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There were two basic types of Nike missiles, the "Ajax" saw service starting in 1953, and the "Hercules" saw service starting in 1958. The Department of Defense formally identifies the Nike missiles as:
Nike Ajax (with a range of about 25 miles) as MIM-3A(56K bytes, at ADA Museum, Ft. Bliss, courtesy P.J. Moore) | |||
Nike Hercules (with a range of over 75 miles) as MIM-14A and MIM-14B (40K bytes, Ft. Bliss, Tx, courtesy Jim Warren of Jim's father, June 1960) | White Sands Missile Museum, Las Cruces, from Rich Janne Labor Day weekend 2007 | 
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For a good introduction, see
part of Nike Missile and Test Equipment
and for more details of the Nike Hercules Booster and Missile
This information is grouped into the following sections:
- Time Line
- Nike Hercules - General
- Missile Data
- Launched ALMOST Straight Up
- Warhead Data
- Nike Missile Propulsion
- Nike Missile Guidance - also see TM9-5000-28 Nike I Missile Guidance Unit
- Shipment, unpacking, assembly, testing, local transportation
- About Nike Launchers
- About Nike Launcher Control
- Flight of the Nike Booster
- Interesting Nike Missile Trivia
Time Line
From "Nike History" section
- 1951(27 Nov) - Nike Ajax missile intercepted an aircraft flying at 15 miles range, 33,000 feet altitude,
- Dec 53 The NIKE I (Ajax) became operational during this month.
- 1955(Nov) - A Nike Hercules missile destroyed a supersonic target missile traveling faster than 1,500 miles per hour at an altitude greater than 60,000 feet. This was the first intercept of a very high altitude supersonic target missile.
- ??? Start of conversion of some Nike Ajax missile sites to Nike Hercules sites, other Nike Ajax sites closed. (Due to the Hercules improvements in range and speed, fewer sites provided the same protection.)
- 1960(Jun) - A Nike Hercules antiaircraft guided missile tracked and shot down a Corporal ballistic missile at White Sands Missile Range, marking the first ballistic missile to be killed by a missile.
- 1974 - treaties greatly limited anti-missile (and anti-aircraft capable) equipment
-- "each party may have no more than 15 rapid fire launchers"
-- Most (all?) Nike launchers in United States disabled, Nike sites shutdown- 1996 - Taiwan retires its Hercules batteries (only Greece, Italy, (?Japan?), South Korea and Turkey still active)
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Nike Hercules - General
A photo of a Nike Hercules on partially raised launcher |
Key to numbers
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Please Note: the missile is resting on the launching rail with its
fins (or wings) on either side of the launching rail. The side of
the missile resting on the launching rail is called the "belly" or
bottom of the missile. This part or the missile is "down" (toward
the center of the earth) when the missile is flying toward the target. |
 63 K bytes
| A line drawing of Nike Hercules, source TM 9-1410-250-12/2 |
Nike missile external paint was usually white at sites in the U.S.
(anyone know of exceptions?).
"Offshore" the missiles could be painted:
- White - from Frank Martinez "Ed, the Herc's were white at our base." [B 1/71 Sachsenheim,]
- Camouflage colors - from Frank Martinez "I remember camo [camouflage colors] being used at other occupying forces in Germany. The one I first encountered was at a Belgium Air Force Nike site."
Launchers and rails seemed to be olive-drab everywhere.
Further details from Bud Halsey
Ed replys:
Where to drop the boosters is an "interesting" question. The things come down HARD,
and will obliterate anything less than say cruiser armor plate,
in a radius of about 1.5 feet of the center line of the tube,
and you probably don't want to be hit by a steel fin either -
So - not wishing to put their own launcher area at risk,
the Army aimed the launchers toward a "booster disposal area" .
This had to be a large area because of the non-exact nature of the launch, and winds.
If I remember (or was told) accurately, the boosters should land
in the ""booster disposal area" with high probability even with winds up to 40 mph.
Each bomb was "Composition B" surrounded by two layers of 1/4 inch
sharp cubes of hardened steel.
They were after detonated after
launch by either:
The Nike Hercules had a variety of warheads both nuclear and conventional explosives.
For a description of connecting ("mating") the W-31 to the Hercules,
see Mating the W31 Nuclear Warhead to the Nike Hercules Missile
From Odom, James F.
Bill Evans suggests:
Nike Hercules - nuclear safety - Barometric Probe
Rod VanAusdall wrote:
This pressure sensing was then sent to the barometric switches (baro switches)
in the warhead where they served to "advise" the warhead circuitry of the missile
altitude. This information was used by the warhead to complete warhead arming
sequences and to provide altitude warning in the fail-safe system to provide a
"one point" or HE detonation as required by a missile returning to low altitude
with no direct fail-safe signal received from the MTR. The baro switches were
set at the time of mating the warhead to the missile (this was done by use of the
T 4014 Test Set in the Warhead Building) and could also be set at the launch area
after mating.
There were two altitude settings - high and low - arming sequence and fail-safe
sequence settings. The baro probe was a delicate mechanism and was always part
of the Technical Proficiency Inspection as relates to the unpacking (they came
in steel containers), cleaning, and mounting. It was carefully inspected for
freedom of movement and cleanliness.
There came a time when the Baro Probe was requiring excessive maintenance as
they were always exposed to weather (we are speaking of above ground sites now)
and a bright red cover, which resembled a doghouse for a dachshund was installed..
It made the missile look odd but kept the probe clean. I think this came about
around the time of the "President Kennedy" plug if anyone remembers that.
The probes were a big pain but served a very important purpose.
The "plain old nose spike" was a dummy spike so one couldn`t tell (by casual
observation) which was a nuclear warheaded missile and which was an HE only
as a nuclear warheaded round always had a baro probe mounted and of course HE did
not require one. We are speaking of counter-intelligence measures. Perhaps only
used in Europe - I know they were used in Europe but by the time I served in the
States around Cincinatti (the Dillsboro, Indiana site guarded Cincinatti)
I saw no dummy probes - only covers.
The plain old or dummy spike became obsolete when the baro probe cover came in to
use as the covers hid all sight of the probe.
The nuclear warheads were heavily guarded
The German Airforce was responsible
for all of the missile, launching area equipment, and fire direction center
equipment maintenance. The Germans also were in command of the site. Total
strength of the American special weapon support and security were
twenty-eight officers and enlisted men.
The Detachment was made up of an Commanding Officer (Captain), and
Executive Officer (1st Lieutenant), a Warhead Officer (2nd Lieutenant),
Team Sergeant (E-7), Security Sergeant (E-6), Warhead Sergeant (E-6), three
Warhead Maintenancemen (E-5), one Clerk(E-4), two Cooks (E-4), and sixteen
security personnel (E-3 and E-4).
From Andy Anderson
Over 40 trucks with armed guards all along the route.
We totaled up the yields and came up with 1800 megatons
Much of the time the warheads were transported by Chinook to Elmendorf AFB
where they were loaded on C-141 Starlifters.
From Richard J. Pecoraro
From Bob Wilie Nov 13, 2000
The nuclear warheads had special handling
From Andy Anderson
The PAL device is the Permissive Action Link. Sometimes called the Kennedy
Device.
I was one of the two people that had to authenticate the nuclear release
authorization.
The PAL device was a shorting plug in the special warheads.
It was a combination lock installed at the arming plug location.
The arming plug dictated what type of burst you would get.
A ground burst was set at 600 feet above ground level. The is the altitude
that would deliver the most damage for a ground burst.
This type of mission was used against ground troops and tanks.
The other type of arming plug was used against aircraft groups of 12 or more
aircraft.
This plug also offset the guidance system to cause the missle to fly above
the target at 600 feet and detonate, causing the burst to take out every
aircraft in a 4 mile radius.
In order to control the launch of a nuclear weapon, the PAL device was used.
It, when installed, was a shorting plug, that prevented the missle from
launching and kept the warhead in a safe condition (i.e.. not armed).
When the president gave the ok to fire.
An encoded message would come from CINCNORAD with the combination to open
the PAL device. This was my job.
I opened the PAL, armed the missle with the correct arming plug and punched
the fire button.
There was no voltage in the PAL. I was just a plug that disabled the
launching.
It also served another purpose. If the weapon fell into the wrong hands and
they tried to take the PAL device off by hammering, cutting or whatever, the
missle would self destruct. This was never told to allies on the custodial
sites.
It would not detonate with a yield, but would do a HE explosion with a small
amount of contamination.
- the following is
not Nike, but gives some idea of the special handling to reduce the
possibility of unauthorized risk - from
Donald E. Bender
Don B.
The nuclear warheads had special training
From Rod van Ausdall
The Nike Hercules training round was remarkable for its` color - black. It was a complete
round (included the missile and booster cluster) I believe these rounds were selected from
production rejects, painted black, and entered into the training inventory after they were
stripped of operational components and appropriately weighted. The first one I saw simulated
the "stovepipe" guidance (forerunner of the "mushroom" guidance package) with a dummy
stovepipe guidance section.
Outwardly these rounds appeared identical to the war reserve items except for the color.
Weight was identical and the round could be handled (transported, joined, etc) as if it
were the "hot" item. A black missile container was provided.
The T74 Training warhead with a training XM75 Cartridge (adapter to the M31 warhead)
was also painted black as was its` XM 401 container. The warhead cartridge had all the
electrical connections available for assembly and a training wiring harness was included
in the package. Weight was about 1200 pounds, simulating the War Reserve item.
Dummy firing plugs were included as was a training barometric probe and black "doghouse".
The warhead featured a multi-switch panel behind the right rear warhead access door
(standing aft looking forward) and these switches could be thrown to cause various
indications of malfunction to appear on the T4014 Test Set during warhead mating
and checkout exercises. Technical Proficiency Inspection Teams made good use of
these switches during TPIs to test the reaction and corrective procedure skills of the
Assembly teams. Downrange, on the launcher, the use of the "fault" switches could
give bad indications on the LCI to test the launch crews.
The use of the training round was of great assistance in crew training and saved wear
and tear on the War Reserve items. I have never seen a Nike Ajax trainer although I
have seen and used Nike Ajax training warheads.
I think the above is reasonably accurate. I have searched my memory for any use of the
trainer during Annual Service Practice (ASP) and cannot remember any such instance.
I am sure they were not used during ASP as that was, of course, a live fire exercise with
the HE warhead and commingling a training item for a crew proficiency test would have
been ill advised. I know during my ASPs they were not used.
Rod vanAusdall
from Dave, August 28, 2007 ...
Yes there is a T-4014 used by the site personnel in the launcher warhead room for main setting of the baros for altitude only. No calibration.
What they haven't mentioned is there are several more:
The T-4115 can also test the main engine ignitors, and the main harness.
We had to memorize the entire circuitry and operation of all of these:
Nervous story:
Second nervous story:
Enjoy the site but I don't see ANY of the other weapons folks listed.
dave
Other than the above fascinations, rockets are tools worthy of serious study and have a potential of considerable improvement.
As a bit of a distraction, lets discuss getting a "payload" into low earth orbit - say 300 miles high
Lets say that you want to get your auto, and yourself into low earth orbit (say 300 miles high)
The above gives some idea of the scope of the orbital problem.
Fortunately, the Nike anti-aircraft problem is not so extreme.
Back to basics -
Your rocket engine (any rocket engine) is basically a machine to shoot momentum (mass times speed) out one end
so that you (in the other end) can gain the same momentum in the opposite direction.
The above is the simplicity (and problem) of basic rocketry. We burn some mass, it get hot, expands into a gas,
and we shoot the hot gas out backward to the direction we want to travel.
A more scientific way (and different view) of analyzing rockets is
Note that this is not the shuttle booster technology mentioned later.
The goal here is to provide a very high (25 g) brief (3.4 second) boost to get the
missile into action as quickly as practical.
The finished propellant is a single mass called a grain or stick.
The cross section (end view) permits a large burning surface with a
relatively constant area during burning, giving rather constant gas production
and high rather constant force.
A typical recipe for double base rocket propellant is
This double base rocket propellant produces a lovely pink flame and NO SMOKE.
See Crete launch trip report.
This is the typical end of a Nike booster at Red Canyon Range. Note that the
booster is buried to about 2/3 of its length. This "soil" is hard, dry, and rocky!
Trying to dig a hole in it with an "entrenching tool" is a truly frustrating task.
Hard to imagine the impulse or force necessary to bury the 13 foot long, 16 inch diameter
steel tube&nozzle this far into that rocky hardpan.
There have been rumors of a South Korean varient of the booster. The
The U.S. Space Shuttle solid fuel boosters are much larger
and have much different performance goals.
The Shuttle and other space launch vehicles desire a much longer burn time (lower g forces)
and with more emphasis on economy. The oxidizer is ammonium perchlorate
and the fuel is synthetic rubber material and aluminum.
These are mixed together, melted and poured into the steel sections. Later the
sections are fastened together - with seals - into a much longer unit. The cross section
is a solid and the long tube of fuel burns from one end to the other end in 10's of seconds.
See
NASA Facts online - solid propellants
For a nice introduction to rocket engines, see
Firing of the missile rocket
motor initiators is prevented before the boost period by a safety and
arming switch which applies a short circuit across the initiators and
opens the circuit from the thermal batteries. During the boost period,
the force of acceleration arms the switch, thereby removing the short
circuit from the initiators and completing the circuit from the thermal
batteries.
Thanks to Bud Halsey for researching this.
Most liquid fuel mixtures are indeed superior in "specific impulse"
or push force than any solid fuel mixtures. Any reasonably safe
solid oxidizer contains oxygen bound up in heavy inert ingredients
which seriously reduce pushing ability per weight.
You remember your liquid fuel rocket theory and practice? Good!
You take a tank of "fuel", and a tank of "oxidizer" and push or pump
the contents of both into a "combustion chamber" (rocket motor) that has a hole for the
flames to come out of. Since pumps can be more of a bother than worth in small rockets,
we will use
a tank of compressed nitrogen to push the materials out of the
tanks into the rocket motor - and we need at least 400 pounds per square inch
to make the system really effective. We will line inside of the rocket motor
with something to protect the rest of the rocket motor from the high pressure,
high speed acid and oxide flames.
Liquid oxidizers are very effective, unfortunately they tend to be
very troublesome.
Oh - yes! How did we start the fire? You remember the giant sparklers and
pin wheel igniters used by the V-2s and NASA? Lets try something else, something
that will start to burn if mixed with the "IRFN". That sounds simpler and more
reliable.
And this is where the chemistry starts to get *truly* dangerous again.
A "aniline/furfury alcohol" was used at first, and soon replaced by
"unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazide", "UDMH" for short. And again we have
something not something for the high school chemist. It turns out that
if you mix "IRFN" and "UDMH", you get instant fire - right now, whoosh.
And an interesting idea is to store the "UDMH" in the pipe leading from
the "JP-4" tank to the rocket motor. You can keep it there by having
a diaphragm on both ends of the pipe. When the nitrogen starts to push
the from the tank, the diaphragms break,
and the "UDMH" sprays into the rocket motor in just before the "JP-4".
There the "UDMH" meet the just arriving "IRFN", starts burning instantly
and so by the time the "JP-4" start arriving, there is a roaring fire
already started, and the fire continues burning in the motor.
But notice, there is a pipe full of "UDMH" going into the rocket motor
just before the fuel "JP-4" gets there. The "UDMH" and "IRFNA"
spontaneously ignite - the mixture is termed "hypergolic".
From Kurt Laughlin
(July 25, 1999)
Missile Data
Characteristic Units Ajax Hercules
Identification (Joint Designations
System by the DoD)
MIM-3A MIM-14A,B
body . . .
length feet 21 27
weight pounds 1,050 5,250
payload pounds 300 1,000
body diam inches 15 32
fin diam inches 50 90
thrust pounds 2,500 13,500
propellant type liquid:
- red fuming nitric acid
- jet fuel (JP-4)
- ignited by UDMH solid
burn time seconds 30 29
thrust pounds 2600 10,000
speed mach 2.3 3.5
speed mph 1900 2700
range miles 26 over 90
booster . . .
length feet 13 14
weight pounds 1,200 5300
body diam inches 16 34
fin diam inches 76 138
thrust pounds 44,000 173,600
burn time seconds 3.4 3.4
total or combined . . .
length feet 33 40
weight pounds 2,260 10,550
cost in 1958 dollars 20,000 55,000
Nike Hercules was MIM-14A, MIM-14B and
MIM-14C. There were also several other models of Nike Hercules, e.g.
M-1810 (a liquid-fueled model of which only 70 were manufactured) and
the M-74 (a nuclear warhead training missile--designed for crews to
practice with since they could not fly). The B and C models were
technologically improved models of the basic MIM-14 A.
Launched ALMOST Straight Up
Jerry Wilkinson wrote
They are a heavy steel tube with fins, with a high, but likely subsonic terminal velocity.
(I never heard a sonic boom from a falling booster.) The fins always come off on impact,
as seen in the picture on the right.
Nike Ajax Booster
Warhead Data
From TM 9-1970-2, Feb, 1958. Info from "KL", serene@usaor.net
The T-45 conventional high explosive warhead
weighed 1106 pounds and contained
600 pounds of HBX-6 military explosive.
For further discussion see
What about the conventional warheads?
from Frequently Asked Questions
The Nike missile warhead section (M-22, M-23 or M-97)
was an integral part of the Nike missile.
Nike Hercules used the W-31 warhead weighing 1123 lb.
Yield was switchable between 2 or 40 kiloton
To answer Mr. Man-Wou Jee's question about safety measures on the Nike
system, was the two man rule. It took two people to arm
the missile. One person had half of the combination and the second one had
the other half. On custodial sites (Greece, Korea, Turker, etc),
a PAL device (permissiave action link) was used, and it took two persons to
remove it so the arming device could be installed.
For further discussion see
What about the nuclear warheads?
from Frequently Asked Questions
Another source of nuclear warhead data is
"The Swords of Armageddon"
(suggested by
Nicholas Maude which I have not seen).
For some interesting info on 'our' nuke warheads, see
- - http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Usa/Weapons/Allbombs.html
scroll down to W-7, W-31 (also see W-50 for Nike-Zeus)
then look at
- - http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Nwfaq/Nfaq1.html
section 1.5.1 for info on what a 'boosted' weapon is (what the tritium did).
To keep the warhead from exploding near the ground, and causing high levels of
ground radioactivity, a "Barometric Probe" was used
- photos courtesy of
Ed Bisconti,
identified by Robert H Foy
Those nose spikes are properly termed a "Barometric Probe" commonly referred to
as a "baro probe". The probe is a part of the warhead system and was used to sense
the barometric pressure (as opposed to dynamic pressure) at altitude.
From John Meskanick indicates.
... I was sent to Europe and served with Team D,
66th USA Artillery Detachment, 5th Artillery Group, Special Ammunition
Support Command. I was stationed with the 21st Fla Rak Battalion, German
Air Force, near Westkirchen, West Germany. I was responsible for assembly
and maintenance of the ten nuclear warheads that were a part of the
Battery's missile inventory. We had eight weapons equipped with 3 kiloton
warheads and two equipped with 30 kiloton warheads. We had both surface to
air and surface to surface capability.
All Alaska site were closed in 1979. What a sight it was, for Anchorage, to
see a convoy of nuclear warheads rolling thru the city at 7 :00 a.m. in the
morning.
... the Nike Hercules Weapons
Support Detachment-Korea(NHWSD-K), a special weapons custodial detachment
[was deactivated in 1980].
Our job was to assume control of one or more Korean Nike sites in case the
balloon went up. And be ready to accept one or more of our "special"
warheads. We were a small unit of about 110 people. Mostly NCO's and
Officers. It was created out of selected soldiers from 2/44 as it
deactivated in 77. We ended up with a LTC Detachment Commander and a SGM as
a First Sergeant believe it or not.
Arm Plugs for the Hercs on National guard sites were kept in a two dial safe
with the combinations in the hands of Regular Army personnel.
I guess so NJ could not attack NY
I was a team member for the authentication
process using the PAL device. We had to move from site to site while
assigned to the 43rd.
Mark Foster suggests looking at this
PAL web site
Just FYI ... found this while searching
around in DejaNews.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
(beginning of original message)
Subject: Re: Two man principle
From: thunder@rmii.com (Ed Rasimus)
Date: 1999/02/19
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military
BOD
and
... and noted no mention of the Nike Hercules Training Warhead - nuclear -(simulated the
M31 nuke) which as you may know, was used in TPI and other training routines. The warhead
was so fashioned the Nuclear Test team could throw various switches in it to cause the T74
to give false (and alarmimg) readings on the T4014 test set and the launcher control station
thus causing the crews to take action which was then graded -pass/fail by the inspection team.
Ed asked me if I would write a paragraph or two about the Nike Hercules Training Round,
including the Training Warhead, the T 74. Here goes.
Seems there is a little misconception regarding the test sets for the Nike Hercules warhead:
Funny story: We had to calibrate the load test equipment regularly so when we received a new dynomometer, we had to tie a sling to it and run it up to 10,000 lbs using chain fall and a rolling overhead crane. I went to loading this one up but just couldn't get it to go all the way to 10K lbs and STAY there. It would just sag back to 3K or so. Then I hear the warrant hollering for me from his office. He curses me out and comes running. He makes me step back to look and then I realize the crane is collapsing more each time I yank it down. We had received a 100K lb dyno and we totally ruined the crane. We were all amazed the sling held the 100K lbs. We sent the dyno back to the mfg and got a new crane.
A little rocket theory
At the risk of being sexist, rockets are your basic "boy's toys".
The sad fact is that it takes a lot of rocket energy to get a "payload" into even low earth orbit,
considerable more to a desirable geostationary orbit, ...
Unfortunately, in addition to the above misfortunes, your rocket engine is said to be about 4% efficient
converting heat energy into motion :-((
BUT, even that takes some doing !!
Anyway, all I really wanted to say is that a rocket is a momentum machine, momentum gain of the gas out the back,
is equal to the momentum gain of you and/or your payload towards the front.
Nike Boosters
Drawing of Hercules Booster Motor (one of four) from TM 9-1410-250-12/2 page 3-38,
size is 80 K bytes.
The Nike Ajax used one of these (13 foot long, 16 inch diameter) units, with
fins, as a booster rocket.
The Nike Hercules used four of these units, arranged in a square, with fins,
as a booster.
From "Space Handbook", AU-18, Air University Press,
Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama 36112-5532 -
also available from U.S. Government Printing Office
From
NASA Facts online
"Specific impulse is the period in seconds for which a 1-pound (0.45-kilogram)
mass of propellant (total of fuel and oxidizer) will produce a thrust of 1 pound
(0.45- kilogram) of force. Although specific impulse is a characteristic of the
propellant system, its exact value will vary to some extent with the operating
conditions and design of the rocket engine. It is for this reason that different
numbers are often quoted for a given propellant or combination of propellants. "
Nike Ajax Booster, - end of the line -
40 K bytes
photo shows a larger single barreled booster
(25 K bytes) for their Hercules (or a rumored South Korean surface-to-surface
variant) of the Hercules)
Photo found by
Daemon Hobbs, Capt, USAF, on the
Korean Ministry of National Defense site.
"It shows the surface-to-surface variant of the Nike during a recent ROK military parade.
... it shows the Nike is alive and well in the ROK.
Sustainer Motor Delayed Firing (optional)
***Hercules only***
In a surface-to-air low altitude mission, a motor start delay timer
relay prevents the thermal battery current from igniting the rocket
motor initiators until 9 seconds after liftoff. By means of a delayed
motor start, missile velocity is reduced and a shorter turning radius
and lower initial altitude are obtained.
Ajax Liquid Fuel Sustainer Rocket Motor
Mixture
Specific Impulse
Used in
Liquid Fluorine, Liquid Hydrogen
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~mars/propulsion.html
546
(no examples known)
Liquid Oxygen, Liquid Hydrogen
440
sophisticated space applications, even using this,
the Space Shuttle can't get above a marginal low earth orbit.
Liquid Oxygen, Kerosene
310
earth launch stages
Red Fuming Nitric Acid, Kerosene
280?
Nike Ajax sustainer
Solid Nitroglycerine based
250
Nike Boosters
ammonium perchlorate, rubber
250
Nike Hercules sustainer, Space Shuttle booster
Going down the available energy scale -
Here we have a drawing of compressed nitrogen on the left pushing "IRFNA"
from one tank and "JP-4" from the other tank into the fiery rocket motor.
Here we have a drawing of compressed nitrogen on the left pushing "IRFNA"
from one tank and "JP-4" from the other tank into the fiery rocket motor.
|
The following information is not
from experience, but from technical manuals of the period:
The NIKE AJAX used several acid or corrosive mixtures in the propellant system. The starting fluid was 99% Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine (UDMH). The propellant was 83% JP-4 turbine engine fuel and 17% UDMH. The missile oxidizer was Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid (IRFNA), composed of 83% Nitric Acid, 14% Nitrogen Dioxide, 0.6% Hydrofluoric Acid. Each missile held 4,370 cu in of oxidizer (S. G. 1.563), 1,822 cu in of fuel (S.G. .782), and 1.07 lbs. of starting fluid. Spills were to be neutralized with alcohol or water (starting fluid), 5% Sodium Bicarbonate solution (oxidizer), or with 95% Ethyl Alcohol and dilute Acetic Acid in the case of propellant. At many points in the procedure the contaminated parts and fueling area are flushed with the above neutralizers and large amounts of water. Undoubtedly, this was carried into the "Acid Pit". Empty oxidizer and fuel drums were to be flushed with the proper neutralizer and water. NIKE HERCULES did not use liquid propellants. Hope this helps. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require more information - I have around 2-3000 pages of NIKE documents covering all areas of the operations. KL |
And now you can guess why everyone was much relieved when the much simpler and safer and easy to maintain Hercules solid fuel sustainer motor was used.
In spite the *really* dangerous materials used, in complex equipment, with high pressure nitrogen, ... there were very few serious accidents.
e-Bay listing of Nike Ajax motor (March 16,2001) pointed out by Tom Vaughn
1960 AJAX Photos including fueling operations
From Arnold G. Reinhold (June 3, 2000)
| UDMH was also use as fuel in the reaction control system on the Apollo missions. The oxidizer was nitrogen tetroxide. The Space Shuttle uses monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and nitrogen tetroxide. |
gyroscope
