Word: nike
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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CONTINENTAL DEFENSE. Key West gave the air defense of the U.S. to the Air Force, limited the Army to an antiaircraft role. But, using "antiaircraft" as its entering wedge, the Army developed the radar-controlled, ground-to-air Nike (rhymes with psyche), which it now touts as the backbone of U.S. air defense.*Nike has several glaring deficiencies: it is not a homing missile and must be guided electronically from the ground; its range is less than 60 miles, even in an improved model; it does not fit into the Air Force SAGE system of early radar warning against attack...
...Keller, then president of Chrysler Corp., whom President Truman put in charge of the program in 1950. Production Man Keller had little patience with visionary plans; he wanted hardware, both in the factories and in the skies, and he got it. The missiles now in operational use-the Matador, Nike, Corporal, Terrier-are the result of Keller's drive. Since most of them are soon to be replaced, Keller has been criticized for loading the inventory with so-so weapons. But this was inevitable in the rapid metabolism of modern war; Keller's program created the knowledge, experience...
...most glamorous missile, the 5,000 mile ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile), got a low priority. An early contract with Convair was canceled, and work would have stopped entirely if Convair had not continued with its own money. Emphasis was put on defensive missiles-the ground-to-air Nike and the air-to-air Falcon-and on short-range offensive missiles for use near enemy lines...
...Nike. In the antiaircraft division, the Army has the well-publicized Nike (rhymes with Mikey), a liquid-fuel rocket launched by a solid-fuel booster and steered toward invading bombers by radio. The Nike dates back to the Keller era and is not the last word, but the Army believes that it will hit any attacking bomber sent over in the near future. Admittedly the Nike is a point defense weapon with only moderate lateral range. But the Army has so many Nike batteries at strategic points that their ranges already overlap...
...quarter of the boost would go to U.S. guided missile development, which has so far got into production the relatively short-range Nike, Terrier, Sparrow, Falcon, Corporal. Regulus, Matador and Honest John. The 1,000-to-1,500 mile range Intermediate Range Ballistics Missile with nuclear warhead, still on the drawing boards, would probably be the main new development. Research would also be heavily concentrated on the Intercontinental Ballistics Missile, which may have a thermonuclear warhead. Wilson cautioned that the I.C.B.M. is still at least five years away...