| Country: |
United States of America |
| Alternate Name: |
SSM-A-14 |
| Class: |
SRBM |
| Basing: |
Road mobile |
| Length: |
21.13 m |
| Diameter: |
1.77 m |
| Launch Weight: |
27660 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead, 3,580 kg |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear W39 1 or 2 MT, HE |
| Propulsion: |
Single-stage liquid |
| Range: |
400 km |
| Status: |
Obsolete |
| In Service: |
1959-1965 |
Details
The Redstone is a short-range, road mobile, liquid propellant ballistic missile. It was designed under Dr. Wernher von Braun and his German V-2 design team, and thus borrowed heavily from the older design. The missile was far larger than original V-2 design, capable of carrying a powerful nuclear warhead and, unlike the Soviet SS-1A, featured a separating warhead. The Redstone was the foundation of the US Army’s ballistic missile design and the forefather of the Jupiter missile. The Redstone rocket is often remembered today for its space launch role, used in conjunction with the Jupiter missile to launch the US Explorer satellites.
The Redstone missile was designed to provide a nuclear threat against Soviet aggression. The missile was based in Europe and had insufficient range to strike strategic targets. The primitive guidance system required previously calculated flight plans and limited any nuclear response to pre-chosen areas. Due to its inability to respond to a military situation, the missile could not have been used as a tactical weapon. It was instead used to threaten nuclear attack on Soviet territory and major transit areas, thus deterring a similar attack by the Soviets.
The Redstone could carry its 3,580 kg payload a total of 400 km (249 miles). Its payload carried a single warhead equipped a W-39 1 or 2 MT yield nuclear device, although a conventional high explosive version was available. The missile had a highly dubious accuracy, as the primitive guidance system was linked to a pre-made flight path, stored on a tape system. The Redstone missile was 21.13 m long, 1.77 m wide and had a launch weight of 27,660 kg. It used a single-stage liquid propellant engine. Though the missile was technically road mobile, the liquid fuel system made it extremely difficult to transport and unreliable.
The Redstone entered development in the 1950s, and in 1956 the W-39 nuclear warhead program was started. The missile underwent flight testing from 1953 until it entered operational service in 1958. A total of 60 were deployed throughout Europe. The missile was removed from service in 1965 in favor of the Pershing I.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 608-609.
