Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park - Nike Hercules Missile
Bill Maloney
5/9/2010

01NikeMissile 02NikeMissileLaunchPad 03NikeMissileLaunchPad 04NikeMissileRocketBooster
01 Nike Missile 02 Nike Missile Launch Pad 03 Nike Missile Launch Pad 04 Nike Missile Rocket Booster
05NikeHerculesMissile 06NikeHerculesMissile 07NikeMissile  
05 Nike Hercules Missile 06 Nike Hercules Missile 07 Nike Missile

Nike Hercules Missile Specifications:

Nike Missiles at other Aviation Museums in the Northeast
Nike Missile Nike Missile
Nike Missile at the AAF Tank Museum in Danville, VA Nike Missile at the American Air Power Museum in Farmingdale, NY
Nike Hercules Missile Nike Missile
Nike Hercules Missile at the Quonset Air Museum in North Kingston, RI Nike Missile at the US Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen, MD

Length: 41 Feet
Width:
11 Feet 5 inches
Crew:
Weight:
10,600lbs
Speed: 2,730mph
Range: 86 miles
Armament:
  Nuclear warhead of up to 42 Kiloton Yield. The Nike Ajax missiles with High explosive warheads would have been used against single bombers. the Nike Hercules with Nuclear warheads would have been used against multiple bombers.
Entered Service: 1958
Unit Cost: $55,000 in 1958. It is not clear if this figure was just for the missile or if it included the nuclear warhead.

Neal Pritchett of Wisconsin has an excellent page on Nike Missile launch sites and their deployment:

http://www.notpurfect.com/travel/nuke/nike.html

There's an excellent diagram of the tracking and deployment of Nike Missiles against enemy Soviet bombers. Also Neal has photos of the remains of a Nike Missile base in Waukesha Wisconsin. Some of the buildings and radar platforms are still intact and of course the concrete launch pads are still in place.

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