US Army studies began in 1956 for a solid-propellant, nuclear
armed, theater ballistic missile to replace the Redstone first-
generation liquid propellant rocket. In March 1958 Martin
Orlando received a full scale development contract for the
mobile, two-stage inertially-guided missile. First test launch
was in February 1960, and first delivery of operational missiles
in June 1962. A single Pershing launch platoon consisted of 4
vehicles, compared to 20 for the Redstone. In January 1966
Martin was awarded a further contract to develop the Pershing Ia
to replace Army Mace cruise missiles. This ‘quick reaction'
system had faster vehicles and new electronics. It replaced the
Pershing I in service in 1967 – 1970. 1976 improvements to
ground systems allowed the missile to be fired without pre-
surveying the launch sites and allowed ripple-fire of three
missiles at a time. Production of additional missiles took place
1977 - 1979 to top up the force (108 Pershing launchers were
deployed to Europe, but 750 Pershing I/I