| MGM-5 Corporal[1][2] | |
|---|---|
 Corporal field artillery missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Air Force Space & Missile Museum | |
| Type | Tactical ballistic missile |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1954-1964 |
| Used by | United States Army British Army |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Designed | 1952 |
| Manufacturer | Firestone Tire and Rubber Company |
| No. built | 1,101 (55 developmental, 1,046 production) |
| Variants | Type II Type IIa Type IIb |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 11,000 lb (5,000 kg) |
| Length | 45 ft 4 in (13.82 m) |
| Diameter | 30 in (76 cm) |
| Wingspan | 7 ft (2.1 m) |
| Warhead | W7 nuclear |
| Warhead weight | Approximately 1,000 lb (450 kg)[3] |
| Blast yield | 20 kilotons of TNT (84 TJ) |
| Engine | 89 kN (20,000 lbf) |
| Propellant | Liquid fuel |
Operational range | 48–130 km (30–81 mi) |
| Flight ceiling | 50 km (31 mi) |
| Boost time | 0:01:04 |
| Maximum speed | 2,400 mph (3,900 km/h; Mach 3.2) |
The MGM-5 Corporal missile was a nuclear-armed tactical surface-to-surface missile. It was the first guided weapon authorized by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead.[i] A guided tactical ballistic missile, the Corporal could deliver either a nuclear fission, high-explosive, fragmentation or chemical warhead up to a range of 75 nautical miles (139 km).
It was developed by the United States Army in partnership with Caltech's pioneering Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and initially produced by Douglas Aircraft Company.[4] As development continued production shifted to Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (airframe) and Gilfillan Brothers Inc. (guidance).[4]: 121 The Corporal was designed as a tactical nuclear missile for use in the event of Cold War hostilities in Western Europe. The first U.S. Army Corporal battalion was deployed in Europe in 1955. Eight Corporal battalions were deployed in Europe and remained in the field until 1964, when the system was replaced by the solid-fueled MGM-29 Sergeant missile system.[5] The Corporal was the second in a series of JPL rockets for the US Army whose names correspond to the progression in Army enlisted ranks, starting with Private before ultimately leading to the MGM-29 Sergeant.
- ^ JPL/Firestone SSM-A-17/M2/MGM-5 Corporal. Designation-Systems.net.
- ^ Corporal. Encyclopedia Astronautica.
- ^ Sublette, Carey (12 June 2020). "Complete List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons". Nuclear weapon archive. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Kennedywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bragg, James W. (1961). Development of the Corporal: The Embryo of the Army Missile Program (PDF). Redstone Arsenal, Alabama: Reports and Historical Office, Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Army Ordnance Missile Command. pp. 263–264. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 June 2019.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-roman> tags or {{efn-lr}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-roman}} template or {{notelist-lr}} template (see the help page).