Fairfax Nike Missile Battery (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact location where the missile battery once stood. No visible remains exist.


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Here follows the inscription written on a nearby roadside historical marker:

Fairfax Nike Missile Site
During the Cold War a ring of Nike anti-aircraft missile sites defended the nation’s capital, reminiscent of the perimeter of forts that protected it during the Civil War. Just east of here was located the launch control equipment for one of the three Nike complexes in Fairfax County. To the west stood the missiles, poised on above-ground launchers. The U.S. Army (1954–1959) and the Army National Guard (1959–1963) operated this battery. Built to oppose Soviet air attack, this complex and those in Great Falls and Lorton were three of thirteen Nike sites that surrounded Washington and Baltimore.

Erected 1994 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number E-98.)


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Site ID W-74:
According to "Rings of Supersonic Steel" by Mark L. Morgan and Mark A. Berhow, the Fairfax site was designated W-74. The facilities were apparently transferred over to Fairfax County and used for maintenance facilities. Based on the location descriptions (South of Popes Head Road) some of the structures may be in Popes Head Stream Valley Park.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Atlas Obscura website:

Fairfax Nike Missile Site
Fairfax, Virginia
A lone historical marker off the highway and scattered debris are all that remain of this Cold War-era missile site.

This unassuming site off of the Fairfax County Parkway was once a part of a chain of Nike missiles erected around the Washington D.C. area to protect the nation’s capital from a nuclear attack during the Cold War. The missile defense system was meant to be a symbol of the United States’ powerful militaristic capabilities of the time. Though the site was later decommissioned, the remains can still be found in the wooded areas of Pope’s Head Park.

Before the 1950s, the United States’ defense against aerial attacks mainly consisted of traditional antiaircraft guns. Then in 1951, with escalating tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union, coupled with the then-ongoing Korean War, the U.S. Army advocated for “surface-to-air missile” (SAM) defense systems to be implemented immediately around the country. By 1953, soldiers were being taught to operate these new missile systems, now named Nike after the Greek goddess of victory, and later dubbed NIKE-Ajax.

Finding land to place these sites was surprisingly simple in Fairfax County, though the army was ordered to use government-owned land when viable. The army would eventually disclose information of the new nationwide Nike program to the public in 1955, and would even encourage local residents to visit the different missile sites in their area.

When Dwight D. Eisenhower became president of the United States, he advocated for a “New Look” foreign policy, which essentially sought to strengthen the nation’s defense systems as efficiently and cost-effective as possible. This led to the decision to attach nuclear warheads to anti-aircraft missiles. These new missiles were called Nike-Hercules missiles and could go faster and further than their predecessors.

Though the Fairfax Nike Missile Site would never end up housing any of these Nike-Hercules missiles, the implementation of these new missiles led to a heightening of security at all Nike sites across the country. The new security measures would see the addition of guard houses, fences, intrusion alarms, and a four-man military police squad to each missile site. With this change, the public was openly discouraged from visiting the premises.

The high costs of building and operating these missile sites eventually led to many of them being transferred from the United States Army to the National Guard, including the Fairfax Nike Missile Site in 1959. The Virginia National Guard occupied the Fairfax Nike Missile Site until its subsequent closure in 1963.

Today, the former Nike missile site is utilized by the Fairfax County Police Department to house the police association building (located just to the east of the park, off of Revercomb Ct) and the police shooting range (located south of the park at the end of Revercomb Ct). The rest of the area was repurposed into athletic fields in what is now known as Pope’s Head Park just off of the Fairfax County Parkway. The missile site was bulldozed over, and the only proof of it ever existing is a historical marker off the Fairfax County Parkway that can only be read headed north, and the sizeable debris that was left behind in the heavily-wooded areas of Pope’s Head Park, just west of the athletic fields.

Know Before You Go
This map location is pinned to reflect the site of the historic marker. We've heard from community members that the missile site ruins themselves can be difficult to reach safely, especially due to the large police presence in the immediate vicinity. In the summer, the area is also often overgrown and access to the debris is difficult. Please exercise caution if you are in this area.


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Here follows a transcript from a Washington Post newspaper article, published Sunday, November 26, 2006:

Answer Man Fires Off A Bit of Cold War History
By John Kelly

W hen was the Nike missile base in Fairfax County on Popes Head Road demolished? Does anything from the Nike site remain there today?

-- Chris Barbuschak, Burke

Oh, for the days of the Cold War. Things were so much simpler then. We knew exactly who our enemies were: the godless Communists. We knew what they wanted to do: kill us. And we knew exactly how they wanted to do it: by dropping nuclear bombs on us from jets flying at 30,000 feet.

But we weren't going to let them! While civilians were taught to duck and cover, the Army ringed major cities with batteries of missiles named for Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.

Nike sites started becoming operational across the country in 1954. There were three sites in Fairfax County -- in Lorton, Fairfax and Great Falls -- and more than 20 in Maryland. The missiles were about 20 feet long and were kept underground, beneath metal doors that would swing open, allowing the missiles to rise up and be fired.

In 1958, some first-generation sites -- which had Nike-Ajax missiles -- were converted to the nuclear-tipped Ajax-Hercules model.

Nike sites consisted of two parts: an integrated fire control base, where the plane-tracking and missile-directing radar units were situated, and, about a mile away, the missiles themselves.

The Lorton site was a Nike showcase, frequently visited by politicians and foreign dignitaries. The Pentagon made no secret of where the missile battalions were, said Christopher Bright, a historian who grew up not far from the Lorton site.

"A great effort was made to acclimate the public [to the missiles] and to encourage soldiers to become involved in the community," Christopher said. They even held regular open houses.

The missiles were never launched, at least not on purpose. In 1955, a Nike at Fort Meade was accidentally fired during a practice session. The warhead didn't explode, but the missile did tear itself apart about a mile up, showering the Baltimore-Washington Parkway with debris. No civilians were injured, though a crewman who had been standing near the errant missile when it took off suffered minor burns.

As the nature of the Soviet threat changed -- intercontinental ballistic missiles became the concern -- the Nike sites were decommissioned, and the land was sold to local governments, most of whom bulldozed the buildings and built playgrounds: swords into soccer fields, so to speak.

There's a Nike Missile Park in Gaithersburg. The old fire control site in Davidsonville is now a family recreation center; its launch site is home to the Anne Arundel County police academy. Part of the Great Falls site is now used by a local astronomy group to explore the night sky. The Army left the Popes Head site in 1961. Fairfax County paid $108,700 for the land in 1984 and demolished the buildings soon after. Today, part of the site is a public works storage yard and part is a park. No traces remain of its former purpose.

Last month, the Fairfax County Park Authority started demolishing some of the buildings at the Lorton site. There are plans to leave one of the firing bays intact and display a missile there, part of a Cold War museum planned for the site by Francis Gary Powers Jr., son of the U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960.

The problem is, park officials can't find the stairs that lead to the subterranean bays. Everything was welded shut and covered with concrete.

Our threats come in different forms these days.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website about the missile site as written by Genna Duplisea and Angelica Garcia:

Introduction:
As part of the US military's plan to defend Washington D.C from a possible attack during the Cold War, the federal government funded the creation of a ring of Nike anti-aircraft missile sites around the perimeter of the city. This state historical marker stands at the location of the launch control facility for three of the thirteen missile sites. The launch control facility was located just east of the sign on Fairfax County Parkway. In some ways, the missile defense system dates back to the construction of naval batteries, meant to destroy enemy ships in an era characterized by a different kind of threat.

Backstory and Context:
The success of the Manhattan Project, and subsequent decision to use the nuclear weapons on Japan, ushered in the age of nuclear warfare. Until 1949, the United States was the only country that had nuclear capability. In that year, the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic weapon, marking a new phase in the global Cold War. American officials thought a missile defense system could limit both conventional and nuclear attacks, and decided to create missile sites near high-risk targets.

The three Fairfax Nike Missile sites were controlled by military officials, operating in a once-secret location just east of this marker. These controls were manned by both the U.S. Army National Guard and the U.S Army. The prevailing theory during the Cold War was deterrence; the idea that countries should and could make the response of any nuclear attack on their nation so devastating that no foreign power would ever attack. Over time, both the US and Soviet Union possessed a nuclear arsenal so vast that it would be impossible for either nation to "win" a nuclear war with the other. Deterrence at this level was known as "Mutually Assured Destruction." Should Soviet bombers or other enemy aircraft approach the nation's capital, military officials hoped that they could simply shoot those aircraft down with Nike anti-aircraft missiles rather than test the limits of nuclear deterrence via mutual destruction.

The missile defense system such as the Fairfax Nike Missile sites were the last line of defense for the nation. The prevailing idea prior to this time assumed the United States was so far away from their rival powers that nobody could strike within the country itself. The new age of technology with missiles and planes changed this entire thinking. Russia could strike the United States, and the United States Air Force could do nothing to prevent this attack. This new threat required new defense systems, and this is exactly what the Fairfax Nike Missile sites were.

Nike sites, arranged in rings around vulnerable areas, typically consist of two sections: the Integrated Fire Control (IFC) area, and the Launcher Area. The former housed radar and computers, intended to track incoming aircraft and guide missiles, whereas the former served as the missile storage location. These sections were separated by about .5 to 3.5 miles.

This site is one of the remains of the 265 Nike missile bases that were deployed throughout the country. The text from the marker is reproduced below:

During the Cold War a ring of Nike anti-aircraft missile sites defended the nation's capital, reminiscent of the perimeter of forts that protected it during the Civil War. Just east of here was located the launch control equipment for one of the three Nike complexes in Fairfax County. To the west stood the missiles, poised on above-ground launchers. The U.S. Army (1954-1959) and the Army National Guard (1959-1963) operated this battery. Built to oppose Soviet air attack, this complex and those in Great Falls and Lorton were three of thirteen Nike sites that surrounded Washington and Baltimore.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Annandale Chamber of Commerce Website:

NIKI Missile Sites: The NIKE Missile sites were the first nationwide U.S. air defense system designed to protect against a Soviet nuclear attack. In the 1950s, they were highly visible, powerful symbols of U.S. military power as well as a reminder of the Soviet threat. The sites were the outgrowth of an increasing concern over the Soviet ability to equip jet aircraft with nuclear bombs, and continued to develop into an early defense against Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).

During World War II, the U.S. military began to experiment with missiles and rockets in response to the German rocket program. In 1943, the U.S. Army established the Rocket Branch of the Ordnance Corps, and in 1945 recruited Bell Laboratories and the Douglas Aircraft Company as part of the team (USACE 1997:5; Bright 1997:321). Although Bell Laboratories and Douglas had completed a prototype weapon by 1946, funding cutbacks delayed further progress. In 1951, Western Electric, then the prime contractor of the project, had developed a 34-foot, two-stage missile guided by a system of three radars. The new missile could travel at Mach 2 (Bright1997:321).

This missile used a highly volatile liquid fuel composed of jet fuel and nitric acid, and had to be handled with full protective gear in specially constructed magazines. This was a revolutionary and complex technology for the time. The first radar would identify the target 125 miles away, the second would track the target, and a third would track the missile's course and alter it in response to the target tracking radar. All these activities were coordinated by computers. (Bright 1997:322).

In the early 1950s, antiaircraft defense consisted of conventional antiaircraft guns. Due to the increasing tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and as a result of the Korean War, in1951 the Army endorsed a nationwide surface to air missile (SAM) defense system. Tensions became heightened in response to successful hydrogen bomb tests by both the Soviet Union and the United States in 1953. In that year, the Army created selection boards responsible for land acquisition and construction oversight (Bright 1997:323; USACE 1997:5-6).

By the summer of 1953, Douglas and Bell were producing missiles and equipment, and training soldiers to operate the new missile system that was christened NIKE after the Greek goddess of victory. Later it was given the name NIKE-Ajax.

Land acquisition became an onerous procedure. Conflict and condemnation proceedings were required in some areas but land acquisition in Fairfax County was not difficult. The Army was required to use government-owned land whenever possible. This probably made the decision to locate at least part of the site at the D.C. Department of Corrections in Lorton a simple one. In October 1953, the Army obtained the use of two parcels totaling 30 acres within the Lorton Prison complex. Due to the size of the tract acquired by the Army, the Lorton site was made a double site that had six rather than the standard three magazines, and twice the normal staff (Bright 1997:329).

Work at the Lorton site began in March 1954, and was complete enough to become the national showpiece for the Army's public unveiling of the nationwide NIKE program in 1955. Due to its proximity and size, it was labeled the National NIKE Site by the Secretary of the Army, and was host to visits by numerous foreign dignitaries as well as national and local politicians, and even local residents (Bright 1997:329-331). (2)

Shortly after the first NIKE sites were operational, President Dwight D. Eisenhower came to office with the promise to take a "New Look" at our foreign policy, and find ways to use America's growing technology to create more efficient, cost effective defensive systems. The outgrowth of this "New Look" policy was the decision to use nuclear warheads on anti-aircraft missiles that could destroy several attackers with one missile at lower cost. The new missiles, dubbed NIKE-Hercules, were in fact an entirely new missile that flew up to 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) and had a speed of Mach 3.5. The new missile’s range was twice that of the NIKE-Ajax, and the dangerous liquid fuel was replaced with a much safer solid propellant. The development of the new NIKE-Hercules was authorized in 1953, and it was ready for service by October of 1958 (Bright 1997:339).

For cost considerations, and because the NIKE system was so extensive, with over 3,000 launchers in service at its height, the Hercules was designed to fit into this NIKE-Ajax system. Lorton became the prototype site for the conversion to NIKE-Hercules. Although the same site was used for the new missiles, some alterations had to be made to accommodate the Hercules. Gas detection systems were added to detect leaks in the tritium gas detonation system, and the elevator motors and mechanisms that lifted the missiles to the surface needed to be upgraded to handle the heavier missile. Each magazine had to be spaced farther apart to prevent a rocket blast from damaging other weapons during a launch. Only about one-third of the sites were chosen for these new weapons. Neither the Fairfax/Popes Head Road site nor the Herndon site received Hercules missiles (Bright 1997:340).

Due to the increased security required with the presence of nuclear weapons, the Army added intrusion alarms, erected fences and guard houses, and assigned four-man military police detachments with German shepherd guard dogs. These security concerns also ended the open houses at Lorton and other installations that had once been so frequent. It is not known whether Hercules missiles at the Lorton site actually contained nuclear warheads or not, since the weapons could also carry conventional warheads, but some analysts suggest that they did after the U-2 incident in 1960 ( Bright 1997:341). Due to construction and operating costs of the new Hercules facilities, the army decided to cede operation of many of the Ajax sites to the National Guard. Beginning in 1958, the Virginia National Guard began training to take over the Fairfax site and the Ajax portion of the Lorton site. The Virginia National Guard consistently set records for performance in training exercises. By 1960, the Army closed the Ajax sites due to their prohibitive operating costs. Herndon was closed in 1961, and Fairfax in 1963. On August 30, 1963, the National Guard took control of Lorton, and only a small contingent of Army personnel continued to work at the site (Bright 1997:344; USACE 1997:7).

During the 1960s, the political and defense climate changed, necessitating a change in strategic defense operations. The Soviet Union began to increase their supply of ICBMs and decrease their dependence on long range bombers. Accordingly, the United States decided to focus on the construction of strategic nuclear weapons.

In 1973, Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger decided to close the Lorton site and all but four of the remaining Hercules sites in the United States. Starting in April of 1974, the battery was closed. Prior to its transfer to the General Services Administration in that year, the Department of Defense entered an agreement with GSA to remove the three radar towers and pad, and to spot weld and secure the missile launchers and storage shelters, as well as remove all "above ground obstacles" (USACE 1997:38).

As a result of the DOD remediation, most of the NIKE operations structures were razed (Bright 1997:345-346). At the time of its demise, the NIKE system was in its final phase, known as NIKE-Zeus. Although never activated, many of the systems developed for the Zeus were later used in anti-tactical ballistic missiles (ATBMs). NIKE technology was also used in ICBM projects, but none of these were ever deployed. In 1963, there were 164 active NIKE-Hercules batteries. By 1974, there were 52, and in 1975, only four remained. The last battery, at Fort Bliss, Texas was decommissioned in 1983.

NIKI Sites in Northern Virginia

Site designations and locations of the Virginia sites defending the nation's capital

(W-64) Lorton (double site) - 1954 - Sep 1958
District of Columbia minimum security prison

(W-74) Fairfax Pohick—1954 - Mar 1963
Quiet Brook Rd. off Popes Head Rd

(W-83) Herndon Dranesville—1954 - Nov 1962
Springvale Rd, S of VA 193/ Georgetown Pike
Turner Farm County Park

Lorton was the prototype underground missile battery with installation completed in September 1954. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the Lorton site served as the National Site so the battery was subjected to frequent VIP visits. Foreign dignitaries and military officials, politicians, school groups, and boy scouts often toured the missile site. The sites were manned initially by Regular Army units with Virginia Army National Guard units assuming responsibilities in later years.

Lorton became the lone operational site in the Virginia portion of the Washington Defense Area after 1963. This Nike Hercules battery remained active until 1974.