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Originally Posted by ghrocketman
As designed and fresh off the production line this "missile" is already in a state of "hideous disrepair".
Also a slightly less practical missile than using a CEMENT TRUCK as DAILY transportation.
Many of the military devices/vehicles/weapons designed shortly after WWII were absurd concepts in the excess to the point of insanity.
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The Navaho was the product of "being cheap." (Arthur C. Clarke covered this phase of American missile history concisely in his 1968 non-fiction book, "The Promise of Space.") Now:
Since the early atomic bombs were so heavy, intercontinental ballistic missiles that could have carried them (which would have weighed several hundred tons) were considered too big, too cumbersome, and (the pivotal argument) too expensive. So more than a billion dollars was spent developing large cruise missiles--some of which, like the Snark, had long, even intercontinental, ranges. They were abandoned for IRBMs and ICBMs after further research showed that much smaller thermonuclear warheads would soon be feasible--warheads that could be delivered over intercontinental ranges by ballistic missiles weighing about a hundred tons. But:
The Navaho appeared in the middle of this paradigm shift, which in hindsight proved to be a blessing in disguise. Despite the fact that most of its flights ended in spectacular pyrotechnic displays, the Rocketdyne-built Navaho booster rocket engines--which were descended from the V-2 engine--provided the R & D know-how that was needed for the 135,000 pounds-thrust (later uprated to 150,000 pounds) engine that, with minor variations, powered the Jupiter and Thor IRBMs, and served as the Atlas ICBM's booster engines. The Navaho's inertial guidance system also provided the technological base that the IRBMs and ICBMs needed. Also:
The Soviets, interestingly, were undaunted by the great size of an ICBM that could carry the old, heavy atomic warheads, and decided to go ahead and develop it. When it was perfected in the late 1950s, it gave them a huge advantage in lifting power, which wasn't overcome in the U.S. until the full (two-stage: the eight-H-1 [uprated Thor rocket engine] S-I, topped by a six-RL-10 S-IV second stage) Block II Saturn I flew into orbit on January 27, 1964. The R-7 ICBM (Semyorka, "Old Number 7") orbited the first three Sputnik satellites without any upper stages, and with an upper stage--and sometimes with an escape stage above that--it lofted Luna 1, 2, and 3, the Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz manned spacecraft, and numerous lunar orbiters and (relatively) soft landers, as well as Venus flyby and atmospheric entry probes (at least one of which, Venera 7, transmitted data from the Cytherean surface; later Venera Orbiter/Lander spacecraft were launched by the larger Proton rocket).