It has been said that nothing puts the MD in WMD better than an ICBM – and no history of the Cold War would be complete without mention of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The first one was introduced by the Soviet Union in October of 1957, it was called the R7. Although this article heralds the first American ICBM, called the Atlas Rocket, it would not be operational until September, 1959 – variants of Atlas are still in use today by the U.S. Air Force. The ICBM is capable of exploding over its target no less than 30 minutes after take off – it has been the one weapon that ified all forms of civil defense and it is what made the Cold War truly chilling.
“Here is what some military men have called ‘the ultimate weapon,’ ‘the absolute weapon’ – ‘the weapon that will rule the earth.'”
Atlas missile magazine article 1956Trevor Gardner assistant secretary of the us air force for research and developmentus senator henry jackson chairman of the military applications subcommittee of the joint congressional committee on atomic energyrascal air-to-ground-missiledr werner von braun father of the ICBMUS army missile development team at Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville Alabamaicbm guided missile inventionThe Snark intercontinental-range guided misileassistant air secretary trevor gardner and the invention of ICBMicbm by convairramo-woodbridge developed ICBM technologyConvair development of Atlas Rocketglen l martin development of Atlas RocketICBM guidance system developed by AVCOICBM guidance system developed by AC Spark Plug DivisionICBM guidance system developed by Bell Telephone LabICBM guidance system developed by Sperry RandICBM guidance system developed by BendixICBM guidance system developed by American Bosch Arma Corporation
Atlas missile magazine article 1956Trevor Gardner assistant secretary of the us air force for research and developmentus senator henry jackson chairman of the military applications subcommittee of the joint congressional committee on atomic energyrascal air-to-ground-missiledr werner von braun father of the ICBMUS army missile development team at Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville Alabamaicbm guided missile inventionThe Snark intercontinental-range guided misileassistant air secretary trevor gardner and the invention of ICBMicbm by convairramo-woodbridge developed ICBM technologyConvair development of Atlas Rocketglen l martin development of Atlas RocketICBM guidance system developed by AVCOICBM guidance system developed by AC Spark Plug DivisionICBM guidance system developed by Bell Telephone LabICBM guidance system developed by Sperry RandICBM guidance system developed by BendixICBM guidance system developed by American Bosch Arma Corporation
