The Cold War: The New Nike-Hercules Missile

At the midst of the Cold War the United States consistently lead the fight with their advanced missile systems, ever evolving Military concepts and operations. This was never more prevalent with the quick evolution with the development of the Nike-Ajax in 1945 and production ceasing in 1958 for the transition to the newer, more powerful all-solid-fuel Nike-Hercules missile. (https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/missile-surface-air-nike-ajax) With the continued threat from The Soviet Union, The United States was unrelenting and persistent with being able to defend and prevent all threats. The United States implemented a policy known as “Mutually Assured Destruction”, with the acronym MAD becoming a widespread metaphor expressing the worst fears of the era. (http://nikemissile.org/ColdWar/whatwehave/) The Ajax’s need for upgrades quickly became the forefront of the National Air Defense.
The next need and desire for upgrade was to arm this new missile with a powerful atomic warhead to ensure destruction of the target aircraft and or missile. The New Nike-Hercules missile not only was a direct target missile but had the capabilities of destructing and disabling of any nuclear weapons its advisory carries.