Beginning in the early 1950s Cold War era, concern about Soviet nuclear-armed bombers led to the basing of surface-to-air missiles near U.S. military installations. Built for the U.S. Army by Western Electric and initially deployed in 1953, the MIM-3 Nike-Ajax was a vital part of localized defensive perimeters installed around the country, including several sites on the Peninsula. With a range of thirty miles, these liquid-fueled upper stage rockets could carry either a nuclear or conventional warhead. The XV-6A Kestrel, one of nine pre-production aircraft built, was used extensively by NASA Langley Research Center for testing and evaluation of vertical and short take-off and landing flight. Developed from Project 1127, begun in 1957 as a collaboration between Hawker Aviation and Bristol Siddeley Engines, it led eventually to the Harrier jump-jet used by the United States Marine Corps and the militaries of the United Kingdom, India, Italy, Thailand, and Spain. Its Pegasus engine used four rotating nozzles to direct thrust downward for vertical takeoff, backward for normal flight, and at varying angles for short takeoff or in-flight maneuvering.
