Peacekeeper

LGM-118 MX

Mission Profile

The Peacekeeper (LGM-118A MX) was the United States' most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, deployed during the final decade of the Cold War as a highly accurate, silo-based strategic deterrent carrying up to 10 independently targetable MIRVed warheads. Standing 21.6 m tall with a 2.3 m diameter and a liftoff mass of 88,450 kg, it generated 2,340 kN of combined thrust from three solid-propellant stages and was first flight-tested in June 1983 under the Peacekeeper program. After its retirement in 2005, surplus Peacekeeper stages were converted into the Minotaur IV and V commercial launch vehicles, giving the missile a second life as a space access platform.