Missile Master
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| Missile Master | |
|---|---|
| CA IL MA MD MI NJ(2) NY PA WA | |
 The Missile Master was a complex with a main building containing a computer system and with local radars (5 in this depiction) for command and control of "up to 24 Nike Hercules AD missile batteries" (1 shown).[1] The nuclear bunker's raised roof sections held HVAC equipment to collect hot air from the electronic equipment below, and the shaded roof area denotes the interior location of the Antiaircraft Operations Center (AAOC). | |
| Site information | |
| Type | military installations |
Missile Master[2] was a US Army surface-to-air missile control complex/facility.[1][3][4][5] It controlled Project Nike missiles. Virtually all Missile Masters had a bunker housing the Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System,[6] as well as additional structures for "an AN/FPS-33 defense acquisition radar (DAR) or similar radar, two height-finder radars," and identification friend or foe secondary radar[7] (e.g., AN/TPX-19 radar interrogator). The radars, along with Automated Data Links (ADL) from remote Nike firing units, provided data into the AN/FSG-1 tracking subsystem with the DAR providing surveillance coverage to about 200 miles (320 km).[7][8]
Missile Master radars and the control bunker were usually co-located. Sometimes they were co-located with a USAF radar station such as the Arlington Heights Army Installation.[9][3] Conversely, the Fort MacArthur Direction Center used radars ~3 mi (4.8 km) away at San Pedro Hill AFS. The single-site Camp Pedricktown Army Air Defense Base was later reconfigured[when?] to use radar data from Gibbsboro AFS[10] 15 mi (24 km) away.[11]
Nuclear bunker
The Missile Master's two-story fallout-proof & blast-resistant "main building" housed the AN/FSG-1 crew consoles in the "Blue Room" (tiered Antiaircraft Operations Center, AAOC).[2][12][13] The bunker also included an entrance room with decontamination shower,[6] commander's office; separate rooms for the AN/FSG-1 computer (rows of racks/boxes), storage, ADL, and other system equipment; utility rooms for HVAC and other support systems,[12] and a decontamination water storage room under the AAOC. "Our radar must be kept above ground. If that goes, we are out of business anyway" (BGen Robert A. Hewitt), so a less expensive and more vulnerable partially exposed bunker was acceptable for the AN/FSG-1. "Autonomous Operations" allowed remote missile batteries surviving a nuclear strike to launch without AADCP inputs.[14][13]
