Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles
Appendix 4: Undesignated Vehicles
HJ-Nike-xxx
Copyright © 2005-2006 Andreas Parsch

Miscellaneous Honest John-Nike-Boosted Rockets
(HJ-Nike-Nike / HJ-Nike / HJ-Nike-Javelin / HJ-Nike-Hydac)

Several sounding rockets of the 1950s through the 1970s used an ABL M6 Honest John (HJ) and an ABL M5 Nike booster as the first two stages. These rockets include the Jason, Javelin and Strongarm rockets, as well as number of other vehicles which are usually referred to simply by their staging combination. The latter, if used by the U.S. military, are briefly mentioned in this article.

HJ-Nike-Nike

On 25 October 1957, the USAF used a rocket consisting of one Honest John and two Nike stages to test a ballistic missile reentry vehicle model from General Electric. A second test of that sort was conducted in February 1958. In November and December 1962, the Air Force fired eight more HJ-Nike-Nike rockets on upper atmosphere sounding missions, which reached a highest apogee of about 170 km (105 miles). HJ-Nike-Nike rockets were also used until 1970 by the Lawrence Radiation Lab and Sandia.

HJ-Nike

Between August 1960 and May 1963, the U.S. Air Force launched a total of 19 HJ-Nike sounding rockets with aeronomy and ionosphere experiments. The rockets reached altitudes of around 100 km (60 miles). NACA/NASA also launched about 20 of these combinations, the last one in June 1967.

HJ-Nike-Javelin

A three-stage sounding rocket, consisting of an Honest John, a Nike and a Space Data Javelin 3 stage, was fired by the USAF on 29 June 1965. It reached an altitude of about 300 km (185 miles). This was the only launch of this combination of stages. The Javelin 3 is not related to the Javelin four-stage sounding rocket.

HJ-Nike-Hydac

Between November 1965 and March 1977, the USAF launched nine HJ-Nike-Hydac sounding rockets to altitudes in the 500 km (300 miles) region. The Space Data Hydac stage was a derivative of the Javelin with a longer casing and a different propellant type. The last HJ-Nike-Hydac firings were conducted in a series of HAVE JEEP reentry vehicle decoy tests by SAMSO (Space And Missile Systems Organization) in 1987/88.

Images: Orbital Sciences
Left: HJ-Nike-Javelin
Right: HJ-Nike-Hydac


Specifications

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!

Data for HJ-Nike-Nike, HJ-Nike, HJ-Nike-Javelin, HJ-Nike-Hydac:

 HJ-Nike-NikeHJ-Nike
Length~ 14 m (46 ft)~ 10 m (33 ft)
Diameter1st stage: 58.1 cm (22.9 in)
2nd/3rd stage: 41.9 cm (16.5 in)
1st stage: 58.1 cm (22.9 in)
2nd stage: 41.9 cm (16.5 in)
Weight *?2700 kg (6000 lb)
Altitude *> 150 km (95 miles)100 km (60 miles)
3rd stage propulsion ABL M5 Nike, 217 kN (48700 lb) for 3.5 s (n/a)

 HJ-Nike-JavelinHJ-Nike-Hydac
Length13.4 m (43 ft 11 in)14.3 m (46 ft 11 in)
Diameter1st stage: 58.1 cm (22.9 in)
2nd stage: 41.9 cm (16.5 in)
3rd stage: 23 cm (9 in)
1st stage: 58.1 cm (22.9 in)
2nd stage: 41.9 cm (16.5 in)
3rd stage: 23 cm (9 in)
Weight *2800 kg (6200 lb)2900 kg (6400 lb)
Altitude *300 km (185 miles)500 km (300 miles)
3rd stage propulsion Space Data Javelin 3; 93 kN (20900 lb) Space Data Hydac; 58.7 kN (13200 lb)
* With typical payloads
† 1st stage for all: ABL M6 Honest John, 365 kN (82000 lb) for 5 s
  2nd stage for all: ABL M5 Nike, 217 kN (48700 lb) for 3.5 s; all stages are solid-propellant rockets

Main Sources

[1] Jonathan McDowell: Launch Vehicles Database
[2] Mark Wade: Encyclopedia Astronautica


Back to Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4





Last Updated: 17 January 2006