The development of jet aircraft during WWII also signaled that a new era in anti-aircraft defense had arrived. To counter the emerging threat, the U.S. Army commissioned Project Nike. Developed by Bell Laboratories, Nike was an ambitious radar-controlled missile system that initially targeted bombers flying at 500 mph and at up to 60,000 feet. At that distance a conventional missile would need to "lead" its target. Bell's answer to the problem was to use three radars and an analog computer. The first radar would acquire the target, and the second would track it. The third system followed the...
The development of jet aircraft during WWII also signaled that a new era in anti-aircraft defense had arrived. To counter the emerging threat, the U.S...