Evening star., 1955-05-18
BY JOHN A. GILES
Star Stad Correspondent

LORTON, Va. May 1.-THE
Army says its Nike guided mis-
sile installations are as safe as
gasoline stations" and as much
q part of local communities as
police and fire departments.
The 20-foot, pencil-shaped
Nike is named for the famed
Winged Victory of Greek my
thology. It travels at speeds of
upwards of 1,500 miles an hour
and is capable of intercepting
and destroying enemy aircraft
regardless of evasive action at
distances of IS miles and at alti-
tudes up to $4,000 feet.
The Army inaugurated the 81
billion Nike program two years
ago to protect metropolitan
areas such as Washington. The
Lorton battalion is one of sew
eral that will ring this area. The
first to become operational was
at Fort Meade, Md.
From the first the Army has
had extreme difficulty overcom-
ing the fears of civilians who
sometimes appeared to feel that
an enemy attack might be pref
cradle to having parts of a Nike
falling in their backyards. This
is because. after a period of
initial thrust in which super
sonic speed is attained, the Nike
drops off booster section and
then derives it's power for the
final cruise to the target from
q rocket motor.
Safety Features
The Army long has sought to
auay these civilian fears by
pointing out that the warhead
cit can be atomic) will explode
only in flight and that it has a
self destructive feature so that
it will not crash and explode.
Extra safety features have been
added since a Nike was accident
ally discharged at Fort Meade
recently, although that was
caused by human error.
It was not until yesterday that
the Army finally was allowed to
show a Nike battalion here-l6
air miles from downtown Wash
ington-to newsmen, photogra-
phers and television newsreel
cameramen. None of the Mixes
were fired. In fact they never
will be unless there is an enemy
attack.
Brig. Gen. A. r. Hendrix, COM
mander of the I'd Anti-Artillery
Region, with headquarters at
Fort Meade. was on hand. He
made a direct appeal to the news
medium to inform the people Of
the necessity to locate in their
communities and of the mini
mum land requirements.
THE Army is very much aware
Of the impact on communities of
installing this weapon in their
backyards," he continued.
"In acquiring SITES" Gen. Hen
dirk said, "We are most anxious
to integrate ourselves into the
community's daily life with
minimum of inconvenience.
1--WE want the people to feel
and see that the Army is doing
everything possible to maintain
high Standards" he continued.
that the Nike site is not dan
gerous but as safe as a gas sta
tion, as important to security
and as much a part of the local
community as a police and fire
department and that the ply
sical appearance of our sites
eventually will blend with the
adjoining civilian areas in such
manner that property values
would not be affected"
, Land Needs Reduced
At first the battalionS re-
1uired $50 acres of land By
using underground storage this
currently has been reduced to
so acres.
There are two sections to such
installations. One contains the
electronic brains" to put the
missiles on target and the other
about a mile away-is where
rthe launchings take place.
/ There are eight of the giant
hikes stored underground at
Eorton. Above the concrete and
steel storage are launchers for