Adjacent to the TTR, the missile-tracking radar (MTR) locked onto the missile selected to perform the intercept. Meanwhile, all the information was being distributed on the AN/FSG-1 Missile Master systems. Missile Master was the first truly integrated command and control system featuring automatic data communications, processing, and display equipment. By eliminating voice communications, this Martin-built system allowed an area commander to use all his batteries to engage up to 24 different targets.
By now, the hostile aircraft was approaching the battery's engagement range and the battery commander launched the missile. After producing 59,000 pounds of thrust within 3 seconds to push the Ajax off the launch rail, the missile booster dropped away. Having ignited, the missile accelerated through the sound barrier. Once the missile was in the air, the MTR received continuous data on the missile's flight. In turn, by receiving updates from the TTR, the computer generated course correction information that was transmitted to guide the missile toward the target. At the predicted intercept point, the computer transmitted a burst signal that detonated the three high-explosive warheads. The missile and its target exploded in a brilliant flash of light.
In the Air Defense Command Post, a telephone rang. Major James, the battery commander picked it up “James, 19/78th here” listened for a few minutes and relaxed. “We got her guys, it was a drone fired from offshore. NORAD gives us a BZ for the shoot-down.”
Major James felt the room relax. It was NORAD policy never to announce a drill until after it had been completed. And to get a Bravo-Zulu, 'job well done', for an intercept was rare. The battery had only received one before and that was for ground defense, not an intercept. James smiled fondly at the memory, it was one he treasured. Because of the small size of the Nike-Ajax batteries, the officer cadre all got to know one another pretty well. The batteries had a tradition, once a month of having a “dining-out” evening where the officers and their guests got suited up in full dress uniform and went through the whole dining-out ritual.
That evening, the officers and their guests had adjourned to the bar when the ground defense alert siren blew. That was an imperative, everyone had to get to their assigned foxholes throughout the area. The troops had loaded onto a couple of five-ton cargo trucks and made for the perimeter. Other units deployed accordingly and within seconds the infantry guard detail had started firing 81mm mortar illumination rounds. James remembered how those things could light up the landscape. A group of figures were trapped out in the open, quickly being surrounded by the infantry and military police detachments. After about a half hour to 45 minutes James and his men received the word to secure from the alert and return to the barracks.
It wasn't a drill; some “peace activists” had decided to break into the base with the aim of sabotaging equipment. They were lucky; the guards were authorized to use deadly force if the missiles were endangered. Instead, the “peace activists” had just been placed under arrest. James reflected fondly that there had been something incredibly stylish and satisfying about busting the ungodly while attired in full dress uniform. It had added a touch of class to the evening's alert.
Now the rest of the news. “NORAD also say that the battery will be going to Nevada for Red Sun in six months time. We will be there for a month for the big exercise, then we will be re-equipping with the new Hercules missile.” That was a big step forward, Ajax had been a good first step but it was being outpaced by the development of new aircraft. The new Here had much greater range and altitude capabilities and was equipped with a nuclear warhead. Left unsaid was another factor; converting to Here meant the battery would also be getting ready to receive missiles with an anti-missile capability. Nobody, as far as James knew, deployed ICBMs yet but if they did, President LeMay wanted defenses in place waiting for them.
There was a major debate going on in defense circles now. The traditionalists favored continuing with their bomber forces, arguing that bombers were flexible, could evade and fight back against defenses and could be called back at any time right up to the final laydown. Their opponents, arguing for ballistic missiles, quoted the speed of reaction of missiles, their relatively low cost and their invulnerability to defenses.
James, at least, knew that the last claim was false. Missiles were, if anything, an easier target than bombers. They came in on a predictable course, at a known speed and their flight path could be projected easily. They were fast, that was certain, but nothing that guidance systems couldn't cope with. Even the Ajax missile had some capability against older ballistic missiles tike the German A-4. Here would have a lot of anti-missile capability and the dedicated anti-missile weapon, Zeus, more still.
The problem was political. The Republicans would have held the White House for 16 years by the next election. Two terms for President Dewey, one term for President Patton, one term for President LeMay. The Democrats had found the missile versus bomber issue a good tool with which to beat the existing administration over the head. The Democrat contender, John F Kennedy, had been briefed on what the real situation was and how vulnerable missiles really were to a well-planned defense, but he'd gone on with the anti-bomber propaganda barrage anyway.
The problem was he was young and charismatic. President LeMay had bilateral Bell's Palsy, a disease that had paralyzed his face in an aggressive-looking scowl. Television and radio were the new media for political campaigning and there, on television at least, President LeMay was doing badly. Fortunately, televisions were still in a minority of households and it was radio that people relied on for their news and opinions. Even so, the opinion polls had the candidates virtually even-pegging. Perhaps that would change when the radio debates between the President and challenger started in a few weeks time. Many people had had the experience of debating an issue with Curtis LeMay but few had come out of the exchanges having gained the upper hand. LeMay's meticulous staff work was a hard act to beat.
There was more to it than that of course; missiles and bombers were just one part of it. Over the last two Presidential terms, the Army had been cut back in favor of the Air Force and, to a much lesser extent, the Navy, in reality the Army was now just a tripwire for the nuclear forces. American policy was “massive retaliation”. Attack America or its allies and your country is wiped from the face of the earth. No ifs, no buts, no arguments, just a rain of nuclear weapons. America did not make war on its enemies, it simply destroyed them.
The sheer cost of running a modern army wasn't the only reason why the Army was being kept small and weak; a strong army could lead to commitments that were unnecessary or even dangerous. That was another aspect of existing American policy, war was a bad thing and shouldn't be fought at all, but if it was it should be ended as quickly as possibly by a massive application of force. Kennedy and his clique disagreed with that. They kept waffling about “limited force” and “flexible response”. Part of their support were the “Peace Activists” who cried out for the abolition of nuclear forces and condemned the destruction of Germany.
As the horrors of what Nazi Germany had really stood for slowly receded into the past, their following picked up strength.
Their motto appeared to be that resisting evil was as evil as evil itself. They should go to the smoking hole where Germany had been and see where those ideas lead. LeMay's destruction of Germany had bought a decade of peace, disturbed only by a few minor clashes. Was that legacy to end?