as 90mm and 120mm guns) followed a predetermined, ballistic trajectory which could not be altered after firing.

The Nike Mission

During the first decade of the Cold War, the Soviet Union began to develop a series of long-range bomber aircraft, capable of reaching targets within the continental United States. The potential threat posed by such aircraft became much more serious when, in 1949, the Russians exploded their first atomic bomb.

The perception that the Soviet Union might be capable of constructing a sizable fleet of long-range, nuclear-armed bomber aircraft capable of reaching the continental United States provided motivation to rapidly develop and deploy the Nike system to defend major U.S. population centers and other vital targets. The outbreak of hostilities in Korea, provided a further impetus to this deployment.

The mission of Nike within the continental U.S was to act as a "last ditch" line of air defense for selected areas. The Nike system would have been utilized in the event that the Air Force's long-range fighter-interceptor aircraft had failed to destroy any attacking bombers at a greater distance from their intended targets.

Nike Deployment

Within the continental United States, Nike missile sites were constructed in defensive "rings" surrounding major urban and industrial areas. Additional Nike sites protected key Strategic Air Command bases and other sensitive installations, such as the nuclear facilities at Hanford, Washington. Sites were located on government-owned property where this was available (for example, on military bases). However, much real estate needed to be acquired in order to construct sufficient bases to provide an adequate defense. This was a sometimes difficult and contentious process. Often, the federal government had to go to court in order to obtain the property needed for such sites.

The exact number of Nike sites constructed within a particular "defense area" varied depending upon many factors. The New York Defense Area -- one of the largest in the nation -- was defended at one time by nearly twenty individual Nike installations. Due to the relatively short range of the original Nike missile, the Nike "Ajax", many bases were located relatively close to the center of the areas they protected. Frequently, they were located within heavily populated areas.

A "typical" Nike air defense site consisted of two separate parcels of land. One area was known as the Integrated Fire Control (IFC) Area. This site contained the Nike system's ground-based radar and computer systems designed to detect and track hostile aircraft, and to guide the missiles to their targets.

The second parcel of land was known as the Launcher Area. At the launcher area, Nike missiles were stored horizontally within heavily constructed underground missile "magazines". A large, missile elevator brought the Nikes to the surface of the site where they would be pushed (manually) by crewmen, across twin steel rails to one of four satellite launchers. The missile was then attached to its launcher and erected to a near-vertical position for firing. The near-vertical firing position ensured that the missile's booster rocket (lower stage) would not crash directly back onto the missile site, but, instead, would land within a predetermined "booster impact area".

The control and launcher areas were separated by a distance of 1,000 to 6,000 yards (roughly 0.5- to 3.5-miles) and were often located within different townships. Technical limitations of the guidance system required the two facilities to be separated by a minimum of 3,000 feet. Whenever possible, control areas were constructed on high ground in order to gain superior radar coverage of the area. Control areas were generally located between the area being defended and the launcher area containing the missiles.

Nike "Ajax": The First Nike Missile

The first successful test firing of a Nike missile occurred during 1951. This first Nike missile was later given the name Nike "Ajax". Nike Ajax was a slender, two-stage guided missile powered by a liquid-fueled motor utilizing a combination of inhibited red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA), unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) and JP-4 jet petroleum. The Ajax was blasted off of its launcher by means of a jettisonable solid fuel rocket booster which fired for about 3 seconds, accelerating the missile with a power of 25 times the force of gravity.

The Ajax missile was capable of maximum speeds of over 1,600-mph and could reach targets at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet. Its range was only about 25 miles, which was too short to make it a truly effective air defense weapon in the eyes of its many detractors. Its supporters countered that the new missile was markedly superior to conventional antiaircraft artillery, and that it was, significantly, the only air defense missile actually deployed and operational at that time.

Nike Ajax was armed with three individual high-explosive, fragmentation-type warheads located at the front, center and rear of the missile body. Although consideration was given to arming the Ajax with a nuclear (atomic) warhead, this project was canceled in favor of developing a totally new, much-improved Nike missile. Even as the first Nike Ajax missiles were being deployed across the nation, work on its successor, first known as "Nike-B" and later as Nike "Hercules" had already begun.

The Nike "Hercules" Missile

Work on a successor to the first Nike missile, the Nike "Ajax", was initiated well before the first Ajax missiles were deployed at sites across the nation. Two primary considerations drove the development of the this second-generation Nike missile. The first involved the need to field a missile with improved capabilities to defend against a new generation of faster and smaller targets, including supersonic aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles. The second was the desire to arm this new missile with a powerful atomic warhead.

Originally designated as "Nike B", the Nike "Hercules" -- as this missile was later known -- was a far more capable missile than its predecessor (the Nike Ajax) in nearly every way. With a maximum range of about 90 miles, maximum speeds of over 3,200 mph, and the ability to reach targets at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet, the Nike Hercules was a very potent air defense weapon. The Hercules missile lacked most of the complex, miniaturized vacuum tubes utilized by the Ajax, and employed solid rocket fuel in its "sustainer" motor which made it easier and safer to manage than the Ajax which employed highly caustic liquid fuel components.

Unlike the Ajax, the Hercules was designed from the outset to carry a nuclear warhead. Designated "W-31" the Hercules nuclear warhead was available in three different yields: low (2-Kilotons); medium (20-Kt.) and high (30-Kt.). By comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of the Second World War had a yield of approximately 12 Kilotons.

Armed with its nuclear warhead a single Nike Hercules missile was capable of destroying a closely spaced formation of several attacking aircraft. This warhead enabled the Hercules to destroy not only attacking aircraft, but also any nuclear weapons they carried, preventing them from being detonated. Some of the first Hercules missiles deployed in the United States were initially equipped with the "W-7" nuclear warhead.

The Hercules could also be equipped with a powerful, high-explosive, fragmentation-type warhead designated "T-45". The warhead provided a useful alternative to the W-31 (particularly for use against a single aircraft and for low altitude use in proximity to populated areas) and was deployed at many overseas sites. Additional warhead designs, including "cluster" type warheads containing numerous submunitions, were developed although not deployed operationally on the Nike Hercules missile.

More sophisticated radar and guidance systems were also part of the Hercules "package". These made the Hercules system more accurate and effective at longer ranges. During the early sixties, an "improved" version of the Hercules system, utilizing ABAR (Alternate Battery Acquisition Radar) or HIPAR (High Power Acquisition Radar) was deployed. The improved radar capabilities and other advanced electronic features of the Improved Hercules system made it more effective against small supersonic targets including aircraft, aircraft launched "stand-off" missiles, and tactical ballistic missiles.

An relatively unknown fact is that the Hercules missile could also be used in a surface-to-surface mode. In this role, Hercules would have been used to deliver "tactical" nuclear warheads to destroy concentrations of enemy troops and armored vehicles, or bridges, dams and other significant targets from bases and field deployments located primarily within Western Europe. This surface capability might also have proven useful in other areas where the Hercules missile was deployed including South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey.

aximum range of the Hercules missile in the surface-to-surface mode was slightly over 110 miles, and was limited by the effective transmission range of the Missile Tracking Radar (MTR).

Although deployed at permanent sites within the continental United States, and at many overseas locations, mobile Nike Hercules batteries increased the flexibility and usefulness of this system, permitting the powerful capabilities of this versatile missile system to be extended wherever this could prove useful. Trucks and trailers were used to transport Nike Hercules system components to the desired field locations. In this mode, a single missile was mounted upon a truck-drawn trailer/launcher unit which also served as a firing platform.

Guidance & Control

Unlike some modern missile systems, Nike was guided entirely from the ground, from firing to warhead detonation. The electronic "eyes" (radar) and "brain" (computer) of the Nike system were located on the ground, within the Intergrated Fire Control Area.

At the IFC area, hostile aircraft were first identified by means of an acquisition radar (AR). This radar was manned 24 hours per day, scanning the skies for indications of any hostile aircraft. "Friendly" aircraft were automatically identified by means of electronic signals generated by IFF ("Identification Friend or Foe") or SIF ("Selective Identification Feature") equipment.

In practice, this target information would normally have been received from Air Force long range radar sites, by means of the Air Force's SAGE (Semi Automatic Ground Environment) system and other sources including Army "Missile Master" and related facilities, in order to provide an advanced warning for the missile batteries.

Having acquired and positively identified a hostile aircraft, a second radar, the Target Tracking Radar (TTR) would be aimed at and electronically "locked onto" it. This radar would then follow the selected aircraft's every move in spite of any evasive action taken by its pilot. A third radar, the Missile Tracking Radar (MTR) was then aimed at and electronically locked onto an individual Nike missile located at the nearby Launcher Area.

Both the TTR and MTR were linked to an "intercept computer" located at the IFC Area. This analog computer continuously compared the relative positions of both the targeted aircraft and the missile during its flight and determined the course the missile would have to fly in order to reach its target. Steering commands were computed and sent from the ground to the missile during its flight, via the Missile Tracking Radar. At the "moment of closest approach" the missile's warhead would be detonated by a computer generated "burst command" sent from the ground via the MTR.

For surface-to-surface shots, the coordinates of the target were dialed into the computer and the height of burst was set. At the precise moment calculated by the computer, the warhead would be command detonated via a signal sent via the MTR. Alternately (and, presumably as a back-up system) the warhead could be exploded via "contact fusing" when striking the selected target or target area.

End Of The Nike Era

Although Nike was created in response to Russian efforts to design and deploy long-range bomber aircraft during the early years of the Cold War, Russian military strategy soon changed. Fearing that their manned aircraft would be too vulnerable to attack by supersonic American interceptor aircraft armed with rockets and missiles, the Russians decided to focus their attention on developing ICBMs -- Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles -- against which there existed no effective defense. As a result, the Russians never deployed a large and capable strategic bomber force comparable to the Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force.

The shifting nature of the Soviet threat meant that the air defense role, for which Nike was originally intended, became relatively less critical as time passed. Defense dollars were needed for other projects (including the development of American ICBMs and potential missile defenses) and to fund the rapidly growing war in Vietnam. Accordingly, beginning in the mid 1960s, the total number of operational Nike bases within the continental U.S. was steadily reduced, almost on an annual basis. During 1974, all remaining sites within the nationwide Nike air defense system were inactivated. Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM) which administered this system was closed down shortly thereafter. One of the nation's most significant Cold War air defense programs had come to an end.

In spite of the termination of the nationwide Nike program, Nike missiles remained operational at sites in Florida and Alaska for several more years. Others remained operational with U.S. forces in Europe and the Pacific, and with the armed forces of many U.S. Allies overseas. Although no longer in the U.S. inventory, more than four decades after the first Nike missile became operational in the U.S., Nike Hercules missiles are today deployed by the armed forces of U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, and are likely to remain in service well beyond the year 2000.

Nike Ajax missiles first became operational at Fort Meade, Maryland, during December, 1953. Dozens of Nike sites were subsequently constructed at locations all across the continental United States during the mid fifties and early sixties. Roughly 250 sites were constructed during this period. Nike missiles were also deployed overseas with U.S. forces in Europe and Asia, by the armed forces of many NATO nations (Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Greece and Turkey), and by U.S. allies in Asia (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan).

***the information on this post was from Don Benders very informative

website and for more information visit http://alpha.fdu.edu/ his area of expertise is Cold War History and Weapon systems the amount of information he has ammased is incredible.
also check out christopherjohnbright.com for more information He also has a book entitled
"Continental Air Defense In The Eisenhower Era' Nuclear antiaircraft systems and more, a very informed look at our country's cold war defense and civil defense and a lot more. 

ATOMIC CIVIL DEFENSE PROPAGANDA No.6 (1956 Interstate Defense Highway System)

GAS-FOOD-FALLOUT SHELTER

THE EISENHOWER SYSTEM OF INTERSTATE

AND DEFENSE HIGHWAYS

 BUILT FROM COLD WAR FEAR

AND NECESSITY

America's Interstate system was planned with ever expanding cities and population . President Eisenhower did not like the fact that troops going to aid a Natural Disaster were bogged down by roads that were not paved or usable and this poor infrastructure could become an issue in a National Emergency. So funds were allocated and plans made with priority to get interstates built that would connect the nations military bases and military assets. Then Interstates were connected around to large cities to allow efficient and unimpeded  travel and if needed so evacuation or emergency assistance by National Guard  could be possible in hours . Our nation at this time expected a Nuclear Conflict at anytime so the need for preparation and  materials  were at an all time demand , rumors of the interstate being  planned to be able to bear large Nuclear Missiles in transit or bridges able to support their weight,and height were a urban myth .Also military vehicle convoys that were to include tracked vehicles like, Tanks,Mobile Missile Launch Vehicles, Personnel carriers, and Large troop transporters  were likely to use these new interstates. These Convoys were known at times to be 80 vehicles long but nothing in the blueprints planned for these cold war military movements .The interstate had to support everyday congestion of rush hour traffic  and in cold climates the freeze thaw cycle and the road salt. in some warmer climates constant sun and heat that can melt the rubber on tires and fifty something years later Interstates have brought prosperity to some area's and show how overpopulated we are as we sit in Rush Hour traffic sometimes for hours. the project is still being expanded , built ,and upgraded and though we have not used it in war the Interstate Defense Highways have evacuated many cities during natural disasters and the US Military uses the interstate and it has not had to have any special adjustments.The interstate defense highway system was born out fear of not being able to mobilize to any area of this country in time of conflict and is another product of the Cold War. 

One of many FCDA pamphlets this Civil Defense Organization's Funding was cut by President Eisenhower.

Below one of the many odd Civil Defense signs from

the 1960's it is a road sign but from where is still

unknown.

One of the more popular cold war Interstate Defense Highway System Urban Myths was every 5 miles one mile had to be straight and this was to allow USAF or other US Military units a place to setup alternate landing facilities if a Soviet Nuclear strike vaporized  the base and returning  B-52 and other aircraft would be able to land and refuel on runways made from stretches of Highway and could re-arn and take back off to drop more Nuclear Devices on Russia Now Understand this was not planned into the  building of the interstate defense highway system. There is no Plan for this on any blue prints...... HOWEVER... USAF and Department of Defense Nuclear War Procedure and Planning has figured into account that upon a DEFCON 3 or 2 status Airbases would disperse all aircraft to Civil Airfields spread out throughout the Continental United States so Soviet ICBMS and SLBMS and even Bombers could not catch our military aircraft on the ground at targeted locations if these airfields are not able to host returning USAF and USN aircraft special USAF Emergency War Relocation units would use any type of runway to host returning aircraft and in the Nuclear Warfare Playbook highways,freeways,expressways are the next best thing and USAF-ARB Teams would start blowing up or use cutting torches to remove light posts and signs and any obstruction that would not allow the biggest bomber to land. underpasses with large spans would be great repair and rearming areas. This was not planned into the actual roadwork or blueprints but is part of Post Attack Continuity of US combat forces and this part is NOT a urban myth. The Defense Interstate and Highway project was to connect all US Military Bases and asset's allowing large movements of US Troops and their vehicles to any place in the (CONUS) as fast as possible and to Evacuate Large Cities Pre- Attack or Pre-Natural Disaster and to expedite man, machines ,and materials into devastated areas, As well connecting all US Military posts so the same could be sent within hours and with these four lane highways fast and efficiently saving fuel, wear and tear,and lives.

SOVIET UNION MISSILE FORCE NEW YORK TARGETS 2011

THE TARGETED AREA'S ARE FROM FEMA CALCULATION AND D.O.D. DECLASSIFIED INFORMATION THIS MAP DOES NOT SHOW AREA'S OF FALLOUT FROM TARGETS THE INFORMATION IS OF CURRENT STATUS 2011

the information provided by Bruce Beach is true and accurate he has worked for the Department Of Defense and is regarded as one of the top 3 experts in this field, Prof. Beach has a website and it should be visited and read or downloaded for its vast wealth of information and knowledge that one day may save your life.



UPDATE to Target Information !!!

By Bruce Beach - Radiological Scientific Officer

The FEMA Maps



Target selection continuously changes, for a variety of reasons, most of which are either political or technological. The FEMA target maps are the only official ones that we have and some persons have criticized them because they feel that they are quite old and do not reflect recent military base closings, new facilities and so forth.
Even at their best - the FEMA maps only painted a conceptual picture of a perceived threat. No one could say, then or now, for sure what criteria foreign military target planners would use to select targets, how many missiles they'd commit, how powerful they'd be, how many would actually get through or how accurate they'd be.
One could be CERTAIN, both then and now, that nowhere near the number of targets shown on the maps would actually be struck. Many years ago there was a movie called - "On the Beach", which envisioned total annihilation of human life upon the earth. Nuclear scientists took up the term to measure the strength of the world's nuclear arsenals and concluded that there exists somewhere between 4 and 5 Beaches. That is to say - enough nuclear armaments to eliminate from fallout all human life on earth (four or five times over) if they were all exploded.

Anyone who simply looks at a FEMA map and says - "Ahhh - all those little yellow spots, that is where the bombs are going to fall," or "Ahhh - that yellow spot was a military base near me which no longer exists - so now I am safe", simply does not understand the problem. To begin with, as I explain in my booklet YOU Will Survive Doomsday a very small percentage of the population will have a bomb fall on them. It is other causes, resulting from the bombing, that will actually kill them. For one thing - fallout can go anywhere and it can be very deadly. As I repeatedly point out - death from fallout radiation is not a pleasant way to go, but death from that cause is avoidable.

The yellow dots on the FEMA maps were 'potential' targets. The criteria in originally selecting them included not only military sites, (which may or may not still exist) but also industrial, transportation, energy producing, and population centers which may have subsequently radically changed. Generally, for the latter, there are simply more.

You should use the FEMA maps only as a general guide to the targeting criteria foreign military planners would likely use in selecting their targets. A few things have changed dramatically since the maps were drawn. For one thing, the Titan Missile Wings (sites) in western Missouri and eastern Kansas have been deactivated.

HOW MANY NUCLEAR WEAPONS

WILL BE USED?
The REAL question then - in evaluating the nuclear threat - is to determine FOR YOURSELF how many nuclear weapons YOU think will be used. The information that I am presenting here, is to help you in making that decision.
Here are some possible conclusions:

All will be used.

None will be used.

Some will be used.

If one thinks that ALL the nuclear weapons will be used - then it is goodbye world. I will accept this as a distinct possibility, or at least the possibility that such a number will be used so as to have the same effect. If you believe definitively that is what will occur - then very simply you won't (and don't) have to worry about it. However, I believe (and it is only my personal belief) that because of Divine Intervention, through what will appear to be natural causes, that the event will be extensive - but limited.

On the other hand - there are those who think that because of man's rationality, or God's kindness, that none will be used and we don't have to worry about it. Many of these people feel that I am insane for my concerns. I can only say that I hope they are right.
It is only the third case that I present here. I feel that nuclear WWIII is inevitable. Others may feel that it is only probable - or somewhat probable or possible. The degree of your concern will determine the value that you will put on the information that I am about to present, and the action that you will take based upon it.
First - my own conclusions. I feel that a sufficient number of weapons will strike North America to destroy 80% of its population. What that number of weapons will be is what I am trying to estimate. The information presented here is what I base my estimates on.
Presently, in the world, there may be fifty-thousand (50,000) nuclear warheads. Many of these are tactical (for use by field artillery) rather than strategic (for use on ICBMs - Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles). The US has mostly recalled its tactical weapons from the field, and they are no longer under the control of field commanders. Of the strategic nuclear warheads, many (most) are now obsolete. They certainly are not mounted on warheads and ready for launch. It is really only the latter than we need to concern ourselves about, and if we wish to take a narrow view of self interest, it is only the potential enemy's that we need to concern ourselves about.
The US owns by far the largest current tested arsenal of nuclear weapons. Russia the second largest, and France may still have the third largest. Israel is rumored to have about 200 and while it has not been officially acknowledged, China may have well surpassed that number. There are over 20 other countries in the world who are thought to have perhaps joined the nuclear club - but not all, like India and Pakistan, have tested their weapons.
Weapons alone are not enough. One must also have delivery systems. While there is talk of suitcase weapons for terrorist purposes, the delivery system of choice is ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). Complete delivery capability has been defined as the TRIAD. Land, Air and Sea. Of late, one leg of the TRIAD has fallen into disfavor. Russia still has Bisons, and the US both B-52s and B2s, but they are beginning to be recognized as a technology that is becoming rapidly obsolete. Improved radar, satellite detection systems, and the much improved accuracy of interception missiles has much decreased their usefulness. They have also become relatively less cost effective. Consequently the US under the Bush administration has announced that bombers - even the B2 - will no longer be nuclear armed. In the future this will mean that their bases, and bases that would have been used for refueling will no longer have as much priority as a target. This US policy and strategic change is just taking place and will require some months to be reflected in the thinking of Soviet target planners.
Theatre nuclear weapons still include aircraft and ship mounted nuclear weapons such as the Cruise Missile, but our major concern here is the ICBM and the SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile). So, we are not aware of, nor are there supposed to be, any space launched ballistic missiles. In fact, there are only three countries known to have operational SLBMs. The US, Russia, and Israel. Under normal circumstances it is possible to have only about one third of one's fleet on station at a time. For the US and Russia this means a half dozen each, and for Israel one because the latter has a total of three subs. If this gives you any particularly comfort it should be pointed out that each of the subs (particularly the US and Russian) carries more destructive power than was used by ALL the world's armies in the Second World War.



There has been extensive discussion over the last decades about reducing the world's nuclear armaments. In actuality they have become much more dispersed, efficient, reliable, and capable of being delivered with much greater accuracy. A reduction in their total number is not reflected in a reduction of their destructiveness or effectiveness. Actually, quite the opposite - more destructive power is being developed and deployed in manners that are more efficient. This is true, not only of the US, but also of a number of other countries. Pakistan, India, North Korea, and many others now have capabilities that would have made THEM the world power - a half century ago.
The United States currently has 7,295 deployed warheads compared to Russia's 6,094, and while the Bush administration is discussing making cuts down to 1,500 nuclear warheads in the US arsenal, these cuts have not yet taken place. And in any case, as I have stated earlier, the ones that we need to be concerned about in making North American target estimates, is the ones held by the potential enemies.
China is thought to have fewer than 300 nuclear warheads capable of reaching the US. Some estimates put the number at even one-tenth of that. Whatever the present number, it is certain that they are in an all out effort to increase the number of their DF-31 and DF-41 rockets that will have that capability. Likewise, Russia, for the last three or four years, has been on a crash program to field as many of their Topol-M, quite arguably the most advanced ICBM in the world. The US may go on about other countries being backward and stealing their technology but they should remember that the Russians put the first satellite, man and space station into space. Likewise the Chinese deployed a satellite and tested a nuclear weapon - decades ago.
But, let us only concern ourselves with what exists at the moment. Conservatively let us say that Russia and China combined currently have 7,500 nuclear warheads supposedly capable of reaching the US. So that we do not just scare ourselves to death, let us suppose that with their deteriorating economies that the maintenance on these have made about half of them operational. Let us say 4,000. And let us say that only half of these would be aimed at North America, the rest being aimed at Europe and other places in the world. This means that only 2,000 would be aimed at North America and let us further assume that US defenses are such that we will stop half of them (although I am not certain how one currently stops an ICBM or particularly a SLBM). But anyway, that leaves us with 1,000 nuclear weapons exploding over North America.
Now, please forgive me, but since I live in Canada, I am going to look at what share we might expect to fall where I live. Canada has ten percent the population that does the US, so I am going to say that Canada is going to get 10 percent of the North American warheads - or one hundred. In Canada we have a rule of thumb that the province in which I live has about 50% of the Canadian population, GNP, industry, and so forth, so I am going to say that we can expect about 50 nuclear weapons in Ontario.
What I am suggesting is that you make the same sort of extrapolation for your state, but I can tell you that when I start adding up the targets around Ontario, I find it hard to find a place to put 50 weapons. But here is an attempt.
1 at Niagara Falls - A big power generating source.

4 other power generating stations (mostly nuclear)

1 on Ottawa (the Capital of Canada)

1 at Sault Ste Marie (across the river from a US nuclear forces base)

4 other Canadian Military bases (about as threatening as boy scout camps)

5 on Toronto and what we call the Golden Horseshoe

1 on North Bay (if they don't know it has been deactivated as a NORAD site)

17 total
AND I feel that is really stretching it, but I wouldn't really know where to put anymore, without say bombing out some beaver dams or attacking my bus shelter. :) But, anyway, I expect the number is ridiculous, and I really wonder if the province could survive at all if 10% of the 50 weapons - that would be its North American share were used. That would be 5 nuclear weapons, each one more than a hundred times the size of the weapon used on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Think about it. It is called the unthinkable for a reason. Now, do a similar extrapolation for your state.

On the same ratio of 10% of available weapons, as calculated above, and the 1% or 2% of total weapons existing world wide we would be talking about 100 weapons in North America and 200 world-wide. This would be like the energy release of two thousand SIMULTANEOUS Hiroshimas, along with the accompanying fallout. Lord, (I am not being facetious in addressing the Almighty) how could we possibly survive it? I can only pray that You have a plan.
So, when you look at all those yellow dots on the FEMA map - I think that you can forget that, and start trying to figure it out another way. Here is where I would put something less than 100 weapons in North America, and Lord, I hope it is a LOT less.
TARGET SELECTION
Targets are selected on a:
Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

basis. That is to say - those which have first, second and third priority.

Primary Targets
a. Three submarine launched high altitude bursts evenly spaced over continental US to create EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) to knock out communications. The reason they would be submarine launched is because submarines can launch from off both coasts, are the least detectable and can get in the closest - for the least warning.
b. Satellite to satellite strikes for weaponry, communication, control and surveillance technology that the general public does not know about. Who can guess about something we know nothing about - just as we knew nothing about the atomic bomb before Hiroshima.
c. Submarine ports on both US coasts and at US controlled ports elsewhere in the world to prevent any submarines that are in port from getting underway. Normally only one third of the fleet is on station at a time. Number of subs that would be eliminated in this way depends on whether the attack comes as a "bolt out of the blue" or that navy is on some "high DEFCON status". The subs are considered the most threatening part of the "Triad".

d. In the past, NORAD (North American Air Defense) communications centers at Colorado Springs, Colorado and North Bay, Ontario Primary Targets have included been included as Primary Targets. The latter has supposedly been deactivated, but what other 'secret' locations exist and how well the Russians and Chinese know those 'secrets' is problematical.
e. SAC (Strategic Air Command) bases have been considered a priority for a strike out of the blue. Omaha Nebraska is of course the headquarters. Still, everyone knows that, so other arrangements have been made - such as 'Alice' and 'Looking Glass', which are airborne command centers - and as mentioned previously there is talk about new space and sub-sea elements. Air Bases are a good target for SLBM's (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles) especially forward bases in allied countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Britain, and France (which has its own nuclear force), and Navy Aircraft Carriers wherever they may be (they would certainly wish they could find the submarines).
f. Surprisingly, Washington D.C. and the Pentagon have often not made primary target lists. Washington D.C.. because there is one targeting theory that an enemy wishes the leaders to survive so that they have someone to negotiate surrender. The Pentagon, because while we hear of the famous war room and so forth, in actuality the Pentagon then becomes insignificant because we would be beyond the time of planning, policy, and procurement.

Secondary Targets

By this point there would have been used one or two dozen weapons against American Forces.

g. Beyond first strike, to catch them while on the ground, - air bases and nuclear bombers are no longer are considered as prominent a part of the Triad targets as they once were. Previously, it was thought important to get all the ten thousand foot runways in the US to prevent the bombers from returning to refuel and rearm. Not seen as so likely today.
Major metropolitan areas will of course remain major targets, but these are SECONDARY target issues because they will have little effect upon US retaliatory capability, which are the concern of PRIMARY target issues. Major cities remain major targets simply for the confusion, affect on morale, and political, social, and economic disruption they will cause the US. Most everyone can identify what the top 20 US city targets will be in this regards. One must remember that there will be similar world targets of US allies, so that recovery assistance will not be available to the US. One must, however, begin to ask - exactly what the geo-political, and overall goals are that target planners wish to achieve. Targets such as these may be used as hostages for negotiation - assuming that the planners have as a part of their model, the ending of the war and achieving some particular goals.
It used to be thought that US Military training bases, war materials production plants, and such, would be important targets. But that WWII thinking - not WWIII thinking. Everything, used in the war will already have been made, deployed and trained upon. There will be no time for further preparation or deployment. The only thought will be how to get it stopped.

Tertiary Targets

Tertiary targets no longer have the prominence they once had in target planning, such as they did at the end of WWII when the bomber reigned. Then a bomber, assigned to a primary target, might carry multiple weapons and if it or a companion plane destroyed the primary target then it needed to go on to a secondary target so as not to waste the weapon in re-bombing the same target. This is particularly true of nuclear weapons - where one is sufficient.
A plane would then carry a priority list of additional targets within its range or return path, so that it could dispose of its weapons. With the little likelihood of getting a second chance, it is a matter of use them or lose them.
Between the Primary target sites and the Secondary target sites we have possibly used 50 weapons in North America. So what is left over? The question is - how completely do you want to devastate the land? There has already been enough damage done that the political and social organization has been destroyed. In North America aid flows in to limited disasters, a fire, tornado, earthquake. But now, everywhere would be in disaster. No electrical power, communication, or help available - from anywhere. The following map shows some principle North-South corridors, because I feel that the country would be severed East-West because of river crossings.
It is questionable that society could be restored but just to assure that the devastation is complete and that the country is severed a target planner might select as tertiary targets to destroy the bridges over the Mississippi and Missouri and the key railway passes through the mountains. Key nodes on the electrical, communications, and pipeline grids - and so forth. The following map is comprised of railway and highway nodes linking through Kansas City. You can do the same thing for any other major city.
You can take all those maps - and seek to designate targets. I have done it and I can tell you it is hard to find places to put another fifty bombs.

There are many academic studies that have been made on this subject, by VERY knowledgeable and capable people. If you wish to really study into it more then here is a link that has been highly recommended by both The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and the Encyclopedia Britannica, both of which are very worthy sources:





http://www.nukefix.org/

I have said 100 weapons to devastate America. The nuclear subs alone carry hundreds between them. Launch and move on and wait. That would be the strategy. From satellite and other reports you would eventually be assigned another Tertiary target that hasn't been struck. The process could go on for months with nuclear powered subs. However, I hope that it won't last a week - before we find a way to end it.
How Likely Are the Weapons To Be Used?

By what insanity could mankind possibly pull down upon itself the destruction that I have described above and in YOU Will Survive Doomsday? My answer is by the same insanity that permits him to build such Abominations of Desolation in the first place. By the same insanity that expresses his selfishness and anger throughout the world almost daily in the killing of what amounts to at least tens of thousands of human beings annually. Men who are intellectual giants and spiritual midgets. Men who have turned from the will of God who loves all His creatures and wants them to all love one another.

One may say, "Yes, but we have gotten this far without using them - so why would it ever change?" But, the change is in the wind. The US says that it is abandoning the policy of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). In the past this was the rationale for not having an effective Civil Defense Program and a national civilian shelter program. It was thought that everyone on both sides would be destroyed anyway, and to implement a shelter program would mean that one did not really believe in MAD - and therefore their shelter preparations would be seen as threatening by the enemy. So, one just wanted to be sure that they had total SECOND STRIKE CAPABILITY accompanied with ASSURED ANNIHILATION of the enemy and no enemy would ever attack them. Thus - the US under the Clinton and previous administrations maintained a "No first strike policy". The Russian's under their previous administrations did likewise, but just recently the Russians have said that they have changed their policy - in favor of first use.
Russia, China and some other countries never agreed that a nuclear war was not survivable and they continuously developed shelter programs. Under the US Reagan Administration it was felt that a defense - popularly called Star Wars - could be built against nuclear weapons. Most thinkers agree that it is an impossible idea, but the very attempt to try it was outlawed under the ABM (Anti Ballistic Missile) treaty. The reason the Russians (who were permitted under the treaty to maintain a few ABMs around Moscow - but which the US felt would be ineffectual) wanted such a treaty, was that they felt the very attempt to develop ABMs would create an arms race they couldn't afford. If any one nation DID come up with a defense - then other nations could be forced to surrender under nuclear blackmail. The US under Bush has just announced that it is canceling the treaty and going ahead with ABM development. Continuously, we now hear of some general in Russia or China who says they think that nuclear war is now inevitable.
And then there are all the Third World Countries with their axes to grind. Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Libya, and others. Yes, their conflicts can bring in the major players. Just the US preoccupation anywhere else can be incentive to China to solve its Taiwan problem. For some countries, such as Israel, nuclear may come to be seen as the only solution. Israel, greatly outnumbered, more than a hundred to one, could easily feel forced to nuke the capitals of its attacking enemies.
No matter how irrational my analysis may seem to many - one fact remains. There are nuclear weapons in the world. Plenty of them.

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Bruce Beach Nuclear Survival Resources & Ark II Fallout Shelter Site