Published Airpower Journal - Fall 1987
Maj Michael A. Kirtland
WE NOTE with nostalgia the announcement of the deactivation of the last Titan II ICBM complex at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. The departure of the last of the liquid-fueled ICBMs closes a chapter in American military history dating back a quarter of a century. Fifty-four Titan IIs were based at Little Rock, McConnell, and Davis-Monthan AFB beginning in 1962. Since then a great deal of military history has transpired. Through it all, the Titan IIs quietly maintained their nuclear alert.
The tremendous deterrent effect of the Titan's multimegaton warhead, the largest in the inventory, proved too valuable to deactivate, and so its life, was repeatedly extended. Congressional pressure after the 1980 accident at Little Rock, the cost of maintaining support equipment for this liquid-fueled missile and finally ICBM force modernization programs caught up with this valuable missile. In addition to the Air Force missiles on alert, Titan IIs provided the launch vehicle for the Gemini astronaut program for NASA. Now they will be held in reserve at Norton AFB, California, as expendable space-launch vehicles for DOD satellites.
Other systems came and went. At Davis-Monthan, for example, the F-4s came and went. So did the A-7s and the U-2s. The 0-2s came and went, as did the drone groups, while the 18 missiles sat silently waiting. Various world crises erupted and ended, but the Titan IIs continued to maintain their quiet watch over the nation. People in other weapon systems often poked fun at the giant missiles, pointing to their own air victories in Vietnam and asking what the Titan IIs had done. Titan II wings gained their share of trophies, unit citations, and successful operational readiness inspection (ORI) scores; but after all, they did not fly, and this made their value a little suspect. It also made for a difficult morale situation, since the only reward for a successful alert was a chance to do it all over again another day. It is one of the ironies of nuclear strategy that the more successfully you deter your enemy, the less you actually have to do. The Air University Library is full of Air Command and Staff College and Air War College papers on how to solve this dilemma. But since it is a dilemma that is inherent in the work, the missileers had to make their own morale.
Each of the Titan II wings won the Blanchard Trophy, symbolic of the best missile wing in SAC, at least once. They trace their heritage to B-17 units in World War II, units with impressive records like those in the Schweinfurt raid in 1943 and those that set records for downing enemy aircraft. Now, people will ask what the Titan IIs accomplished. They have no air victories, no tattered battle streamers stained with the blood of combat. The Titan IIs dead died in the line of duty, underground, surrounded by concrete, and away from the public eye. They died in peacetime accidents, not combat, but they gave their lives keeping the peace just the same. Most of the time the public never even realized they were there. Occasionally a crew would get a call from their own gate phone from someone asking what the place was. When told, the callers usually hung up quickly and departed, not really believing what they had been told.
But the Titan II crews rolled up the best score of all--54 missiles on alert day-in and day-out for 25 years without having to conduct an operational launch. The mission of nuclear deterrence continues because peace is a never-ending quest. Other missiles and other missileers continue the, tradition waiting patiently in their underground homes and hoping they will never have to roll back their giant doors. But as the last of these tired old giants end their alert, we might at least stop long enough to think about the quarter century of nuclear peace that they presided over… and say thanks.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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