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After the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 the US replaced its land based medium range ballistic missiles in Europe. While the Minuteman ICBM was the main national deterrent system, the role of countering Russian missiles aimed at Western Europe was taken on by Polaris (later Poseidon) submarines based in Holy Loch (UK) and Rota (Spain).
The Soviet Union countered in turn by developing the SS20 mobile missile to add to its ageing SS4/5 force, which remained in service.
NATO did not respond to this until Helmut Schmidt cast doubt on whether a US President would sacrifice Chicago for Hamburg. Then began the lengthy two track decision that saw Cruise missiles and Pershing 2 sent to Europe.
However, the US had another possibility: single stage Minuteman.
Had Kennedy not been followed by Johnson and Nixon but by an ardent anti-communist like Goldwater or Wallace and West Germany had seen Franz Josef Strauss as Chancellor, NATO might have countered developments like the tracked Scamp/Scapegoat (never deployed) with its own weapons in West Germany and possible elsewhere (Turkey). Single stage Minuteman would have been one option. The UK looked at air and land launched Polaris. So that might also have been offered.
Fast forward to the present day and INF is again an issue with Russia deploying missiles uniquely targeting Western European cities. Pershing 2 was sufficient to give Andropov and Gorbachev nightmares and arguably brought the first major thawing of the 80s Arms Race: the INF Treaty. I imagine the US could produce a similar weapon in short order though I doubt NATO would ask for its deployment. France of course has the capability (Hades) to produce its own counter. Hope Mr Putin knows this...
The Soviet Union countered in turn by developing the SS20 mobile missile to add to its ageing SS4/5 force, which remained in service.
NATO did not respond to this until Helmut Schmidt cast doubt on whether a US President would sacrifice Chicago for Hamburg. Then began the lengthy two track decision that saw Cruise missiles and Pershing 2 sent to Europe.
However, the US had another possibility: single stage Minuteman.
Had Kennedy not been followed by Johnson and Nixon but by an ardent anti-communist like Goldwater or Wallace and West Germany had seen Franz Josef Strauss as Chancellor, NATO might have countered developments like the tracked Scamp/Scapegoat (never deployed) with its own weapons in West Germany and possible elsewhere (Turkey). Single stage Minuteman would have been one option. The UK looked at air and land launched Polaris. So that might also have been offered.
Fast forward to the present day and INF is again an issue with Russia deploying missiles uniquely targeting Western European cities. Pershing 2 was sufficient to give Andropov and Gorbachev nightmares and arguably brought the first major thawing of the 80s Arms Race: the INF Treaty. I imagine the US could produce a similar weapon in short order though I doubt NATO would ask for its deployment. France of course has the capability (Hades) to produce its own counter. Hope Mr Putin knows this...
