Missile Master

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Not to be confused with Missile Master (Transformers).
Missile Master
military installations
1965 Missile Master interfaces.png
The Missile Master was a complex with a main building containing a computer system and with local radars (5 in this depiction) for command and control of "up to 24 Nike Hercules AD missile batteries" (1 shown).[1] The nuclear bunker's raised roof sections held HVAC equipment to collect hot air from the electronic equipment below, and the shaded roof area denotes the interior location of the Antiaircraft Operations Center (AAOC).
Country United States
9 states CA IL MA MD MI NJ(2) NY PA WA
The term "Missile Master" was also colloquially applied to the inspection staff (evaluation team) that simulated attacks to assess AN/FSG-1 crews (e.g., via short notice annual practices, SNAP).]

Missile Master[2] was a type of US Army Missile Command military installation for the Cold War Project Nike, each which were a complex of systems and facilities[1][3][4][5] for surface-to-air missile command and control. Each Missile Master had a nuclear bunker (except for the initial Ft Meade site) housing the Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System,[6] as well as additional "tactical structures"[7] for "an AN/FPS-33 defense acquisition radar (DAR) or similar radar, two height-finder radars," and identification friend or foe secondary radar[8] (e.g., AN/TPX-19 radar interrogator). The radars, along with Automated Data Links (ADL) from remote Nike firing units, provided data into the AN/FSG-1 tracking subsystem[8] with the DAR providing surveillance coverage to about 200 mi (320 km).[9]

Siting

Missile Master radars were usually at a single area with the nuclear bunker[10] (e.g., co-located with a USAF radar station) such as the 44 acres (18 ha) purchased for the Arlington Heights Army Istallation.[3] Conversely, the Fort MacArthur Direction Center used radars ~3 mi (4.8 km) away at San Pedro Hill AFS. The single-site Camp Pedricktown Army Air Defense Base was later reconfigured[when?] to use radar data from Gibbsboro AFS[11] 15 mi (24 km) away [12]—then closed when the Philadelphia Defense Area was consolidated with the New York Defense Area.

Nuclear bunker

The Missile Master's two-story[2] fallout-proof & blast-resistant "main building" housed the AN/FSG-1 crew consoles in the "Blue Room"[7][13] (tiered Antiaircraft Operations Center, AAOC). Additional rooms in the nuclear bunker included an entrance room with decontamination shower,[6] commander's office; separate rooms for the AN/FSG-1 computer (rows of racks/boxes), storage, ADL, and other system equipment; utility rooms for HVAC and other support systems,[7] and a decontamination water storage room under the AAOC. "Our radar must be kept above ground. If that goes, we are out of business anyway" (BGen Robert A. Hewitt), so a less expensive and more vulnerable partially exposed bunker was acceptable for the AN/FSG-1. "Autonomous Operations"[14] allowed remote missile batteries surviving a nuclear strike to launch without AADCP inputs.[13]

Construction

Installation of a Missile Master took approximately 18 months[15] and required an AN/TSQ-8 Fire Unit Integration Facility (FUIF) be installed at each Nike fire unit to provide the ADL interface between the AN/FSG-1 and the fire control system.[specify] The Highlands Army Air Defense Site was completed at an existing SAGE radar station and cost ~$2 million for the new equipment and ~$2 million for the structures: 170 ft × 90 ft (52 m × 27 m) bunker, power[clarification needed] building,[16] and 4 radar towers[4] (a Missile Master at a new radar station was $9 million).[17] Additional equipment and facilities included tankage for electricity generator fuel, storage for drinking & decontamination water,[18] telephone lines, etc. In addition to the Martin Company's AN/FSG-1 subcontractors, the Corps of Engineers hired local construction contractors for the facility structures, e.g., Kirkland Construction for Ft Heath[19] and Rust Engineering for the Oakdale Army Installation[20][21] (the Corps tailored the bunker to each site from the "baseline standard drawings".)[16] Each Missile Master had 200 total personnel, and maintenance of the AN/FSG-1, the radars, and other systems was provided by an Army "Signal Missile Master Support Detachment"[17] of 10-15 soldiers.[22] All of the vacuum tube AN/FSG-1 computers were replaced prior to the end of Project Nike.

Closure

Army Air Defense Command Posts (AADCPs) were still at 5 Missile Masters on July 1, 1973 (CA IL MD NJ WA—all with AN/TSQ-51 CCCS except the Ft Lawton BIRDIE)[23]:C-24 prior to the Army's February 4, 1974, announcement to end Project Nike.[24] The Camp Pedricktown site was designated an historic site in 1998 by the Salem Historic Preservation Office,[25] and documents regarding the Selfridge site have been entered in the Historical American Engineering Record.[7] In 1999 a romantic comedy set at a midwest US Army missile post was published as a paperback with the name Missile Master[26] (the Kansas and Nebraska AADCPs had BIRDIES and never had bunkers.)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. NOTE: The labels on one of the HAER floor plans are for after the AADCP when the bunker was used for air traffic control (rooms for RAPCON, ATCALS, etc.)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Ch. 2, p. 17 NOTE: The p. 36 image with scrub brush ("Figure 34") titled "Missile Master" is identified differently in the text as "SAGE (fig 34)" (Texas had 3 BIRDIE command posts: Austin, Duncanville, & Sweetwater.)
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/N-A-pedricktown.html
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (photograph caption).
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=59FaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4msDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6612,3991704&dq=missile-master&hl=en
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Brown v. Jersey Central Power and Light Co. (New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division). "The power building at Highlands was "in a 25' x 17' cinderblock building, designated on the plans as “Switch Gear Room Bldg. 118.” The equipment in this small building permits the missile site to switch back and forth from external commercial power to its own internal power from diesel generators. …van housing the computer"
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hcpaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5538,1691499&dq=missile-master&hl=en
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IRkfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AJYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6291,1896670&dq=missile-master&hl=en
  22. ↑ http://ed-thelen.org/unit-histories.html#missile-master-det,2d-art
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    *NOTE: Estimates for AN/FSG-1 dates with asterisks are from the annual July 1 maps in McMaster's report, which don't show a symbol near the Pedricktown NJ site but instead mark a Missile Master north of Philadelphia near Allentown/Bethlehem PA. Also, although Berhow 2005 claims 7 of the 10 AN/FSG-1 systems were replaced with AN/TSQ-51 systems, the maps only show 6 AN/TSQ-51 Missile Mentors in 1966 at former Missile Master sites, with Ft Heath instead shown with an AN/FSG-1 Missile Master in 1964 (near a separate Massachusetts BIRDIE), then a Ft Heath BIRDIE in 1966 & 1967, a Ft Heath Missile Mentor in 1968 & 1969, and no Ft Heath AADCP in 1970 (a Rhode Island Missile Mentor was depicted in 1970; but not in 1971.) Likewise, the report's maps show the replacement Lockport BIRDIE subsequently switched to a Missile Mentor between July 1, 1967 & July 1, 1968 (as did Homestead-Miami.)
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Missile-Master-D-K-Kirts/dp/158445105X

External links

External image
image icon Ft Meade building
image icon empty Highlands bunker in 2008
image icon bunker floor plan
image icon Arlington Heights AI bunker
image icon 1961 Arlington Heights site (5 radars)
image icon Ft MacArthur bunker
image icon sketch of Oakdale complex
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