David Bath - Assured Destruction: Building the Ballistic Missile Culture of the U.S. Air Force

ASSURED DESTRUCTION

TITLES IN THE SERIES

The Other Space Race: Eisenhower and the Quest for Aerospace Security

An Untaken Road: Strategy, Technology, and the Mobile Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

Strategy: Context and Adaptation from Archidamus to Airpower

Cassandra in Oz: Counterinsurgency and Future War

Cyberspace in Peace and War

Limiting Risk in Americas Wars: Airpower, Asymmetrics, and a New Strategic Paradigm

Always at War: Organizational Culture in Strategic Air Command, 194662

How the Few Became the Proud: Crafting the Marine Corps Mystique, 18741918

TRANSFORMING WAR

Paul J. Springer, editor

T o ensure success, the conduct of war requires rapid and effective adaptation 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 revolutions include technological innovations as well as entirely new approaches to strategy. Revolutionary ideas in military theory, doctrine, and operations 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.

ASSURED DESTRUCTION

BUILDING THE BALLISTIC MISSILE CULTURE OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE

DAVID W. BATH

NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road

Annapolis, MD 21402

2020 by David W. Bath

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 permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bath, David W., date, author.

Title: Assured destruction : building the ballistic missile culture of the U.S. Air Force / David W. Bath.

Other titles: Building the ballistic missile culture of the U.S. Air Force

Description: Annapolis, Maryland : Naval Institute Press, [2020] | Series: Transforming war | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019040952 (print) | LCCN 2019040953 (ebook) | ISBN 9781682474938 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781682475133 (pdf) | ISBN 9781682475133 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Intercontinental ballistic missilesUnited StatesHistory. | Intercontinental ballistic missilesUnited StatesHistoriography. | United States. Air ForceWeapons systemsHistory. | Strategic forcesUnited StatesHistory. | Nuclear weaponsUnited StatesHistory.

Classification: LCC UG1312.I2 B38 2020 (print) | LCC UG1312.I2 (ebook) | DDC 358.1/754820973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019040952

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019040953

Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

Printed in the United States of America.

28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 209 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First printing

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures

Maps

Photos

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe immense gratitude to many who helped make this book a reality. First, I thank God for placing me in my current position. Thanks to Ken Hanushek for seeing potential and encouraging me down this path years ago. I also thank my dissertation committee, Joseph Chip Dawson III, Terry Anderson, Olga Dror, Angela Hudson, and Jim Burk, for guiding the initial study. The Smith Richardson Foundation and Texas A&M University provided generous grants supporting my research. Former missilemen, including Charlie Simpson and the Association of Air Force Missileers, provided their stories and encouragement. Librarians, staff, and archivists at the Air Force Historical Research Agency, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Eisenhower Presidential Library, the LBJ Presidential Library, the National Defense University Library, the Fairchild Research Information Center, and the Mudd Manuscript Library guided me to critical documents that revealed key insights into early missile development and operations. Neil Sheehan and Jeffrey Flannery provided access to interviews gathered for A Fiery Peace in a Cold War. The library staffs of Texas A&M, the University of Mississippi, and Rogers State University cheerfully responded to my many requests for assistance. Historians from Los Alamos Laboratories, the Department of Energy, Global Strike Command, Los Angeles AFB, and the Smithsonian provided incredible illustrations while Cyril Wilson created maps of the missile bases and colleagues from Rogers State University helped me enhance the images. Former students Elizabeth Walters, Sara Stefancik, and Jacob Fine reviewed chapters for me while numerous other friends helped in countless ways. Thanks to P. J. Springer and the Naval Institute Press for working with me to publish the book. Finally, I would like to thank my parents; my wife, Beth; and my childrenKristen and Seanfor encouraging me through this journey.

ASSURED DESTRUCTION

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

I n December 1957 many people in the United States perceived the nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as the ultimate weapon. By tying the newly developed atomic and hydrogen bombs to the ballistic missile and giving it intercontinental range, scientists created a revolution in military affairs as great as that of gunpowder or the rifled barrel. The new capability could devastate portions of an enemy country in minutes, and there was no defense against it. Although the United States had not yet successfully launched an ICBM to the required 5,000 mile rangeachieving only 530 miles on its single successful long-range flight to this pointthe hopes of Americas future peace and security lay in this rocket and its successors, already under development. The nation prayed that its rival, the Soviet Union, would not develop a working ballistic nuclear missile first.

The Air Force planned to recruit capable and highly educated men to operate and maintain these awesome weapons for the defense of the nation and, American leaders proclaimed, for the protection of Europe, Asia, and other areas. Initially, these mendeemed missilemen at first and then later missileerswere expected to be geniuses, each with a degree in engineering as well as combat experience from World War II or Korea. They were expected to guide the Air Force and the United States into a future of stability and international harmony through strength as aircraft and other weapons became obsolete. Their own futures seemed boundless. Less than seven years later, in July 1964, the Atlas missile was decommissioned, along with the Titan I, the Thor, and the Jupiter, all ballistic nuclear missiles that were developed about the same time as the Atlas. The follow-on Minuteman and Titan II missiles were retained but held only as a necessary deterrent to the use of enemy nuclear weapons while military planners focused on a limited war in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson had no interest in using even one nuclear weapon, except in the most dire situation: a direct nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union.