Restoration Images
Pershing Restoration_1
Pershing Restoration_2
Pershing Restoration_3
Overview
Display location:
- Hangar C, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Type: Surface-to-surface guided missile
Designation: MGM-31C
Serial Number: J645
Payload: Nuclear warhead
Agency: U.S. Army
Contractor: Martin Marietta
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Operations: 1982-1988
History
Derived from the earlier Pershing I and IA systems, the Pershing II represented a major advancement in U.S. Army intermediate-range ballistic missile technology. The two-stage, solid-propellant missile was capable of striking hardened targets at ranges of up to approximately 1,000 miles.
Its improved accuracy resulted from a dual guidance system that combined inertial navigation with an active radar area correlation system. During the terminal phase of flight, onboard radar compared real-time terrain data with preloaded digital maps, enabling highly precise targeting. This precision allowed the Pershing II to achieve comparable effectiveness while employing a smaller nuclear warhead.
Test launches began in 1982 at Launch Complex 16, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In one test sequence, six Pershing II missiles were launched in a single day, setting a record for land-based same-day launches at the Cape.
More than one hundred Pershing II missiles were deployed to West Germany during the 1980s as part of NATO’s strategic deterrence posture.
Treaty and Deactivation
In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which mandated the elimination of all land-based intermediate-range ballistic and cruise missiles. The Pershing II was among the systems banned under the agreement.
By 1991, all 234 deployed missiles, along with training and spare systems, had been dismantled. Missile motors were destroyed, primarily at the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant in Texas.
A small number of missiles were rendered inert for display by filling critical components with concrete, allowing them to be preserved for public exhibition under treaty provisions.
The United States withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019. As a result, treaty-related inspection requirements are no longer in effect, and foreign inspections of U.S. installations are not conducted.
The Fate of the Pershing II
This Pershing II missile was received from Fort Sill in 1990. It was previously displayed at Launch Complex 26 in the Museum’s Rocket Garden before undergoing restoration in 2020. The missile is now exhibited indoors in Hangar C.
Only seven Pershing II missiles are known to remain worldwide. Although the INF Treaty permitted each side to retain up to fifteen inert missiles for display, only a small number were ultimately preserved.
Current Pershing II Display Locations:
- Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum – Florida (with launcher)
- National Air and Space Museum – Washington, D.C.
- White Sands Missile Range Museum – New Mexico (with launcher)
- U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum – Oklahoma (with launcher)
- Virginia Air and Space Science Center – Virginia
- Pima Air and Space Museum – Arizona (with launcher and M1414 Man Tractor)
- Formerly on display at U.S. Space & Rocket Center – Alabama
- Central Armed Forces Museum – Moscow, Russia