Nike Ajax, the first adaptation of the Project Nike missile defense system, was a conventionally armed line of sight radar directed anti-aircraft missile. Nike Hercules, its successor, was an area specific radar guided missile armed with low yield nuclear warheads. AIM A time-lapse erection sequence depicts a Nike Hercules missile on the launchpad as it might appear when readied for deployment. In 1962, the three on mainland Marin were converted to Nike Hercules, and the one on Angel Island was decommissioned. Therein Nike, and specifically Nike Hercules, is consistently referred to as a “last ditch defense” in the event of nuclear war.