Romanych, Marc/Scott, Jacqueline/McSweeney, Robert (Illustr.) NATO SAMs at the Iron Curtain 1959–91

For over three decades, a vast network of NATO medium- and long-range surface-to-air missile systems formed the first line of defense behind the Iron Curtain. From 1959, Nike and Hawk surface-to-air missiles, later augmented by the British Bloodhound and Thunderbird systems, were deployed in a two-layered missile belt to counter Warsaw Pact air attacks. This book, written by two former air defense officers and based on declassified documents and interviews with former NATO personnel, is the first comprehensive account of the development, technology, and deployment of the NATO air defense system. The first systemsNike Ajax and Herculeswere used to protect air bases and other critical installations, forming a missile belt across West Germany, from Switzerland to the North Sea. NATO's defense capabilities were further developed through improvements to command and control systems, the expansion of the system northward toward Scandinavia and southward toward Italy, Greece, and Turkey, the addition of Hawk, Thunderbird, and Bloodhound missile units, and finally, the deployment of the ultimate Patriot system in the 1980s. This richly illustrated work provides a concise and detailed overview of the system, which at its peak had more than 200 SAM batteries in operation in Germany and along the entire Iron Curtain.