In the 1950s, the U.S. Army built a missile ring through New Jersey.
Fourteen Nike batteries, along with radar stations, a regional command post and a maintenance hub, were positioned from Sandy Hook to Salem County, according to U.S. Army Air Defense Command records. Their purpose was direct: Intercept any and all Soviet bombers headed for New York and Philadelphia.
At the program’s peak, roughly 250 Nike sites were active across the continental United States. In New Jersey, the batteries formed overlapping arcs around ports, refineries, rail corridors and dense suburbs. Air Force interceptor jets were expected to thin out incoming formations. Any aircraft that broke through that outer layer would face surface-to-air missiles on the ground…