Nike Missile Site MS-20 Launcher, Roberts Wisconsin
Longitude: -92.5541218947609
This location was part of the Twin Cities Defense Area
Site ID: MS-20
The missiles at this Launch Area were controlled by the Integrated Fire Control site located here.
Site Role: Launcher
A typical Nike air defense site consisted of two separate parcels of land. One area was known as the Integrated Fire Control (IFC) Area. This site contained the Nike system's ground-based radar and computer systems designed to detect and track hostile aircraft, and to guide the missiles to their targets.
The second parcel of land was known as the Launcher Area. At the launcher area, Nike missiles were stored horizontally within heavily constructed underground missile magazines. A large, missile elevator brought the Nikes to the surface of the site where they would be pushed across twin steel rails to one of four satellite launchers.
Elaboration on how Nike worked here.
Missile Type: Ajax/Hercules
The Nike Ajax was the first in the Army's family of guided missiles, and the world's first operational, guided, surface-to-air missile system. Nike Ajax had a burnout speed of Mach 2.3, a range of 25-30 miles, and a ceiling of 65,000 feet.
Designed to carry either nuclear and/or high-explosive warheads, the Nike Hercules missile could attack supersonic aircraft operating at altitudes in excess of 150,000 feet and at a range of more than 87 miles.
Battery Type: single
Date Site Converted to Hercules Missile: October, 1959
Nike Hercules were more powerful and nuclear capable missiles. Many locations originally built for the Ajax were later modified and upgraded to the newer Hercules.
Current site status: demolished
MS-20 operated as part of the Army Air Defense Command from October 1959 through June 1971, one of four Nike Hercules missile sites protecting the Twin Cities. Headquarters were at Fort Snelling, and the site that once housed them is now part of Fort Snelling Cemetery.
Nike Missile Base MS-20 was built in 1959 on the highest point of land in St. Croix County in western Wisconsin, one of four bases constructed during the Cold War era to defend the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
The IFC/administration site and the launcher area are located about a quarter mile apart on 120th Street, reached by taking I-94 to the 120th Street exit and going north to 114th Avenue.
A Nike Hercules missile on its transporter is on display outside a public storage facility at the former MS-20 site in Roberts, Wisconsin.
MS-20 is currently on two pieces of private property used for storage, including RVs. It has many base buildings still standing and is notable for having many of its original structures intact.
The "20" designation places MS-20 at roughly 72 degrees from north (east-northeast) of the Twin Cities center point, consistent with its location east of the metro in western Wisconsin.
List of all Nike Installations in the Twin Cities Defense AreaList of all Nike Installations in Minnesota
