Model, Missile, Nike Ajax

This is a plastic desktop model of the Nike-Ajax, a U.S. Army ground-launched anti-aircraft missile. These missiles had a solid-fuel motor and booster, a maximum speed of Mach 2.3, a range of 25 miles, and a conventional warhead. Targets were acquired by the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment network radars, whose computers commanded the launch and guided the missile to intercept the beam of a tracking radar. When the missile was close to its target, the computers sent a warhead detonation command. The Nike-Ajax was deployed by the U.S. Army from 1953 into the 1960s, and was also exported to several allied nations.

Douglas Aircraft made the model and donated it to the Museum in 1958.