Military
6
The Pershing II was a powerful long-range strategic nuclear missile of the last decade of the Cold War and, with a range of 1,100 miles, the longest-range weapon in U.S. Army Field Artillery history. Introduced in 1983 to replace the Pershing IA Missile System, it continued to use the existing missile but added a new terminally guided re-entry vehicle that could be guided to the target in place of the older ballistic warhead. Its margin of error fell from 1,200 feet to a 120-foot radius, allowing a smaller warhead to reduce intentional damage to surrounding areas. The two-stage, solid-propellant missile could maneuver to overfly a target and then return to attack it, and it could also perform evasive maneuvers against enemy countermeasures. The Pershing II Missile System was a decisive factor in the adoption of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1991, which banned long-range missile systems, and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev credited its deployment by President Ronald Reagan with helping bring the Cold War to an end.
Hear stories like this as you drive
ExploreHere reads historical markers out loud as you pass them: over 325,000 stories across the US. No account needed.
4.7 · 800+ ratings · Free
FIND IT
Lawton, Oklahoma · United States
