An Untaken Road: Strategy, Technology, and the Hidden History of America’s Mobile ICBMs

305 Pages·2016·10.244 MB·English

by  Steven A. Pomeroy

Advance Praise for P Throughout the Cold War second-strike
O capability was viewed as essential to ensure
An Untaken Road
M national survival. While many offi cials
E drew confi dence from intercontinental ballistic
R missiles (ICBMs) housed within underground
O silos, others feared that stationary targets could
“Steve Pomeroy’s account of the Air Force’s and the country’s debate over mobile interconti-
Y
easily be neutralized, eliminating the nation’s
nental ballistic missiles brings alive key strategic decisions during the Cold War concerning
ability to retaliate in case of war. Accordingly,
the capabilities and vulnerabilities of the U.S. nuclear deterrent forces. His treatment of
from 1956 until the Soviet Union’s demise,
how technological innovation becomes restricted and channeled by political, economic,
efforts were made to create mobile ICBM
and interservice interests is a story with application to many of today’s debates on future technologies that no enemy could target. Heeding
military forces.” the calls of Gen. Bernard Schriever (USAF),
A
Princeton mathematician John von Neumann,
COL. THOMAS A. KEANEY, USAF (RET.), author of Revolution in Warfare: Air Power and Presidents Ford and Carter among others,
n
in the Persian Gulf, and associate director, Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced offi cers and politicians planned ICBM subways,
International Studies air-launched missiles, bases under mountains,
U An Untaken Road and submarines within inland seas to solidify the
y
h
p country’s second-strike defenses. Th eir invention,
a
ogr “How and why the U.S. Air Force struggled to bring mobility to its land-based ICBM diff usion, and growth nearly resulted in trains
Phot force is a fascinating saga that played out against the backdrop of strategy, engineering, n shuffl ing three hundred Minuteman ICBMs
&L management, bureaucratic rivalries, domestic politics, and high-level diplomacy. Steven across the country. However, despite four decades
D t S , T , of eff ort and billions of dollars spent, none of the
Pomeroy engages this complex story of an ‘untaken road’ through a series of abortive Air TRATEGY ECHNOLOGY AND THE
STEVEN A. POMEROY is a historian of tech- proposed mobile ICBM systems was ever built.
Force eff orts to develop and deploy its Minuteman and MX ballistic missiles in ways to a
nology and, as an associate professor of military H H A ’ M ICBM
IDDEN ISTORY OF MERICA S OBILE S
and strategic studies, served as the Senior Mili- ensure the survivability of those weapons in the event of the unthinkable—nuclear war. An Untaken Road, the first history of the
tary Faculty for Strategy and Technology at the Among the proposals were a ‘fl eet’ of a hundred trains roaming a quarter-million miles of k American mobile ICBM, reveals how the
Air Force Academy. A twenty-fi ve year Air Force track, submersibles cruising the shallows of the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico, and giant evolution of a technology that ultimately never
veteran and former nuclear launch offi cer, he high-endurance, missile-carrying aircraft circling the skies of North America. Extensively e came to pass and the politics that surrounded it
received his PhD from Auburn University. He have for decades signifi cantly shaped American
documented using an impressive range of recently declassifi ed sources, Pomeroy’s book off ers
researches, writes, and teaches on technological n nuclear strategy and forces. Th is unique revelation
a thought-provoking case study that illuminates the process of technological change within
change and history, processes of innovation, strat- of the interactions between strategy, technology,
egy, and emerging technologies. a sophisticated historical and analytical context.” and context provides a new way of thinking about
the factors and conditions critical in determining
R
WILLIAM TRIMBLE, author of Admiral William A. Moff ett: Architect of Naval Aviation and whether major defense programs ever move
Hero of the Air: Glenn Curtiss and the Birth of Naval Aviation beyond the study and testing stages to achieve
o successful deployments.
TRANSFORMING WAR a Utilizing recently declassifi ed documents, years
of experience, and an unrivaled passion for
d the history of military technologies, Steven A.
For more information on this and other great books, Pomeroy creates a new framework on the nature
of strategic weapons technology innovation.
visit www.nip.org.
This thorough study of a “road not taken”
Jacket image: Top: Concept of a McDonnell Douglas
eBook edition also available. is a must-read for decision makers, program
DC-10 airliner launching an MX ICBM. Bottom:
managers, defense planners, and scholars seeking
Boeing concept of an MX ICBM elevated for launch
to understand the challenges and constraints of
from an underground subway. (Both images courtesy
NAVAL U.S. military weapons programs, especially when
Air Force Historical Research Agency)
INSTITUTE inter-organization competition, domestic politics,
HISTORY • TECHNOLOGY
Jacket design: Melissa King PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. PRESS S A. P strategic needs, and new technologies collide.
TEVEN OMEROY
An Untaken Road
Titles in the Series
The Other Space Race:
Eisenhower and the Quest for Aerospace Security
Transforming War
—Paul J. Springer, editor
To ensure success, the conduct of war requires rapid and effective adapta-
tion to changing circumstances. While every conflict involves a degree
of flexibility and innovation, there are certain changes that have occurred
throughout history that stand out because they fundamentally altered
the conduct of warfare. The most prominent of these changes have been
labeled “Revolutions in Military Affairs” (RMAs). These so-called revolu-
tions include technological innovations as well as entirely new approaches
to strategy. Revolutionary ideas in military theory, doctrine, and opera-
tions have also permanently changed the methods, means, and objectives
of warfare.
This series examines fundamental transformations that have occurred
in warfare. It places particular emphasis upon RMAs to examine how the
development of a new idea or device can alter not only the conduct of wars,
but their effect upon participants, supporters, and uninvolved parties. The
unifying concept of the series is not geographical or temporal; rather, it is
the notion of change in conflict and its subsequent impact. This has allowed
the incorporation of a wide variety of scholars, approaches, disciplines,
and conclusions to be brought under the umbrella of the series. The works
include biographies, examinations of transformative events, and analyses
of key technological innovations that provide a greater understanding of
how and why modern conflict is carried out, and how it may change the
battlefields of the future.

An Untaken Road
S , T ,
TRATEGY ECHNOLOGY AND THE
H H A M ICBM
IDDEN ISTORY OF MERICA(cid:31)S OBILE S
S A. P
TEVEN OMEROY
Naval Institute Press
Annapolis, Maryland
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
© 2016 by Steven A. Pomeroy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permis-
sion in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pomeroy, Steven A., author.
Title: An untaken road : strategy, technology, and the hidden history of
America’s mobile ICBMs / Steven A. Pomeroy.
Other titles: Strategy, technology, and the hidden history of America’s mobile
ICBMs
Description: Annapolis, Maryland : Naval Institute Press, [2016] | Series:
Transforming war | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015033687 (print) | LCCN 2015033895 (ebook) | ISBN
9781612519739 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781612519920 (ebook) | ISBN
9781612519920 (epub) | ISBN 9781612519920 (mobi) | ISBN 9781612519920
(epdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Intercontinental ballistic missiles—United States—History.
| Intercontinental ballistic missiles—Mobile basing.
Classification: LCC UG1312.I2 P66 2016 (print) | LCC UG1312.I2 (ebook) |
DDC
358.1/754—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015033687
Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Perma-
nence of Paper).
Printed in the United States of America.
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Which Road to Take? 1
Chapter 1: Embarking on the Road Untaken 11
Chapter 2: Toward a New Horizon 28
Chapter 3: Divergence 48
Chapter 4: Silos versus Trains 67
Chapter 5: Domination 91
Chapter 6: Old Ideas Never Fade Away 111
Chapter 7: Vulnerability SALTed with Indecision 129
Chapter 8: One If by Air, Two If by Ground 151
Chapter 9: Halting Technological Momentum 175
Chapter 10: The Road Ends, No? 198
Notes 207
Bibliography 253
Index 279
vii

ILLUSTRATIONS
Lt. Gen. Bernard Schriever and his missiles 43
Mobile Minuteman task force components 70
Diorama of Hill Air Force Base mobile-Minuteman facilities 80
Crane lifting Minuteman ICBM from launch car 81
Mobile Minuteman re-entry vehicle removal 83
Five launch cars 84
Mobile Atlas 85
Mobile Titan 87
Mobile Minuteman launch consoles 89
Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, USN, and Rear Adm. William F. Raborn,
USN, with model of USS George Washington 93
Triggered random mobile Minuteman 115
Superhard deployment 121
Minuteman I, II, III comparison 124
MX (Peacekeeper) ICBM 139
Boeing 747 launching ICBM 145
Amphibious vehicle, multiple pool basing 155
Slope-side pool 156
Tube tunnel 157
Tunnel-based mobile launch control center 158
September 1979 baseline Multiple Protective Shelter “racetrack” 172
September 1979 baseline transporter-erector launcher 173
Multiple Protective Shelter Loading Dock grid 182
Multiple Protective Shelter loading dock cantilever mechanism 183
Big Bird aircraft 189
MX launching from silo 195
ix