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

FROM GUNS TO MISSILES
cember 1958, the Army fired 3,225 Nikes, two-thirds of which
were considered successes. 26
In November 1956, the Nike I became known as the Nike Ajax
(fig. 41). The Army deployed the first Ajax unit to Fort Meade,
Maryland, in March 1954 and received its last production missile
in April 1958. Eleven other countries also deployed the
Ajax. In all, the United States spent $1.2 billion for the system
consisting of more than 13,700 missiles. 27
The Army placed the missiles near the major cities they were
to protect because of their short (just over 25 miles) range. Originally,
the Army wanted 119 acres for each Ajax battery, but the
cost of real estate in an urban area forced a different arrangement.
This led to a January 1954 decision to use underground
storage and launch facilities for all US installations, which cut
the requirement to 40 acres per missile site. But even this did
not stem public opposition. This included fears that the Nike
boosters would land on people and property, that the sites
would reduce real estate values, and that locating missiles, fuel,
and (conventional) warheads in an urban location was unsafe.
Figure 41. Nike Ajax. The Nike Ajax was America’s first operational SAM.
(Reprinted from US Army Air Defense Museum.)
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