Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

FROM GUNS TO MISSILES
Figure 40. Army SAMs. The US Army fielded an impressive number of
both surface-to-air missiles and surface-to-surface missiles. From left
to right: Hercules (SAM), (front) Hawk (SAM), (rear) Sergeant, Zeus
(SAM), Pershing, LaCross, and Ajax (SAM). The soldiers from left to
right are holding LAW, Redeye (SAM), and Entac. (Adapted from Redstone
Arsenal.)
lies based on the missile’s mobility: large, immobile SAMs; mobile
missiles; and man-portable systems. The earliest of these
Army projects was the Nike family, begun in 1945 by Bell Laboratories.
The original Nike requirement was to knock down
an aircraft flying at 600 miles per hour (mph), between 20,000
and 60,000 feet, maneuvering at three Gs at a 60,000-foot
ground range. From the outset, the Army decided to keep the
missile simple and more reliable by emplacing the complicated
aspects (guidance and fuzing) on the ground. The Nike initially
used liquid fuel for the missile and solid fuel for the booster.
The Army froze the design in mid-1946. 22
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