page_title: MIM-3 Nike Ajax
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: MIM-3 Nike Ajax / History / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: The Nike Ajax assembly line at Douglas Aircraft.
context_page_description: The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational surface-to-air missile, entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes above 50,000 feet. Nike was initially deployed in the US to provide defense against Soviet bomber attacks, and was later deployed overseas to protect US bases, as well as being sold to various allied forces. Some examples remained in use until the 1970s.
  Technological development during the 1950s quickly rendered the MIM-3 obsolete. It was unable to defend against more capable bombers or multiple targets in formation, and had relatively short range. Even while Nike was being deployed, these concerns led to the contracts for the greatly improved MIM-14 Nike Hercules, which began deployment in 1959. As Hercules developed, the threat moved from bombers to ICBMs, and the LIM-49 Nike Zeus anti-ballistic missile project started to address these. All of the Nike projects were led by Bell Labs, due to their early work in radar guidance systems during World War II.
context_section_description: Production was launched in August 1952. By the end of the year, three complete ground systems and 1,000 missiles had been delivered to White Sands. The complete system was set up by January 1953, and an underground launch site first fired on 5 June 1953. Crew training was carried out at Fort Bliss with the missiles fired toward White Sands. Service deliveries began that year, and eventually, a total of 350 launch systems and 13,714 missiles were produced over the production run. In 1957, the National Guard started taking over the anti-aircraft role, replacing regular army units at Bliss.
caption: The Nike Ajax assembly line.
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