Information about Titan Missile

Titan family
The Titan rocket family.
Type	Expendable launch system with various applications
Manufacturer	Glenn L. Martin Company
Maiden flight	1958-12-20[1]
Introduction	1959
Retired	2005
Primary users	United States Air Force National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Produced	1957-2000s
Number built	368
Unit cost	US$250-350 million
Variants	Titan I Titan II Titan IIIB Titan III Titan IV

Titan was a family of U.S. expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. A total of 368 rockets of this family were launched.

Titan I

The Titan I was the first version of the Titan family of rockets. It began as a backup ICBM project in case the Atlas was delayed. It was a two-stage rocket powered by Rocket Propellant-1 and Liquid Oxygen. Using RP-1 and LOX meant that the Titan I did not have a quick launch sequence. It took about fifteen minutes to load LOX on the first missile at a complex, raise it topside and launch it, with the other two missiles following at about eight minute intervals. Titan I was operational from early 1962 to mid-1965.

Titan I Missile Units

• 568th Strategic Missile Squadron, Larson AFB, Moses Lake, WA
• 569th Strategic Missile Squadron, Mt Home AFB, Mt Home, ID
• 851st Strategic Missile Squadron, Beale AFB, Marysville, CA
• 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, SD
• 451st Strategic Missile Wing (formerly 703rd) Lowry AFB, Denver, CO

Titan II

Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM)

Most Titan rockets were derivatives of the Titan II ICBM. The Titan II ICBM had one W-53 warhead with a 9 megaton yield, making it the most powerful ICBM on-standby in the US nuclear arsenal. All of the ICBM Titan II missile sites have been decommissioned since 1987 but the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, Arizona has preserved one silo.

Space launch vehicles

The Titan II was a hypergolicly-fueled two-stage ICBM that was used by the U.S. Air Force from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. In the late 80s some of the deactivated Titan IIs were converted into space launch vehicles to be used launching U.S. Government payloads. The final such vehicle launched a DMSP weather satellite from Vandenberg AFB on October 18, 2003 [1]. Titan IIs were also used to launch two U.S. unmanned Gemini and ten manned Gemini capsules in the mid 1960s.

Titan III

The Titan III was a modified Titan II with optional solid rocket boosters. It was developed by the U.S. Air Force as a heavy-lift satellite launcher to be used mainly to launch U.S. Military payloads such as DSP early-warning, intelligence (spy), and defense communications satellites. One variant, the Titan IIIE, was also used to launch some NASA scientific probes such as the Voyagers to the outer planets and the Viking landers to Mars using the Centaur upperstage. The Titan IIIB,its variants(23B, 24B, 33B, and 34B) were Titan III cores with an Agena D upper stage. This combination was used to launch the KH-8 GAMBIT series of spy satellites. They were all launched from Vandenberg AFB, CA, into polar orbits. The payload was about 7,500 lb (3,000 kg).

Titan IV

The Titan IV is a stretched Titan III with non-optional solid rocket boosters. It could be launched either with the Centaur upper stage, with the IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) or without any upper stage. It was almost exclusively used to launch U.S. Military payloads, though it was also used to launch NASA's Cassini probe to Saturn in 1997. Titan IV was the most powerful unmanned rocket in the United States, and was extremely expensive to operate. By the time the Titan IV was operational the requirements of the Department of Defence for a heavy booster had declined due to improvements in the longevity of military satellites. As a result when including the cost of ground operations and facilities for the Titan IV at Vandenburg the unit cost was very high.

Rocket fuel

Liquid oxygen is dangerous to use in an enclosed space, such as a missile silo, and cannot be stored for long periods in the booster oxidizer tank. Several Atlas and Titan I rockets exploded and destroyed their silos. The Martin Company was able to improve the design with the Titan II. The RP-1/LOX combination was replaced by a room-temperature fuel whose oxidizer did not require cryogenic storage. The same first stage rocket engines were used with some modifications. The diameter of the second stage was increased to match the first stage. The Titan II's hypergolic fuel ignites on contact, and is highly toxic and corrosive. There were several accidents in Titan II silos resulting in loss of life. In August 1965, 53 construction workers were killed when hydraulic fluid used in the Titan II, caught fire in a missile silo northwest of Searcy, Arkansas. The liquid fuel missiles were prone to developing leaks of their toxic propellants. Nine airmen were killed at a site outside Rock, Ks in the late 1970s when a siloed missile leaked propellant. Later, another site, at Potwin, KS, leaked fuel and was closed but there were no fatalities. In September 1980, at another Arkansas Titan II silo near Damascus a technician dropped a wrench which broke the skin of the missile. Leaking rocket fuel ignited and blew the 8,000 lb nuclear warhead out of the silo; it landed several hundred feet away.^[2] This marked the beginning of the end for the Titan II as an ICBM. The 54 Titan II's were replaced in the U.S. arsenal by 50 MX Peacekeeper solid fuel missiles in late 1980s. 54 Titan IIs were fielded along with some 1000 Minutemen from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. Most of the decommissioned Titan II ICMBs were refurbished and used for space launch vehicles, with a perfect launch success record.

Current status of Titans

As of 2006, the Titan family of rockets are obsolete. The high cost of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, along with the special care that was needed due to their toxicity, proved too much compared to the higher-performance liquid hydrogen or RP-1-fueled vehicles. The current owners of the Titan line (Lockheed-Martin) decided to extend their Atlas family of rockets instead of the more expensive Titans, along with joint ventures to sell launches on the Russian Proton and the new Boeing-built Delta IV class of medium and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The second-to-last Titan launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on April 29, 2005. The final Titan launched successfully from Vandenberg on October 19, 2005, carrying a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. There are approximately twenty Titan IIs at AMARC in Tucson, Arizona set to be scrapped.

Specifications

For the specifications, please see the articles on each variant.

Notes

External links

• Video of a Titan II missile launch
• Video of a Titan I missile launch
• Photo of the last Titan launch, at the APOD archive. See also
• Titan missiles & variations

Related content

Designation sequence

• Titan I - II - IIIB - III - IV

Related lists

• List of missiles

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•  • [ e] List of expendable launch vehicles
Current:	Ariane 5 Atlas V Athena Cosmos-3M Delta II Delta IV Dnepr GSLV H-IIA Long March Minotaur Molniya Pegasus Proton PSLV Rockot Shavit Start-1 Strela Soyuz (U, FG, 2) Taurus Tsyklon Volna Zenit
Planned:	Angara Ariane M GSLV III GX H-IIB Long March 5 Vega
Historical:	Ariane (1, 2, 3, 4) Atlas (ICBM derived, II, III) Black Arrow Delta III Diamant Energia Europa H-II J-I Juno I M-V N1 R-7 Semyorka Saturn (I, IB ,V, INT-21) Scout Thor Titan (I, II, III, IIIB, IV) Vanguard Voskhod Vostok

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expendable launch system uses an expendable launch vehicle (ELV) to launch a payload into outer space. This type of launch vehicle is designed to be used only once, and its components are not recovered after the launch.
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An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft.
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The Glenn L. Martin Company was an early U.S. aircraft company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The company went through a number of mergers over time and now exists as Lockheed Martin.^[1]

History

Glenn L.
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The maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. This is similar to a ship's maiden voyage.

The first flight of a new aircraft type is always a historic occasion for the type.
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United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial warfare branch of the United States armed forces and one of the seven uniformed services. Previously part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA logo
Motto: For the Benefit of All^[1]

NASA seal
Agency overview
Formed 29 July 1958

Headquarters Washington D.C.

Annual Budget $16.
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Titan I

Launch of a Titan I ICBM from Cape Canaveral
Fact sheet
Function ICBM
Manufacturer Martin Company
Country of origin USA
Cost per launch (1962) $1.5m (USD)
Size
Height 31 m
Diameter 3.
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The Titan II was an ICBM and space launcher developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II

Launch of a Titan II ICBM from underground silo 395-Charlie at Vandenberg AFB, CA in the mid-1960s.
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Titan IIIB was the collective name for a number of derivatives of the Titan II ICBM and Titan III launch vehicle, modified by the addition of an Agena upper stage. It consisted of four separate rockets.
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The Titan IIIC was a space booster used by the United States Air Force. It was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. It was planned to be used as a launch vehicle in the cancelled Dyna-Soar and Manned Orbiting Laboratory programs.
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The Titan IV family (including the IVA and IVB) of space boosters were used by the US Air Force. They were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The Titan IV was retired in 2005.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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expendable launch system uses an expendable launch vehicle (ELV) to launch a payload into outer space. This type of launch vehicle is designed to be used only once, and its components are not recovered after the launch.
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rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving fluid from within a rocket engine.

The history of rockets goes back to at least the 13th century^[1].
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20th century - 21st century
1920s  1930s  1940s  - 1950s -  1960s  1970s  1980s
1956 1957 1958 - 1959 - 1960 1961 1962

Year 1959 (MCMLIX
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20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
1970s  1980s  1990s  - 2000s -  2010s  2020s  2030s
2002 2003 2004 - 2005 - 2006 2007 2008

2005 by topic:
News by month
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
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Titan I

Launch of a Titan I ICBM from Cape Canaveral
Fact sheet
Function ICBM
Manufacturer Martin Company
Country of origin USA
Cost per launch (1962) $1.5m (USD)
Size
Height 31 m
Diameter 3.
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intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, is a long-range (greater than 5,500 km or 3,500 miles) ballistic missile typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery, that is, delivering one or more nuclear warheads.
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SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. Originally designed as an ICBM in the late 1950s, Atlas was the foundation for a family of successful space launch vehicles now built by United Launch Alliance.
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Liquid oxygen (also LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industry) is the liquid form of oxygen. It has a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetic. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 g/cm³ (1.
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Grant County International Airport (IATA: MWH, ICAO: KMWH, FAA LID: MWH) is a public airport located five miles (8 km) northwest of the central business district (CBD) of Moses Lake, in Grant County, Washington, USA.
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Beale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base near Marysville, California, that was established in 1943.

The host wing is the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, which includes an operations group, a maintenance directorate, a mission support group, and a medical group.
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Ellsworth Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base near Rapid City, South Dakota and is home to the B-1B Lancer.

The host wing is the 28th Bomb Wing, which includes an operations group, a maintenance directorate, a mission support group, and a medical group.
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Lowry Air Force Base, formerly located in the cities of Aurora and Denver, Colorado, was the site of a United States Air Force training base that was heavily involved with the training of United States Army Air Forces bomber crews during World War II.
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The Titan II was an ICBM and space launcher developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II

Launch of a Titan II ICBM from underground silo 395-Charlie at Vandenberg AFB, CA in the mid-1960s.
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intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, is a long-range (greater than 5,500 km or 3,500 miles) ballistic missile typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery, that is, delivering one or more nuclear warheads.
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The B53 with a yield of 9 Mt is one of the most powerful nuclear weapons built by the United States, and one of the last very high-yield thermonuclear bombs in U.S. service.
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yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy, called the yield, discharged when a nuclear weapon is detonated, expressed usually in the equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene (TNT), either in kilotons (thousands of tons of TNT) or megatons (millions of tons of TNT), but sometimes
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Titan Missile Museum is run by the Arizona Aerospace Foundation and is located in Green Valley in the U.S. state of Arizona (). It is located roughly 20 km south of Tucson and features a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile still in
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Tucson, Arizona
Tucson with the Catalinas in background

Seal
Nickname: The Old Pueblo
Location in Pima County and the state of Arizona
Coordinates:
Country
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