US PGM-17 ''Thor'' BM

By Crusader1307

The PGM-17 ''Thor'' was America's first operational Ballistic Missile deployed for use in the defense of The Country from Enemy Nuclear attack. First deployed in 1959 (in The US and Great Britain as well), The ''Thor'' served as the design pattern for The ''Delta'' Rocket (with varieties still in use by NASA and ESA today). The ''Peacekeeper” Nuclear Missile was another design based on The ''Thor''. 65-feet in height and 8-feet in diameter, The PGM-17 was an Intermediate Range Missile with an active range of 2,300-miles. The Missile weighed 110,000-pounds. They were at first fixed Platform mounted and then later began to be stored in below ground Silos (among the first). Capable of speeds to a maximum of 10,000-mph, The ''Thor'' Missile carried The W49 Thermonuclear Device, capable of an explosive yield of 1.44 Megatons. Launch to Target time for The PGM-17 was 18-minutes from The Continental United States. Before Silo emplacement with all US ICBM, Missiles such as ''Thor'' were moved from covered emplacements to “Quick Launch'' Platforms. Normal deployment was around 5 to 8-minutes to pre-flight The PGM-17. Deployed from 1958 to 1963, it would be replaced by more advanced and longer ranged ICBM Devices.