Streamlined from treads to tires-

Pershing On The Move

N ew eight-wheel-drive transporters or M656 prime
movers are replacing the M477 tracked veh icles deployed with Army Pershing battalions in Europe. T he
new eq uipment will be called Pershing 1-A.
The existing Pershi ng system uses separate tracked
vehicles. The erector-launcher is engineered for movement over roads or cross country, a nd it also can be
transported in C- 130 ai rcraft. Built-in hydraulic lifts
raise the missile rapidly from its horizonal traveling
cradle to vertical firing position, and the system also

serves as its own launching platform.

An improved programmer-test station, mou nted on
the new five-ton cargo truck, provides means for rapid
missile check-out and countdown. Mounted on the
same vehicle is the power station that provides energy
for the entire system, th us making the vehicle in effect
a portable blockhouse. Another vehicle carries the battery control center which will be linked to higher headquarters for positive command and control. The fourth
M656 will carry the radio terminal set, providing voice

The lmproved erector-launcher, left, now under development for the Pershing mlsslle system, is deslgned for
high rellability, reduced maintenance costs. lt ls shown here In contrast with present system de'R1~1n' -Ellrope.

SEPTEMBER 1967

25

Pershing unlta In Germany are now equlpped wlth tracka.

Top left, Pershing moves through German vlllage and on
lnto a wooded area, above center, then ls set up wlth programmer test statlon, top rlght. New verslons pulled by
wheeled prlme mover, bottom left, can be qulckly readled
for launch, bottom rlght. On opposlte page, two Pershing
mlsslles are flred slmultaneously at Black Mesa flrlng polnt
near Blandlng, Utah.

26

ARMY DIGEST

and teletype networks for the battery. An inflatable

parabolic antenna can be stored in a recessed space
when the entire battery is on the road. There is no
change in the basic 400-nautical-mile-range, 34-foot
inertial guided missile.
Martin Company of Orlando, Florida, prime contractor, produces the system under contract to U.S.
Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

'Y
SEPTEMBER 1967

27