Talk:LGM-118A Peacekeeper

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[edit] Initial questions

Soviets had silos of 6000 psi or more, there is no way, even with 100 CEP probability Peacekeeper could penetrate those. Also it was 120 meters, not 100:

http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-118.html

Changed Mg to t. The link redirected anyway, and megagram is uncommon.

A 300 kiloton groundburst will make a crater 100 feet deep in solid rock. Was their resistance still 6000 PSI when the first hundred feet of concrete and rock above the silo was vaporized?70.70.136.240 07:41, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

The Peacekeeper is officially LG-118, although there seems to be much confusion over this, mainly due to the other USAF ICBM weapon system, the Minuteman III, being designated the LGM-30G. The Technical Orders used by Air Force personnel are clearly and correctly labeled as LGM- and LG-.

http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=112

The Peacekeeper is NOT officially the LG-118A. The ONLY references that use that nomeclature is the Technical Orders. That is purely because of the length restriction for a TO title IAW AFTO 00-5-1. The official designation is LGM-118A per AFI 16-401(I) Attachment 4, para A4-1.Cancellier 19:00, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

  • Is there any reliable way to sort this out? Doing a search for both of them limited to the .gov domain gets results for both. --Fastfission 20:20, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • If you look at this link (http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/412015l_0504/p412015l.pdf) on page 97, it lists the official designator and the official name. This DOD Directive, DoD 4120.15-L, "Model Designation of Military Aerospace Vehicles," 05/12/2004, is THE final source for this info. Hope this clears it up. Cancellier 19:58, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the image at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Peacekeeper-missile-testing.jpg is a picture of. Are the re-entry vehicles executing a powered descent? Do the warheads detonate on contact with the ground, or in fact are the warheads deployed above ground, and so the tests produce a descent that would not occur in actual use of the system? - [[User:Bevo|Bevo]] 04:15, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

They're streak photos of re-entry vehicles (RV) about to hit the Kwaj. Atoll. The tests are operationally realistic.

To answer the real question, what causes the streak is the plasma surrounding the reentry vehicle caused by entry heating. The photos are time exposures and show the track of the RV from Pierce Point (top of the atmosphere) to the deck. Cancellier 19:00, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] first stage thrust

2.2GN thrust would, discounting air resistance, accelerate the LG-118A to escape velocity in 0.45 seconds. Surely this is an error? --Koisoke 19:08, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

It is 2.2MN not GN. A half million pounds of thrust. Cancellier 19:30, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Why were they really removed from service?

The article offers no clue as to why the Peacekeeper was removed from service, as opposed to the Minuteman. Given that it was more accurate, carried more warheads, apparently had a higher payload, and offered reliability and safety systems a decade newer, it would seem that if one were to pick 100 missiles to keep, the Peacekeeper would be the natural choice.

So, what happened? I seem to recall discussions of problems with the system, including something on TV of someone finding faulty INS units in the trash. Did these things just not work, or is that unrelated?

Maury 02:21, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

The U.S. has decided not to mount multiple warheads on land based ICBMs. Single warheads would have been required by the START II treaty had it ever come into force, and the plan was to comply by retiring the Peacekeeper and downgrading all Minuteman IIIs to a single warhead (rather than the three they were designed for). Using a huge ten warhead missile like the Peacekeeper for a single warhead isn't very efficent. Even though START II was never ratified, the U.S. went ahead and retired the Peackeeper anyway. Blackeagle 19:08, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
Actually, the US Senate did ratify START II in 1996. The ratification stalled in the Duma, so the clock ran out. (In 2000 the Duma did eventually ratify a modified form with the deadlines appropriately extended, but this also included some completely un-negotiated parts regarding the ABM treaty, so it was clearly a nonstarter.) 18.252.6.96 18:23, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] dense pack

"This "dense pack" idea involved building super-hardened silos that would withstand more than 10,000 psi of overpressure and spacing them only 1800 feet apart. The reasoning behind this idea was that a nearby nuclear explosion would damage other incoming warheads in the same wave of attack and would allow a substantial portion of the missiles to survive. This idea was fundamentally flawed due to the relative ease with which the Soviets could modify their warheads and circumvent this design."

Can someone include some technical references supporting this claim? It sounds a lot more like uninformed opinion than fact as it is written now.

It is uninformed opinion as the dense pack option caused much concern to our Soviet antagonists. They were very concerned that this technique would actually support a robust second-strike capability from a missile field that was previously engaged. The Reagan Administration was soundly chastised by the press for considering such a de-stabilizing fielding plan. Unfortunately, I don't have access to Lexis-Nexus or other archive retrieval system and don't plan on reviewing microfiche at the local library. This paragraph (as well as other sections in this entry) seems to have a 'certain' POV.

[edit] Naming conventions

In the article, the line, "Reagan pushed the name Peacekeeper, but the missile was officially designated the LGM-118A" makes it sound as if Reagan pushed for one name, but a competing name eventually won out. This is not correct, as there is no contradiction. As with nearly all military equipment, there is the military designation and the nickname, as in "F-15 Eagle". The "Peacekeeper" name does not contradict the "LGM-118A" designation, it complements it.

[edit] START-2 Not enforced?

I was just talking to a friend of mine in the Air Force who says the Russians still investigate the ICBM sites we have as a result of START-2. I don't have anything other than this to back it up, so I'm not making any changes, just throwing it out there. WiseEyes 2006, Oct 21, 9:34pm Arizona Time

Look up the "Open Skies" program for a start on this inspection topic.

[edit] Theory of Employment section

The scenario in this section is a little confusing to read and doesn't provide all that much information to the uninformed reader (myself included). Is this figure of 95% warhead accuracy within reason? Could someone consider revising?