>   
   >You can tour the Nike site. Unless the schedule changed, it is open the   
   >first Sunday of the month. To get in the bunker, you ride the elevator   
   >and are encouraged to hold onto the missle.   
      
   trippy ......  h aha a ha a   
      
   >   
   >There is another underground bunker about a few miles away, basically   
   >the control center for the whole Nike network.  Needless to say, it is   
   >not legal to enter it, and the FBI has jurisdiction.   
   >   
   >You are free to hike to the comm center at the top of the mountain, or   
   >what is left of it.   
      
      
   those systems had a LOT of related  equipment  to make them work.   
   they had the long range target acquisition radar systems that first   
   spotted enemy missiles just after they left the ground or the aircraft   
   after they took off.   
    those were usually very large arrays on mountain peaks etc.  there   
   were tons of those sites , located all over the  USA . canada,   
   alaska and  our controlled territories.  later, some in space and   
   aboard  ships as well.   
   then they had the  high power  ( hipar )  illuminator  radars  that   
   bounced  digital signals off the targets  that the  nike missiles   
   followed and destroyed. those were  tall , roll out , mobile ( on   
   rails )  radar dishes that were usually located  in close proximity to   
   the  missile  launch bays. there  might  have been 10 or 20 or more of   
   those ( per site ) depending on the  size of the site.  then, like you   
   mentioned, there was always a separate  (  located  a ways away from   
   the other stuff for safety / security )  command and control center   
   that directed all  the traffic and target assignments for the local   
   batteries, and few  national command centers  ( several in case one   
   or more got destroyed ) that directed  the overall activities.   
      
   there were numerous variations of those systems over time.   
   many were just simple local nike batteries  ( located under   
   cement or metal doors just under  ground level  )   
    with no  boosted missiles or illuminators , all the way up to the   
   ultra trick  illuminated  nike /  ajax  ( and later nike / hercules )   
   battery  variations.   the basic  nike missile  batteries had  limited   
   range and were basically   for " close in " work  against   
   bomber and  fighter aircraft .  the illuminated and boosted   
   nike hercules systems ( for example ) had  large  arrays of   
   nike missiles atop hercules boosters  ( in larger ground level   
   bays  or on  roll out rails from a reinforced bunker )   , and  many   
   cement  high bay bunker  buildings with large grids of  ( small   
   railroad type )   tracks  that the hipar  illuminators rolled out on   
   when in operation. the  hercules booster  when combined   
   with the hipar   illuminators  gave the system the ability   
    to meet  icbms   on the fringe of space or bear bombers   
   at longer  distance .  later there were numerous types of   
   mobile  nike / herc / hipar systems as the advent of   
   spy satellites made  the permanent  cement bunker   
    installations sitting ducks.   
      
   these systems were great for  weapons of the time , like   
   ( plain nike )  russian bombers , and  ( nike / herc )   
   icbms .... but the advent of space borne platforms,   
   spy satellites,  fast ... low flying ( super trick )  tomahawks , nuke   
   subs, and many others rendered  most of those systems useless !   
      
   the russians , very quickly, learned to block  ( chaff , multiple   
   dummies etc. )  and  effectively  jam  the multi   frequency   
   ( usually three different digital  microwave signals )   
    high power illuminators ..... causing constant system   
   changes and upgrades to keep them working.   
      
      
   many of the nike systems went into place in cities like NYC ,   
   Boston and Philly without anyone even knowing about them.   
   lots of residents were surprised to discover their presence,   
   afterwards. ( after the systems were torn down and only the   
   basic sites / cement were left over )  some residents lived   
   just down the street from some sites and never knew they   
    existed.   
      
   when you could park a russian sub in the harbor at NYC and   
   launch 50 to 100 short range missiles  or tomahawks ......   
   or simply  launch devices from space platforms stationed   
   over all the major USA metro areas ........   
   all that trick nike stuff isn't going to be of much help .   
      
   still it was interesting and fun stuff in it's era.....   
      
   imagine what we have these days,  decades later,   
   that replaces  all those older complex systems.   
      
   WoW  ..........   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)