Launch of a Titan I ICBM from Cape Canaveral |
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| Function | ICBM |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Martin Company |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Cost per launch (1962) | $1.5m (USD) |
| Size | |
| Height | 31 m |
| Diameter | 3.05 m |
| Mass | 105,140 kg |
| Stages | 2 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | 1,800 (Never used as a launch vehicle) |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Retired |
| Launch sites | Cape Canaveral LC-15, LC-16, LC-19 & LC-20 Vandenberg AFB OSTF SLTF LC-395 |
| Total launches | 70 |
| Successes | 53 |
| Failures | 17 |
| Maiden flight | 6 February 1959 |
| Last flight | 5 March 1965 |
| First stage | |
| Engines | 2 LR-87 |
| Thrust | 1 900 kN (430 000 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 290 seconds |
| Burn time | 140 seconds |
| Fuel | RP-1/LOX |
| Second stage | |
| Engines | 1 LR-91 |
| Thrust | 356 kN (80 000 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 308 sec |
| Burn time | 155 seconds |
| Fuel | RP-1/LOX |
The Martin Marietta SM-68A/HGM-25A Titan I was the United States' first multistage ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). Incorporating the latest design technology when designed and manufactured, the Titan I provided an additional nuclear deterrent to complement the U.S. Air Force's SM-65 Atlas missile. It was the first in a series of Titan rockets, but was unique among them in that it used LOX and RP-1 as its propellants, while the later Titan versions all used storeable fuels instead. Though the SM-68A was operational for only three years, it was an important step in building the Air Force's strategic nuclear forces.
Contents |
The program began in January 1955 and took shape in parallel with the Atlas (SM-65/HGM-16) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The Air Force's goal in launching the Titan program was twofold: one, to serve as a backup should Atlas fail; and two, to develop a large, two-stage missile with a longer range and bigger payload that also could serve as a booster for space flights.
The Titan I HGM-25A, initially called the SM-68 - originally it was the XB-68 before the Air Force began designating missiles as SM for strategic missile and TM for tactical missiles. The XB-68 designation was originally assigned to a Martin supersonic bomber concept that was canceled during the design phase.
Produced by the Glenn L. Martin Company (which became "The Martin Company" in 1957), Titan I was a two-stage, liquid-fueled missile. The first stage delivered 300,000 pounds (1,330 kN) of thrust, the second stage 80,000 pounds (356 kN). The fact that Titan I, like Atlas, burned RP-1 and LOX meant that the oxidizer had to be loaded onto the missile just before launch from the underground storage tank, and the missile raised above ground on the enormous elevator system, exposing the missile for some time before launch. The complexity of the system combined with its relatively slow reaction time - fifteen minutes to load, raise and launch the first missile, made it a less effective weapon system.
Titan I utilized radio command guidance. The inertial guidance system originally intended for the missile was instead eventually deployed in the Atlas E missile. (The Atlas series was intended to be the first generation of American ICBMs and Titan II (as opposed to Titan I) was to be the second generation deployed). An inertial guidance system would have allowed Titan I, once launched, to guide itself independently to a pre-programmed target. It would not have relied upon continuous radio command signals from a ground location, or upon the ability to receive and react to such signals.
Titan I also was the first true multi-stage (two or more stages) design. Whereas in Atlas, all rocket engines were ignited at launch (including two small thrust vernier engines) due to the unreliable nature of the engines, Titan I’s second stage engines were reliable enough to be ignited at altitude, after separation from the first stage booster; and its fuel tanks, engines, launch interface equipment, and launch pad thrust ring. Titan I’s ability to jettison this mass prior to the ignition of the second stage, meant that Titan I had a much greater total range (and a greater range per pound of second stage fuel) than Atlas, even if the total fuel load of Atlas had been greater.
The Titan I had an effective range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km). When the first stage had finished consuming its propellant, it dropped away, thereby decreasing the mass of the vehicle. That made for a more efficient missile, which resulted in increased range and enabled a larger payload.
The warhead of the Titan I was an AVCO Mk 4 re-entry vehicle containing a W38 thermonuclear bomb with a yield of 3.75 megatons which was fuzed for either air burst or contact burst. The Mk 4 RV also deployed penetration aids in the form of mylar balloons which replicated the radar signature of the Mk 4 RV.
The Titan-1 was tested in a comprehensive test program prior to deployment. From the first successful launch on Feb. 5, 1959 with Titan-1 A3 through to Jan. 29, 1962 Titan-1 M7. There were 7 variants of the Titan-1 Research and Development missile: 6 A-types (4 launched) 7 B-types (2 launched), 6 C-types (5 launched), 10 G-types (7 launched), 22 J-types (22 launched), 4 V-types (4 launched), 7 M-types (7 launched). 62 produced (49 launched and 2 exploded). They were tested and launched at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station from Launch Complexes LC15, LC16, LC19 and LC20.
Titan-1 Strategic Missile (SM) production began during the final stages of the Research and Development program. 101 Titan-1 SMs were produced to be tested from underground silos at Vandenberg Air Force Base and then stationed in silos in six squadrons of 9 missiles each across America. 54 Missiles in silos in total, with 1 Missile as a spare on standby at each squadron, bringing to 60 in service at any one time.
The Titan I was first American ICBM based in underground silos, and it gave USAF managers, contractors and missile crews valuable experience building and working in vast bunkers containing everything the missiles and crews needed for operation and survival. The complexes were composed of a control center, powerhouse, and two antenna silos for the ATHENA guidance radars.
These early silos, however, had certain drawbacks. First, the missiles took about 15 minutes to fuel, and then had to be lifted to the surface on huge elevators for launching, which slowed their reaction time. Rapid launching was crucial to avoid possible destruction by incoming missiles, even though Titan shelters were designed to withstand nuclear blasts. Second, the missiles' placement close together in groups of three—necessary because they shared a single ground-based radio guidance system—made them vulnerable to nuclear attack. All-inertial guidance, which does not depend on ground computers, was not yet perfected.
The distance between the antenna silos and the most distant missile silo was between 1,000 and 1,300 feet (400 m). These were by far the most complex, extensive and expensive missile launch facilities ever deployed by the USAF. Launching a missile required fueling it in its silo, and then raising the launcher and missile out of the silo on a massive elevator. Before each launch the guidance radar had to be calibrated by acquiring a special target at a precisely known range and bearing. When the missile was launched, the guidance radar tracked the missile and supplied precise velocity range and azimuth data to the missile's guidance system. Because of this the complex could only launch and track one missile at a time.
Although Titan I's two stages gave it true intercontinental range and foreshadowed future multistage rockets, its propellants were dangerous and hard to handle. Super-chilled liquid oxygen oxidizer had to be pumped aboard the missile just before launch, and complex equipment was required to store and move this liquid. Kerosene fuel also was pumped aboard just before launch.
In its brief career, six squadrons were equipped with the Titan I. Each squadron was deployed in a 3x3 configuration, which meant a total of nine missiles were divided into three launch sites in Colorado, Idaho, California, Washington state and South Dakota. Each missile site had three Titan I ICBM missiles ready to launch at any given time. See squadron article for location of launch sites.
First Stage:
Second Stage:
The number of Titan I missiles in service, by year:
When the storable-fueled Titan II and the solid-fueled Minuteman I were deployed in 1963, the Titan I and Atlas missiles became obsolete. They were retired from service as ICBMs in early 1965. Count as of Mar. 5, 1965 (the final launch from VAFB): 17 were launched from VAFB (September, 61 - March, 1965); 1 was destroyed in Beale AFB Site 851-C1 silo explosion 24 May 1962; 54 were based in Silos with SAC by Jan. 20, 65; 29 were in storage SBAMA (3 at VAFB, 1 at each Base, incl. an extra at Lowry = 9 and 20 in storage at SBAMA elsewhere) EQUALS = 101 production SM vehicles. The 83 surplus missiles remained in inventory at Mira Loma, AFS. SM-65 Atlas missiles had already been converted to satellite launchers in the early 1960s, and the Titan I's had about the same payload capacity as an Atlas. It didn't make economic sense to refurbish the 83 remaining missiles as launch vehicles. About 33 were distributed to museums, parks and schools as static displays (see list below). The remaining 50 missiles were scrapped at Mira Loma AFS near San Bernardino, CA, the last was broken up in 1972, in accordance with the SALT-I Treaty of Feb. 1, 1972.
Official Count: 101 Titan 1 Strategic Missiles produced: 17 Test launched, 1 lost, 50 destroyed Mira Loma, 33 at museum/display (some missing). Equals 101.
On Sept. 6, 1985 Strategic Defense Initiative (AKA "Star Wars" program), a scrapped Titan I Second Stage was used in a Missile Defense test. The MIRACL Near Infrared Laser, at White Sands Missile Range, NM was fired at a stationary Titan I second stage that was fixed to ground. The second stage burst and was destroyed by the laser blast. The second stage did not contain any fuel or oxidizer. It was pressurized with nitrogen gas to 60-psi. A followup test 6 days later was conducted on a scrapped Thor ICBM, its remnants reside at the SLC-10 Museum at Vandenberg AFB.
There should be 33 Static Titan 1 Strategic Missiles and 2 (+5 possible) Research & Development Missiles to account for (of these 22 have been positively identified by SN, 8 known but need to be identified) and 3 are unaccounted for, missing.
Note: May have been at the 14th American Rocket Society meeting at a Wash, DC hotel on Nov 1, 59
then at Charlie Bell’s junkyard on US-1 Titusville, Fla., now Puerto Rico? (see below)
Note: Two stacked Titan-1 first stages created a perfect illusion of a Titan-2 Missile for museums above.
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