The Nike System - Base Tuono
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The Nike System
The Nike surface-to-air missile system represents the evolution of American anti-aircraft missile aimed at countering, according to the experience gained in the Second World War, large formations of bombers.
In the postwar materialized in fact the threat of Soviet bomber formations at high altitude with significant payload, including nuclear power.
The U.S. response was the Nike-Hercules surface-to-air guided missile from the ground, equipped with a powerful warhead, both conventional and nuclear, and high-performance flight such as to strike the enemy formations at a sufficient distance from their targets.
The Nike system was divided into two distinct areas of operation for functions: the Control Area (IFC) and the Launch Area (LCT). In the Control Area were the battery (BCVan) and radar (RCVan) control wagons, the computer system, the acquisition radar (ACQ), the target traking radar (TTR), the distance detection radar (TRR) and the missile tracking radar (MTR).
In the Launch Area, located by the IFC to a variable distance of min. 900 and max. of 6,000 meters, were instead the wagon to control the missile launch (LCT) and three Sections of launch (Alpha, Bravo and Charlie), each with three missile launchers. The IFC and the Launch Area were linked together by interarea interconnecting cables that guaranteed voice communications and data transmission. The connection was integrated by a radio transmission system of emergency, only for voice communications.
The launching process
Once the airborne target (target) had been detected by the acquisition radar (ACQ), the flight parameters were transferred to the TTR radar which in the presence of electronic countermeasures (ECM) was assisted by TRR radar. Firmly hooked the target, the TTR radar sent the data to the detection of the target to the computer system which began to calculate the coordinates of the point of bursting (Predicted Kill Point - PKP) of the missile.
Once launched, through its receiver-transmitter antennas continuously dialogued with the missile MTR radar and was guided to the PKP from orders processed by the computer. Coupling in the vicinity of the PKP the missile received by the MTR of the burst signal.