Site Summit

Site Summit, a United States Army Nike-Hercules missile installation, is a manifestation of American military defense during the Cold War. The site demonstrates the political thinking of the 1950s and 1960s, when, for the first time, military strategies included nuclear weapons. It represents a critical element of the extensive United States defense network which is spread across Alaska and the North American continent. Site Summit operated as an active missile battery from May 1959 to July 1979. During the 1960s, live practice firings from the site indicated its readiness to deter enemy aircraft from attacking the nearby Army and Air Force bases and the City of Anchorage. Although the site is less than fifty years old, Site Summit is the only Nike site of eight built in Alaska that retains its physical integrity. Site Summit also represents the unique design adaptations made to all the Alaskan Nike sites to accommodate subarctic conditions. Features included retractable radar covers at the battery control area, heating coils at the launch area to permit de-icing of the blast pad, and utilidors for power, heat, water, and communication lines. In sum, Site Summit is exceptionally important as a key Army installation for the detection and deterrence of enemy aircraft and for its role in test-firing Nike missiles. It is an example of technological distinction because of specialized construction methods and as a rare survivor of this class of property in Alaska.

NIKE MISSILE DEVELOPMENT

By 1944, the United States Army recognized that advancements in Germany's aircraft and missile technology had made America's existing conventional artillery obsolete. In response, Army ordnance studies focused on developing a surface-to-air guided missile system that could intercept and destroy attacking planes. From 1945 to 1953, Bell Laboratories, Western Electric Company, and Douglas Aircraft developed an electronically guided missile system for the Army. The system was named Nike after the Greek goddess of victory.

In 1954, Nike-Ajax, designated SAM-A-7, was deployed by the U.S. Army to Fort Meade, Maryland. Concurrent with the emplacement of Nike-Ajax installations around major metropolitan areas, the Nike model continued to be developed. The improved model, Nike-Hercules, designated SAM-N-25, "B", was designed to intercept a formation of supersonic enemy bombers and to operate effectively at high or low altitudes. According to a 1958 press release, the Nike-Hercules was "fifteen times as effective" as the Nike-Ajax. The Hercules missile could travel 87 miles down range and up 150,000 feet in altitude. It had great maneuverability, a speed of Mach 3.65, and a more powerful warhead than the Ajax. The missile could be armed with either a high explosive or nuclear warhead. Nike was considered to be the most formidable of the Army's antiaircraft weapons (Atkinson). In June 1958, Nike-Hercules began replacing Nike-Ajax emplacements. In the early 1960s, there were 274 Nike-Hercules batteries, with over 3,000 Nike launchers and 10,000 missiles in the United States.

NIKE IN ALASKA

Alaska, with its close geographic proximity to the Soviet Union, was considered instrumental in providing advance warning to the rest of the United States. The Alaska defense network included ground-based radars, such as the Distant Early Warning Line, which were tied into aircraft control warning centers, and the Alaskan North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) Region Control centers. The regional NORAD centers were tied into the commanding NORAD center in Colorado. Once enemy aircraft were identified, a coordinated response system was in place with defense weapons that included fighter interceptors equipped with air-to-air missiles, anti- aircraft artillery, and surface-to-air missiles, which included the potent Nike-Hercules.

In 1955, the military decided to place the Nike-Hercules system, then under development, in Alaska. Site locations near Anchorage and Fairbanks were selected to defend the major military installations. Between 1957 and 1959, eight Nike installations were built in Alaska, three near Anchorage and five near Fairbanks. Site Summit in Anchorage was situated to protect Fort Richardson Army Base, Elmendorf Air Force Base, and the City of Anchorage. The other Anchorage Nike sites were Site Bay located across Knik Arm near Goose Bay, and Site Point located near Point Woronzof.

SITE SUMMIT

An access road from Ski Bowl Road (now known as Arctic Valley Road) was used during the 1950s to reach an Air Force radio relay station located at the 3,000-foot elevation, 1/2 a mile northwest of what became the launch area. off this road, the Alaska District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which supervised the construction of the Nike installations, surveyed the land where Site Summit was to be built in 1957. In April 1957, the Corps contracted with Patti-MacDonald Company and the M-B Contracting Company, Anchorage, to construct the three Anchorage Nike installations for about $10 million. Construction of the structures at Site Summit began in May 1957 and was completed by September 1958. The equipment arrived in February 1959 and in May the battery was declared operational.

COMMAND AND PERSONNEL

The United States Army was responsible for maintaining and operating the Nike sites. Command and personnel for the Nike-Hercules sites in Alaska were organized into two battalions, one with headquarters at Fort Richardson near Anchorage and one at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks. Anchorage, defenses were staffed by the 4th Missile Battalion, 43rd Artillery, redesignated the 1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery in 1971. The Anchorage battalion consisted of four batteries (a battery included a control station and two missile launch and storage structures with four launchers): Battery B, Site Summit; Battery C, Site Bay; and Battery A, Site Point, known as a double battery because it had four launch structures.

Fort Richardson provided support for the Nike site operations including vehicle maintenance and personnel housing. A building located at mile 3 of the Glenn Highway housed assembled nuclear missile warheads, brought from out-of-state. When needed, warheads were transported to Site Summit and attached to the booster missile sections.

Typically, 125 soldiers were needed to operate a Nike site (Milton "Bud" Halsey 4/26/95). Housing at the Battery Control building could accommodate fifty men. Although not all personnel were required to live on the premises, the site was staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For security reasons, the enlisted men knew only their specific job, whether it was operating radar or assembling missiles.

NIKE MISSILE SYSTEM OPERATION

The Nike missile system consisted of acquisition and tracking radars coordinating information through a computer (the radars and computer were located at the Battery Control area) to guide a missile to its target. Two acquisition radars swept the sky looking for enemy aircraft. Once an enemy target was identified, the tracking radar locked onto the target and fed information about the enemy's movement to the computer. The target ranging radar prevented the enemy's attempts to jam the tracking radar. Information about the target was relayed from the missile tracking radar to the missile, ready at the launch site. At the appropriate time, the Battery Control officer commanded the Launch Control Officer, in the Launching Control building, to push the "fire" button. Radars worked in unison to relay information about the target to the missile in flight. The computer calculated the impact point and kept the missile on target. When it neared the target, the missile warhead exploded on command from the computer.

LIVE MISSILE FIRINGS 1960-1963

Two of the Alaska Nike missile sites, Site Summit and Site Peter, were the only sites in the United States that held live practice firings. All other batteries traveled to Fort Bliss, Texas, and used the nearby White Sands Missile Range, the Army's testing and evaluation center for missiles and rockets, for their annual practice.

The first live Nike missile practice firing from Site Summit took place on November 20, 1960. This was one year after the first practice firing in Alaska took place at Site Peter. After the first firing, General J.H. "Iron Mike" Michaelis, Commander of the U.S. Army Alaska, told the spectators that the "live-fire exercises were invaluable training in firing. from actual combat sites and at the same time demonstrating to the citizens of Alaska and the nation the power of this modern weapon."

Annual firings from Site Summit continued during the months of November and December for four years, 1960-1963. As a practice, the Anchorage batteries each fired two missiles from the site. Targets included computer-generated points in space and miniature airplanes. The missiles traveled northeast towards Mount Whitherspoon. The Army always gave advance notice of firings in the Anchorage newspapers. Firings were visible from most areas of Anchorage.

In July 1964, the Army canceled practice firings from Site Summit because population growth in the flight range area made the firings unsafe. The Anchorage battalion traveled to Fairbanks for annual practice at least until 1968. While live practice firings occurred at the Alaska sites, Nike missiles were never used in actual warfare.

SUMMARY

The changing political climate and rapidly developing defense technologies, especially with the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, made the Nike missile bases obsolete. Nationwide, Nike batteries started phasing out in 1965. The U.S. Army intended to replace the Nike system with the SAM-D, later named the Patriot, a superior antiballistic missile system in the 1970s. In 1970 and 1971 the Fairbanks Nike installations were deactivated. The last sites in the country to close were in Alaska and Florida. In May 1979, Site Summit was placed on stand-down status and deactivated two months later. The Army continued to guard the site until 1986.

Today, Site Summit remains a physical representation of military strategy during the Cold War. Active for twenty years, Site Summit is a reminder of the United States Army's mission to protect its military bases and population centers.