The thread about GPS outage, with a mention of EMP, jogged my memory about another EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) question I have been curious about. In the 1950s and 1960s a great many Nike missile batteries were deployed throughout the US to protect against a Soviet bomber attack. I learned about this program when I took command of a US Army Reserve facility on Snouffer School Road in Gaithersburg, Maryland. This is just west of KGAI. In 2008 when I first visited the facility, which would become the home of the Army Reserve Legal Command, there were still abandoned facilities on the site which I learned were from a Nike Hercules firing battery. Just to the south the target acquisition and control battery was located--this facility is now Nike Park, a public recreation area. I was told by a former commander of the USAR facility that underground wiring connected the two facilities, and other firing batteries.
The Gaithersburg Nike facility, W94, was one of many surrounding the Washington-Baltimore air defense zone. The interesting point to my curiosity is that the second-generation Nike Hercules (Nike Ajax was first, Nike Zeus was next) air defense missile was armed with the W-31 nuclear warhead. I have read that this was deemed to be more efficient in taking out a wave of attacking bombers, but I have found very little info on the planned airborne use of this warhead. I am assuming this was because all things nuclear tend to have been held very close. However, with what we know today, nuclear explosions at altitude would have presumably caused dramatic EMP effects on the ground and in the air, though these effects might not have been as extraordinary in the pre-computer world as today. Nonetheless, it is interesting as to whether EMP was considered due to its effect on electronics when this plan was implemented.
The Gaithersburg Nike facility, W94, was one of many surrounding the Washington-Baltimore air defense zone. The interesting point to my curiosity is that the second-generation Nike Hercules (Nike Ajax was first, Nike Zeus was next) air defense missile was armed with the W-31 nuclear warhead. I have read that this was deemed to be more efficient in taking out a wave of attacking bombers, but I have found very little info on the planned airborne use of this warhead. I am assuming this was because all things nuclear tend to have been held very close. However, with what we know today, nuclear explosions at altitude would have presumably caused dramatic EMP effects on the ground and in the air, though these effects might not have been as extraordinary in the pre-computer world as today. Nonetheless, it is interesting as to whether EMP was considered due to its effect on electronics when this plan was implemented.
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