HM-69 Integrated Fire Control

The Integrated Fire Control building is now set up for staff offiies and closed tot he publuc

NPS Photo/K Zylland

Quick Facts

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

Amenities

2 listed

Information, Wheelchair Accessible

Please note: This building and its associated structures and parking lot are not open to the public and have no public facilities. Please only stop your vehicle on the grass across the road.

The building today called the Daniel Beard Research Center, where National Park scientists are based, was originally called Integrated Fire Control and built as the headquarters of the Nike missile base. It housed soldiers and officers, included a mess hall and recreational facilities, and had offices for all “up range” purposes. The Battery Commander would work from this building, and if the decision was made to fire the missiles, the launch buttons would have been pressed here.

Integrated Fire Control buildings had to be kept at a distance from the “down-range” facilities, where the missiles were kept. First, if there were a mistake with one of the missiles, the distance provided some protection of the people “up-range.” Second, this is where the radar towers stood, now gone. Five towers were here, both to track incoming aircraft and to track any missiles launched from the base. If the radar tracking the missiles were less than 3000 feet (about 1 km) from the launching missile they were to track, the missile would travel so fast as to be out of the range of the radar before the radar could lock onto it.