We can look back on the Cold War with fondness now, because it’s not going to be national posturing, missiles or nuclear bombs that are going to do for us all, but climate crash or economic crash. Which doesn’t, of course, mean that scumbag world leaders are not going to lie through their arses in order to justify illegal invasions of sovereign nations who just happened to be on someone’s shit list. But back in the day, NATO and the Warsaw Pact strutted back and forth in front of each other, showing off their military hardware… and a hell of a lot of it was damn cool-looking hardware. Normally, when I touch on the Cold War in these posts, I stick to aircraft, ships, submarines and the occasional rocket. But for this one, it’s all… missiles! Big pointy blowy-uppy things that went whoosh from assorted ships, silos, mobile launchers or fixed launchers. And then went BOOM! I’ve covered the early warning side in earlier posts, but I might do it again in a dedicated post later. Because SAGE. Because Texas Towers.
But, right now, because guided missiles.
Bristol Bloodhound: UK surface to air missile (1958 – 1991)
Sea Slug missile: carried aboard County class destroyers (1961 – 1991)
Blue Steel – UK nuclear missile, carried by V-bombers (1963 – 1970)
Douglas Skybolt: US air-launched ballistic missile, bought by the UK but cancelled by the US before it went into service
De Havilland Blue Streak: UK nuclear ballistic missile, never went into service
Nike Hercules: US nuclear surface to air missile (1958 – 1988)
Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc: US supersonic interceptor anti-aircraft missiles (1959 – 1972)
Thor: US ballistic nuclear missile, deployed in the UK (1959 – 1963)
Atlas: US ICBM (1959 – 1965)
Titan I: US ICBM (1959 – 1965)
Scud: Soviet, and now Russian, tactical ballistic missile (1957 – present))
SS-20 Saber: Soviet, and now Russian, intermediate range ballistic missile (1976- 1988)
It Doesn't Have To Be Right... 