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The Nike Site Summit (or just Site Summit) is a historic military installation of the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
in
Anchorage Borough, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...
. The site, located in the
Chugach Mountains The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about long and wide, and extends from the Knik and Turnag ...
overlooking
Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson is a United States military facility in Anchorage, Alaska. It is a joint base formed from the United States Air Force's Elmendorf Air Force Base and the United States Army's Fort Richardson, which were merged ...
, is the location of one of the best-preserved surviving
Nike-Hercules The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range anti-aircraft, air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclea ...
missile installations in the state. The site's structures include a battery control area, a missile launch area, and several
magazines A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
. Units of the
43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment The 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an air defense artillery regiment of the United States Army first constituted 1918 in the Regular Army. In 2018, its battalions use Patriot antimissiles, and are cross-training with THAAD. In 2020, th ...
, USARAL Artillery Group,
United States Army Alaska The United States Army Alaska (USARAK or "America's Arctic Warriors") was a military command of the United States Army located in the U.S. state of Alaska. A subordinate command of I Corps (United States), I Corps, USARAK was the ground element ...
, would have garrisoned the site. The site was built in 1957-58 and equipped with missiles in 1959. The site was in active service defending the United States from the threat of Soviet air strikes until it was decommissioned in 1979, after which sensitive militarily equipment (including missiles, radar equipment, and launch control equipment) was removed. The U.S. Army maintained the site into the 1980s before abandoning it. The site was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1996. A local non-profit group, Friends of Nike Site Summit, is actively attempting to preserve the site. Site Summit was one of 145 Nike-Hercules sites that were built as a part of the defense network that protected the United States during the Cold War. In 1959–60, eight Nike missile sites were constructed in Alaska. The Nike sites in Alaska, including Site Summit, served a vital defense role due to their location—being between the Soviet Union and continental United States. Site Summit performed live fire tests of its Nike-Hercules missiles between 1960 and 1963, before the launches became dangerous due to the growing population of Anchorage. The Nike-Hercules missile, the United States military's first anti-aircraft missile capable of being equipped with nuclear warheads, was a formidable defense weapon. The United States’ Nike-Hercules sites were created in response to the rising possibility of nuclear attack by Soviet bombers. Operation of Nike-Hercules sites such as Site Summit required 125 personnel. Despite the ability of Nike missiles, the advent of intercontinental missiles quickly made the Nike-Hercules missiles obsolete. Nike-Hercules sites began closing in 1965 and all Nike-Hercules sites had been decommissioned by 1975 except ones in Alaska and Florida—Site Summit in Anchorage and the Nike-Hercules site in Key West were the last two sites to close in 1979. Friends of Nike Site Summit partnered with multiple state agencies in 2009 in order to restore the site. After three years of restoration, guided tours began in the summer of 2012.


See also

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National Register of Historic Places listings in Anchorage, Alaska __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Anchorage, Alaska. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Anchorage, Alaska, Unite ...


References


External links

* ** ** ** ** * U.S. Army Nike sites Installations of the United States Army in Alaska Military in Anchorage, Alaska Buildings and structures completed in 1959 Historic American Engineering Record in Alaska Historic American Landscapes Survey in Alaska Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Anchorage, Alaska {{US-mil-hist-stub