Huntsville origins of ballistic missile defense

In January 1963, BTL’s Nike Program was redirected to address the ICBM threat of the 1970s, with an orientation toward Nike-X. In February, responsibility for the Nike Program was transferred from the jurisdiction of MICOM and reported directly to Headquarters, Army Materiel Command (AMC). At that time, the Nike Office had 228 civilian and 25 military personnel. The following year, this Office was re-designated the Nike-X Project Office (NXPO); COL Ivey Drewry was the Director.

BTL was given a new contract to serve as the Nike-X prime contractor in October 1963. To oversee BTL – including WECo and several major subcontractors – NXPO assembled a staff of technical and administrative personnel working in MICOM facilities on Redstone Arsenal. LTC Norman C. Buchholz was the Deputy Director, Charles E. Richardson the Chief Engineer, and William O. Turney handled contracting.

The Nike X System would incorporate two types of radars: a very large Multifunction Array Radar (MAR) for long-range operation, and a short-range Missile Site Radar (MSR) for guiding the interceptor missiles. The missiles were SPARTAN (LIM-49A, an upgrade from ZEUS) for exo-atmospheric intercepts, and SPRINT for high-velocity, low-altitude intercepts.

A centralized Data Processing Center would serve all of the computer functions. The PAR and MSR radars and the SPARTAN and SPRINT interceptors could be assembled in many combinations, and their deployments could be tailored to meet various threats.