Sergeant
Solid Fuel missile between the corporal and the lance
Explosive Power
200 kilotons
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
13.3x
Dimensions
34 ft., 6 inches x 31 inches
Weight
10,100 lbs.
Range
75 miles
Year(s)
1962–1979
Purpose
Evolutionary improvement in battlefield missiles
About the Sergeant
Forthcoming…
Gallery
Nukemap
NUKEMAP is a web-based mapping program that attempts to give the user a sense of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. It was created by Alex Wellerstein, a historian specializing in nuclear weapons (see his book on nuclear secrecy and his blog on nuclear weapons). The screenshot below shows the NUKEMAP output for this particular weapon. Click on the map to customize settings.
Videos
Click on the Play button and then the Full screen brackets on the lower right to view each video. Click on the Exit full screen cross at lower right (the “X” on a mobile device) to return.
Further Reading
- Wikipedia, Designation Systems
- The development timeline of the Segreant at AMCOM.
- The Sergeant seems to have been a popular launch vehicle both for testing the missile itself and for other experimental and tests, including the Checkmate space nuclear test at an altitude of 91 miles.
- The Sergeant replaced the Corporal and in turn was replaced by the Lance. (American Nukes links.)
- The Sergeant was deployed in Germany, South Korea, and in Italy, with an additional deployment at Ft. Sill, in Oklahoma.
- Here is an informative graphic showing how several nuclear missile systems might have been integrated on the battlefield. (Note: “mehrfachwerfer leicht u. mittel” Google translates as “multiple launchers light and medium.”)
- A local TV news station, WBAP-TV/NBC of Fort Worth, Texas, was on hand to cover the first public launch of the Sergeant in 1962. This is a transcript of their broadcast. Note that the document is “four pages” but the even-numbered pages are just scans of the back of the other two, with the reversed text faintly visible.
- The US Army Artillery and Missile School at Ft. Sill, in Oklahoma, produced this detailed user manual, “The Sergeant Guided Missile System,” in 1963. There is also a 1964 Field Manual worth looking at.
- The White Sands Missile Range Museum offers a short history, “The Corporal Family of Rockets and Missiles,” which offers some of the context for the development of the Sergeant.
- The Blue Water was a British rival missile to the Sergeant. It was canceled in the face of Germany and other European countries opting for the Sergeant.