Missile, Surface-to-Surface, Pershing-II

The Pershing II was a mobile, intermediate-range ballistic missile deployed by the U.S. Army at American bases in West Germany beginning in 1983. It was aimed at targets in the western Soviet Union. Each Pershing II carried a single, variable-yield thermonuclear warhead with an explosive force equivalent to 5-50 kilotons of TNT. Under the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, all Pershing IIs and their support equipment were removed from the inventory and rendered inoperable. This missile is a trainer, but its dimensions and weight are identical to an operational Pershing II. It was built by Martin Marietta and transferred by the Army Missile Command to NASM in 1990.

The treaty that banned these ballistic missiles was a step back from nuclear war and a harbinger of the Cold War’s end.

• Stepping Back from Nuclear War

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