Huntsville origins of ballistic missile defense

In addition to the management of systems with smaller missiles, ARGMA initiated advanced research and development in a number of related technologies. Many of the projects were funded by ARPA, and an ARPA Division under William J. Lindberg handled all of this work; much was done in the area of re-entry physics phenomena for applications in the emerging field of ballistic missile defense. An Anti-Missile Research Advisory Council (AMRAC) was formed involving leading scientists and engineers from across the nation. AMRAC’s first meeting was held by ARGMA at Huntsville in December 1960; well-known nuclear scientist Edward Teller, who had a personal interest in missile defense, was a leading participant. Biannual AMRAC meetings, led by Nils Muench and administered by Wallace E. Kirkpatrick, were held during the following years.

The ARGMA Research Laboratory was established by L. Post Hallows; this performed theoretical and experimental science and engineering projects supporting missile programs. Included was Thomas Albert Barr’s 20,000-joule plasma-generator for simulating high-velocity aerothermodynamics – this required a dedicated 8 MW power substation. Thomas G. Roberts developed powerful CO2 lasers for directed-energy sources, and an analytical group led by Ralph L. Edwards was involved in anti-missile optical and radar target signatures and discrimination.

The Downrange Antiballistic Measurement Program (DAMP) was led by John E. Hagefstration. In this, the USAS American Mariner operated throughout the South Atlantic, filled with instrumentation for taking optical and radar measurements of U.S. ballistic missiles as they re-entered the atmosphere. Barnes Engineering was the prime contractor for measurements in the optical spectrum from far-infrared through ultraviolet. RCA was responsible for radar measurements using high-performance systems.

In other ARGMA research organizations, Stephen L. Johnson became well known for his development of radars for missile guidance and in radar countermeasures. Everett Gilman and Richard Dillard developed new mathematical techniques for predicting missile accuracy. Robert E. Betts developed IR and RF signature techniques for analyzing propellant efficiencies. Robert Lusser formulated methods for determining the economic consequences of unreliability, and formulated Lusser’s Law for predicting reliability. Papers from these studies were published in the ARGMA Quarterly Research Journal.

Project Plato, FABMDS, and SAM-D

While the Nike Project was underway, the DoD Ordnance Department was planning an anti-missile missile (AMM) protection for the field army against short- and medium-range threats. Called Project Plato, contracted studies were conducted by Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in the 1953-1956 period. The studies showed that the PLATO missile would need speeds of Mach 6 to 8, well beyond anything being considered at that time. Sylvania was awarded a development contract in 1956, but the program was cancelled in early 1959 – for lack of funds, rather than technical deficiencies.

The basic requirement to protect the field army still existed; this was taken up by ARGMA and the Field Army Ballistic Missile Defense Systems (FABMDS) project came into being in September 1959. An RFP brought 17 proposed systems, and General Electric was selected. However, it was eventually assessed by the staff of the Secretary of the Army that the FABMDS would not protect from the total missile threat and also had high risks; the project was cancelled in October 1962. It was immediately replaced by a new program called AADS-70 (Army Air-Defense System - 1970). In 1964, AADS-70 was renamed SAM-D (Surface-to-Air Missile - Development), a program which eventually resulted in the MIM-104 PATRIOT.

BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE ORIGINS

When ARGMA was formed as a unit of AOMC in April 1958, it had been given responsibility for Project Nike. Various segments of ARGMA started technical relationships with BTL, and improvements to the missile and radar were jointly studied. As the Soviet Union developed the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a much higher-performing system was needed for ICBM defense.

The study and development of systems – early called Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) – for defending U.S. Army assets and civilian population centers against ballistic missile threats from foreign adversaries has been under the responsibility of a continuum of Army organizations centered in Huntsville. The first such official organization was the Redstone Anti-Missile Missile Systems Office (RAMMSO) established by ABMA in 1957. These initial study activities were later continued in ARGMA with analytical work in the ARPA Division and the experimental studies in the Research Laboratory. The ARGMA-coordinated Anti-Missile Research Advisory Council did much in building the body of information about the threat and possible defense.

At ARGMA, the Nike Zeus system development under COL Glenn Crane began in July 1960, and it was designated as a separate Nike Zeus Project Office in December 1961. Radars were the key development for Nike Zeus system. The powerful Zeus Acquisition Radar (ZAR) was on a large rotating triangle, with the receiving antennas centered in a rotating Luneburg lens. Targets picked out by the ZAR were then illuminated by the Zeus Discrimination Radar (ZDR); selected target information was passed to the Target Tracking Radar (TTR); the missile was launched, and tracked by the Missile Tracking Radar (MTR), and guided to an interception using radio commands. Running all of this was the digital Target Intercept Computer (TIC).

In June 1962, a full Zeus System was installed at the Test Site. The following month, the system intercepted an ICBM nose cone flown by an SM-65 ATLAS from Vandenberg AFB, California, and in December it intercepted an ATLAS ICBM carrying a target vehicle and two decoys. Of 14 tests carried out over two years, 10 were successful interceptions. It is noted that “interception” was determined by lethal proximity to the target, not the actual detonation of the warhead.

The Army Missile Command (MICOM) succeeded ARGMA/AOMC in August 1962. At that time, the Nike Zeus Project Office was established under COL Ivey O., Jr. COL Crane took the responsibility for the Kwajalein Test Range.

Having demonstrated the feasibility of the Nike Zeus System intercepting and destroying an incoming ICBM warhead in December 1962, the Secretary of Defense placed a new requirement on ABM systems: an anti-satellite capability. In May 1963, at the Kwajalein Test Range under an activity called Project MUDFLAP, an orbiting Agenda D satellite was successfully intercepted and destroyed by a Nike Zeus System with its missile armed with a nuclear warhead.